Public Policy Update and Action Alert, 5/29/09

Budget Update: The Health and Human Services Appropriations Sub-Committee released their budget recommendations on Thursday. The "lowlights' are

100s of millions in cuts to mental health, developmental disability and addictive disease including $74 million in "adjustments" to the continuation budget,
$50 Million in cuts to state funded services, $16 million in cuts to CAP-MR-DD state funds,
$4 million in cuts to "non-core community services" and
465 undefined positions which we believe the majority would need to come from state operated hospitals, developmental disability centers, and addiction treatment.
In addition, the proposed Medicaid budget would:
- eliminate community support services, the clinical home and support of 10s of thousands of individuals who are living and recovering in the community,
- cut $490 million from the overall Medicaid budget, freeze CAP slots, and reduce Medicaid provider rates 4% across all services.
House Education Subcommittee proposals would cut the availability of school social workers by 25%, and general education cuts will also harms students with disabilities as schools are forced to lay off teachers, counselors and support staff.

There is no nice way to say this: people will die. These deep cuts will devastate supports for people with developmental disabilities, addictive diseases and mental illness. Infrastructure will be destroyed that is only now recovering from "reform." This is not a sustainable cut: services will stop, providers will go out of business, and jobs will be lost. Families will be forced to put children in institutions or hospitals, if those services are even available given the current demand and lack of consistent community based support. NC has a choice about how it wants to look: supports and services or deaths and economic depression.

You can help your Legislator make the right Choice!

Take action by calling or emailing your own Legislator and House majority and minority leadership (more info below on how to do so). Tell them that these cuts will be devastating and you support them in raising taxes to fund mh/dd/sa community services and supports. NC cannot cut its way out of the budget hole and these cuts are not to "wasteful" spending. The true waste is when people are left without services, jobs and support.

Who to contact:

1) Call your own NC House Legislator. A listing of House members and info on how to find yours can be found at http://www.ncleg.net/ Personal contact is always best, but if you cannot call you can email through our online advocacy at http://capwiz.com/cdpmi/home/ (This site will also give you detailed info on your NC House Representative).

2) Call NC House Democrat and Republican Leadership:

Speaker of the House Joe Hackney, office phone 919-733-3451 This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ,
House Majority Leader Hugh Holliman, office phone 919-715-0873 This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
House Minority Leader Paul Stam, office phone 919-733-2962 This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

The Message: As always, keep things short and respectful, but be honest about how these cuts will affect you, your family or those you serve.

1) These cuts are devastating and people will die.

2) These services and supports are keeping people alive, well and in their homes/communities. [And let them know how these cuts will impact you].

3) The state needs to raise taxes; we cannot cut our way out of a 4.8 billion dollar budget hole. I am willing to pay higher taxes to make sure people have services and supports.