March 10, 2025
Minutes
Minutes
Attendees via Zoom: Alli Vercoe, Betsy Hopkins, Bonnie-Jean Brooks, Brenda Smith, Brett Bulmer, Carol Snyder, Christine, Darla Chafin, Darryl Wood, David Cowing, Debbie Dionne, Diane Boas, Hanna Daigle, Jamie Whitehouse, Jennifer Frey, Jessica Minor, John Tabb, Julianne Zaharis, Kim Humphrey, K rick, Kristin Overton, Laura Cordes, Lorraine DeFreitas, Lucas Cuellar, LyAnn Grogan, Margaret Cardoza, Melissa Bliss, Michaela York, Monique Stairs, Paula Bush, Rachel Dyer, Rob Moran, Robin Levesque, Shelley Zielinski, Staci Converse, Stacy Lamontagne, Teague Morris, Vickey Merrill, Cullen Ryan, a few people who joined after the meeting began and left prior to the conclusion of the meeting.
Cullen Ryan introduced himself and welcomed the group. Minutes from the last meeting were accepted.
Featured Speaker: Laura Cordes, Executive Director, Maine Association for Community Service Providers (MACSP). meacsp.org Topic: An introduction to the First Session of the 132nd Legislature, including bills to watch, what to expect, and the ways people can advocate to effect positive change in the Legislative Session.
Cullen: I am pleased to welcome Laura Cordes, Executive Director of the Maine Association for Community Service Providers (MACSP), presenting an introduction to the First Session of the 132nd Legislature, including bills to watch, what to expect, and the ways people can advocate to effect positive change in the Legislative Session. Laura keeps track of all of the relevant bills in the legislature and has made that available to members of this Coalition. She’s at the State House frequently and remains in the know regarding all-things Legislature. Thank you for being here today, Laura!
Laura Cordes: Thank you for having me! I always love being in this space that has intentionally brought together a variety of stakeholders over the years. If you’ve been in this space you’ve seen the MCHQS 132nd Maine Legislature First Regular Session 2025 Resource Document, which is a Google Document that can be edited – please let me know if you have any edits as I’m happy to make them.
Begin Presentation.
Laura thoroughly reviewed the MCHQS 132nd Maine Legislature First Regular Session 2025 Resource Document. Highlights are included below.
Laura:
Supplemental Budget – click here for the General Fund Language; click here for Part A. This amends the current operating budget which ends 6/30/25. Public Hearings and work sessions have been held. In its report back to the Appropriations and Financial Affairs (AFA) Committee, the Health and Human Services (HHS) Committee recommended restoring COLAs. The AFA Committee did not accept the HHS Committee recommendation to include funds for COLAs. The Supplemental Budget faced votes to be engrossed in the House and Senate, however neither chamber was able to pass the bill with enough votes required as an emergency bill. As of right now, this hasn’t passed, hasn’t been enacted, and has created a lot of tensions and along with what’s going on and projected to go on at the Federal level with Medicaid. This impacts the decisions being made, or not being made, in the state.
Without immediate passage as an emergency bill (which requires a 2/3 vote), MaineCare will not have enough funds to pay providers through June. As such, MaineCare announced a plan to cap payments which will begin for the majority of providers in the ID/DD sector later this month. Payments will be delayed – for instance if you submit seven bills, six may be paid and the seventh will be delayed (this is just an example). The Department has been very thoughtful in its attempt to not have capped payments affect providers that rely on MaineCare funding. However, we just don’t know how this is going to work. The Department recently delayed the capped payments for most providers for a few weeks, only capping payments primarily for hospitals currently.
There’s blame all around as to why the Supplemental Budget hasn’t passed. It’s concerning for everyone involved. It’s a financial crisis that’s turned into a political one – for a variety of reasons. There is still room for the House and Senate to come back together to pass the Supplemental Budget, and perhaps with funding needed for MaineCare.
-A self-advocate stated that it appears there’s more protection for trees in the state of Maine than there are for people.
Laura: This is a good point – it’s hard to separate what’s happening at the Federal level, but right now we do have a surplus and we have a Rainy-Day Fund. Priorities don’t have to be at odds, there is funding available to accomplish both. With proposals to significantly cut funding for Medicaid at the Federal level, it has raised a lot of concern about what states can fund, what the State should fund, and how the Rainy-Day Fund ought to be used.
Biennial Budget – click here for the General Fund Budget Language; click here for Part A. Public Hearings and work sessions are underway.
Overview of DHHS Investments & Adjustments in Biennial Budget: The Department is cutting $450 million in funding through various changes included in the Biennial Budget.
All of the various committees submit report-backs to the Appropriations and Financial Affairs (AFA) Committee. The AFA Committee then takes those recommendations into account and moves portions of the Budget forward. The HHS Committee did vote recently to put funding back into the Budget for COLAs in its report-back. There’s confusion whether this is for all MaineCare rates or simply rates for HCBS for ID/DD populations.
It’s unclear how they will proceed with the Biennial Budget since the Supplemental Budget hasn’t been enacted. If the Biennial Budget doesn’t pass with a 2/3 majority, it won’t go into effect for 90 days. If this is the case, there might be a “bare bones” operational budget to address the start of the fiscal year.
Bills of Interest: I’ve included a list of bills in the Google Doc – More than 2,000 bills were filed. The list of working titles submitted before Cloture is available online. Committees are expected to vote bills out of their committees by 5/9/25. Some of the bills listed are still Legislative Requests (LRs) and may merge with other bills. Some of these bills may look familiar from previous Legislative Sessions. Some bills have been printed, with Public Hearings underway.
Please see the Google Doc for the full list of bills that Laura reviewed. Bills listed below included group discussion.
-LD 46, An Act To Establish A Grant Program To Increase Postsecondary Educational Opportunities For Students With Intellectual Or Developmental Disabilities Or Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Summary: This bill establishes a grant program in the Department of Education to increase postsecondary educational opportunities and support employability for students with intellectual or developmental disabilities or autism spectrum disorder.
Current Status: Public Hearing held 3/3; Work Session 3/10 – Education Committee.
Laura: I’ll let Robin speak to LD 46 because it is MPF’s bill.
Robin Levesque – Maine Parent Federation (MPF): The Work Session is underway right now. They had the Public Hearing on 3/5, and many self-advocates testified sharing their stories, which was very moving.
Update from Robyn regarding the Work Session (currently underway): The Committee amended the bill and changed the fiscal note to $100,000. This will only fund one grant versus the original five. This still faces votes in the House and Senate, and due to having a fiscal note it would go to the Special Appropriations Table prior to enactment. There is still a long way to go.
-LD 279 An Act To Address The Shortage Of Direct Care Workers For Children With Disabilities In Maine.
Summary: This bill allows for the reimbursement of a parent providing in-home personal care services to the parent's child by allowing the parent to register as a personal care agency if the parent has made reasonable but unsuccessful efforts to obtain regular in-home personal care services and has passed a background check.
Current Status: referred to HHS Committee.
-A parent stated that this is on a lot of parents’ radars. Many parents can’t find providers for their kids, and currently they would need to be a CNA in order to be reimbursed for care they provide for their children. There are many families with children with complex needs and this bill would allow parents to be compensated for the support services they provide their kids (above and beyond parenting).
-LD 834, An Act to Update the State Supplement to Supplemental Security Income.
Summary: Increases the minimum state supplemental income benefit to $65 per month for individuals and $97.50 per month for couples (150% of the individual amount).
Starting October 1, 2026, requires the benefit to be annually adjusted based on the cost-of-living increase in the federal payment standard.
Current Status: Public Hearing: 3/17, 10am – HHS Committee.
-LD 840, An Act to Modernize the State Supplement to Supplemental Security Income by Removing Marriage Disincentives. Summary: Replaces provisions of law that currently provide that payments to couples, both of whom receive the supplement, are 150% of the benefit for an individual with provisions of law providing that payments to the couples are 200% of the benefit for an individual.
Current Status: Public Hearing: 3/17, 10am – HHS Committee.
Monique Stairs – Speaking Up For Us (SUFU): This is an issue that many self-advocates are very passionate about. There’s advocacy at the Federal level on this, but we’ve tried for the past few years to pass legislation in Maine. Last time the initiatives were combined into one bill; however, this year we separated it into two bills to increase the likelihood of one bill being enacted.
-LD 769, An Act Regarding Access to Behavioral Health Supports for Adults with Certain Disabilities.
Summary: This bill amends the law governing access to behavioral health supports for adults with an intellectual disability or autism by replacing a complex multiparty review process with a clinical review requirement. It also removes the authority to use restraints on adults except as an emergency short-term step to protect the adult from imminent injury to that adult or others. It also codifies existing rules on safety devices, making it clear that such devices are not considered positive behavioral health support plans and therefore do not require the same level of review as positive behavioral health support plans. Also, to conform with current practice, the bill repeals a provision of law regarding the authority of providers of residential services to establish house rules in residential units owned or operated by the provider.
Current Status: Public Hearing: 3/18, 1pm – HHS Committee.
Laura: The bill comes after the work the Department did on the Behavioral Regulations. This bill, the best I understand, focuses on the use of restraints and safety devices. It also seems to reorganize the review and approval process for behavioral supports or behavioral health support plans.
Bonnie-Jean Brooks – Maine Developmental Services Oversight and Advisory Board (MDSOAB): We have a subcommittee of the MDSOAB that has discussed the bill. We’re in the process of getting feedback from this subcommittee and the MDSOAB members. We’re unsure which position we’re going to take on it. I think one of the largest concern is the availability of clinical people to meet with the review team, but to also be available to providers as they’re working on support plans.
Betsy Hopkins – DHHS OADS: This is a Department bill. It was the end result of a lot of work we did with a very dedicated group of people that met monthly for well over a year. As you mentioned, the bill was put forward to amend the law governing access to behavioral health support for adults with an intellectual disability or autism and update our Chapter 5 Rule. This is the Rule which has been in place that outlines the process for the three-person committees – the current process to approve behavioral management plans which allow for the planned use of restraints. One of the major changes to the Rule will be removing the approval process for planned restraints. If emergency restraints are needed for health and safety reasons, that will be allowed, but there will be a process in place when emergency restraints are used, and it will be considered a reportable event. Throughout the stakeholder work on this topic there were a lot of stories shared about the impacts of people when they were restrained, how staff felt using restraints, etc. We talked with other states regarding best practices around this, many of which have eliminated planned use of restraint. Use of restraints is not allowed in Section 18. This Rule also governs the use of safety plans. Currently this is a very complex process which takes a lot of time and falls within the three-person process. We pulled out the Safety Planning process in this Rule to put it on this side. There’s still a process and sign-off needed. But any safety device requested by an individual requires a sign-off by a medical professional. We wanted to include this in the PCP process regarding safety devices, so long as they don’t restrict people’s rights. A lot of thought went into this. We’ve heard there are some questions that have come up and potential concerns.
-A parent asked if restraints and safety devices would be defined in the Bill and in the Rule.
Betsy: Yes, they are defined in the Rule and there has been some confusion around that. I will find this and share that information.
Staci Converse – Disability Rights Maine (DRM): I was part of that group that Betsy mentioned, and I wanted to add how much time went into all the planning. I also wanted to emphasize from the advocacy community how important this bill really is.
-A self-advocate stated that in 2021, for the first time since Pineland closed, people had the opportunity to be heard regarding the extent of abuse that happened inside the institution. The wounds are still very deep. The issue is when Pineland closed the issue of restraint remained. There’s phenomenal work that the Department did to help providers have access to least-restricted best practices. From the self-advocate standpoint, restraints are abusive.
-A parent and former Pineland staff person stated that she is still sick over what she witnessed as part of review committee regarding Pineland. However, she stated that she also has a daughter who cannot control certain behaviors, and it terrifies her, and daughter desires small restraints that greatly assist her and address immediate safety needs. She stated that she wishes hospitals were aware of less restrictive practices. She expressed caution all around regarding the use of restraints – there’s a delicate balance.
Laura: Thank you for all of this. There’s a meeting with the Department to discuss this further versus just reading the concepts in the bill itself.
-There was discussion regarding a bill Speaker Fecteau submitted pertaining to the workforce crisis for Section 96 (nursing care) that has not been printed yet. A parent stated that it appears that there’s not a waitlist for Section 96.
Laura: Speaker Fecteau’s bill I believe will require the Department to report on the unmet needs for Section 96. So, you have what’s authorized and what’s being received – the in-between are the unmet needs or the “care gap”.
Betsy: I’ll say that I don’t oversee Section 96, but I can take your question back and see if I can get an answer to your question.
-It was stated that the “waitlist” works differently for Section 96. It’s not defined as a waitlist because someone has been authorized for the service and if there were staff available someone could access it.
Laura: Key Committees and Committee Members, with contact information, are also included in the Google Doc. As a reminder, if you can’t attend Public Hearings when they occur, I would encourage you to submit testimony online , ideally on or before the day of the hearing. This is still a great time to reach out to your State legislators to tell your story.
Cullen: Thank you, Laura, for keeping us up to date at every step of the way, and for going through the bills so carefully to help us understand the intentions and implications. Thank you for taking the time to keep us informed so that we can weigh in and for all you will do this Legislative Session. Well done!
End Presentation (round of applause would have occurred were it not for everyone being muted and on Zoom)
DHHS – Office of Aging and Disability Services (OADS) - www.maine.gov/dhhs/oads
Betsy Hopkins: We have people at DHHS who are solely focused on paying attention to the Federal level. The tact that they are taking is to not discuss anything unless it’s official and directly known to impact something – for instance Medicaid. We’re trying to pay attention to what’s happening out there. There are some national organizations out there who are doing the exact same thing. I’m attending a weekly meeting regarding everything going on at the Federal level. This doesn’t take away the fear or anxiety, but please know that if something does happen that will affect disability services, we will definitely shine light on that as soon as possible.
Cullen: Thank you, Betsy, for being here and for this information. Transparency is the antidote to fear and anxiety. Thank you for being a steady voice and for your strategy for monitoring what’s happening and waiting to put anything out until it’s official to avoid confusion.
Additional OADS Updates:
Innovation Summit – Registration is now OPEN! DHHS and the Office of Aging and Disability Services presents Innovation Summit: A Path for Maine. The Innovation Summit: A Path for ME will be held in Portland, Maine, from May 19 to May 20, 2025, bringing together individuals, families, service providers, advocates, vendors, and professionals committed to enhancing the lives of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, autism, brain injuries, or other similar conditions. This dynamic event promises two days of learning, networking, and community building, focused on improving access, services, and opportunities for individuals with disabilities.
Conference Highlights Included in your Registration:
Summit Details:
Work & Benefits Navigator Trainings: Trainings are now available for any professionals working through the waiver programs. The Work and Benefit Navigator Training through MaineHealth is funded by OADS. The training content is required in several positions where staff are supporting waiver members to learn about employment as required by the Home and Community Based Global Rule.
April Session – Virtual: This session is for employment support providers only such as Employment Specialists, VR Counselors, and Clubhouse Staff.
When: April 10 and 17, 2025, from 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM - Trainees must attend both sessions in the same month
June Session – Augusta: This session is for non-employment providers only such as case managers, residential staff, and educators.
When: June 3, 2025, from 9:00 AM - 4:30 PM.
Location: Maine Department of Labor, 45 Commerce Drive, Augusta
Space is limited. Registration is required. Confirmation will be sent two weeks before session. Cost is $25; no cost for DHHS employees or VR Counselors. Contact hours available. Must attend entire session and actively participate to receive credit.
Click here to register!
Lifespan Provider Readiness Project: Launched in spring 2024, and presented to the provider network in fall 2024, the project is partnering with National Disability Institute (NDI) to help the provider network build capacity for the upcoming Lifespan Waiver implementation. OADS and the provider network have been collaborating since 2023 to support the Innovation Pilot Grant project. As part of this effort, the project has developed a technical assistance application. More than 100 providers applied for this technical assistance along with some stipends to help them prepare for Lifespan Waiver services. Those award notices were sent to providers on Friday, February 7th, with a kickoff meeting planned for all on February 11th. The technical assistance and support for providers will continue through June 30th, 2025. You can find more information about this work here.
DHHS-OADS: Home & Community-Based Services Quality Assurance Project Town Hall Follow-Up: Thank You to Those Who Participated in the Town Hall! On Tuesday, January 21st, DHHS hosted a town hall meeting with a group called Alvarez and Marsal (A&M) to share information about its Home and Community Based Service (HCBS) Quality Assurance project and to ask for your feedback. DHHS is grateful to everyone who joined and shared ideas about how DHHS can improve the way it handles problems to make services safer and better. Your input is helping to make a difference in how problems like injuries or medication mistakes are handled! If you couldn’t join the live session, the recording is available on the DHHS website. You can watch the recording here. In addition to hearing initial feedback and questions during the town hall, DHHS wanted to hear more about your experiences in other settings that may be more comfortable for sharing feedback. As such, DHHS held focused listening sessions at the end of January with small groups and created a survey as opportunities to hear more from you.
Survey for all Interested Parties – DHHS also wants to collect your feedback through a survey. All members, families, advocates, and support groups are encouraged to complete the survey. This survey will not collect any identifying information, such as name or email address, from respondents. This survey will ask questions related to how DHHS handles problems to make services safer and better. Your answers could help DHHS make the system that handles problems better! Click here to take our SURVEY
DHHS – Children’s Behavioral Health Services (CBHS), Office of Behavioral Health (OBH) - www.maine.gov/dhhs/obh/support-services/childrens-behavioral-health - No Update
DOL – Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) - www.maine.gov/rehab/dvr
Libby Stone-Sterling could not attend today’s meeting but sent the following update via email: The Division for the Blind & Visually Impaired and Division of Vocational Rehabilitation are excited to offer a new program for transition students this July! Introducing VIBE: Venturing into Independence & Building skills for Employment. Please share our flyer with students and families. VIBE participants must be 14+ and be a VR or Potentially Eligible student with a disability receiving services from DBVI or DVR.
Program Details:
When: July 13–25, 2025
Where: University of Southern Maine, Gorham campus
Overview: VIBE will focus on career and college exploration, self-advocacy skills, workplace readiness, independent living skills, and hands-on learning in the classroom and community. VIBE will include a two-day and one overnight trip to Boston, where students will experience various modes of public transportation, and participate in an employer visit and college tour. Students will have many opportunities for social/leisure activities to foster fun and build friendships.
Participant Expectations
Students must:
Space is limited for this program, so please encourage your student to register early. Registration deadline is April 30, 2025.
Click here to register.
Office of Special Services and Inclusive Education (OSSIE) - www.maine.gov/doe/learning/specialed - No Update
Disability Rights Maine (DRM) Update:
Lucas Cuellar: I will echo others regarding the impact of restraint I’ve seen. There are circumstances and times when we see plans that include the use of restraint when the plans are very well designed to support the person at all other levels. In these circumstances the use of emergency restraint (versus planned) could work well.
I’m sure you’ve all seen that the Department is once again enforcing certain aspects of the Section 21 Home Support Agency Per Diem Authorizations in Two-Person Homes requirement. We are aware that people are concerned that if they’re living in a two-person home that is billed in the way in which it was allowed under the K Waiver they may be receiving notice that their services will end if the home cannot find a second person to live there. There is a process by which people can request a reasonable modification or accommodation under the ADA to be served as one person in the home (as opposed to two). I wanted to mention that there is an exceptions process by which people could request an exception to monetary services provided under the waiver. Hopefully, this will all roll out and people will be able to feel good about things and if not we’re ready to assist with advocacy around modifications/accommodations/exceptions. I also wanted to mention that one of our Youth Self-Advocates is working with Titus and the Department to provide more information for young people in schools to self-lead their IEP meetings.
Cullen: Thank you, Lucas!
Federal & Housing Updates:
-A self-advocate stated that all of the unknowns at the Federal level are concerning and causing a lot of fear and anxiety. Federal funding affects the system of care for Maine; it’s very stressful.
Cullen: Thank you for expressing that. It is very difficult to stay grounded and oriented when things come in fits and bursts, and then there’s nothing concrete. This creates confusion and stress and also complicates a coordinated response. It is a very stressful time. As we discussed last month, there’s an effort to thwart a lot of government programs that have had funding authorized by Congress. There’s a lot being thrown out there all at once to create confusion, and sometimes fear and chaos, and it’s very hard to tell how everything will shake out. There are more questions than answers. I’m glad we can come together as a Coalition and share the information that we know and get through all of this together.
All of us ought to focus on continuing our efforts despite any and all attempts to undermine our work. We have the benefit of a Delegation that appears to be on the side of trying to stop these efforts. The biggest threat that we’re facing, I believe, is potential cuts to Medicaid. Medicaid is again the target of cuts through various proposals, including Medicaid per capita cap and block grant proposals, floating around Congress (see below for more information). We will be watching this closely. We will also continue to closely monitor Executive Orders and other policy proposals which would affect housing, services, and other resources for people with ID/DD. When things arise, we will be sure to make you aware through action alerts.
-Executive Orders – After his Inauguration, President Trump initiated a series of Executive Orders (EOs) which, if implemented/upheld by the courts, could make more difficult for everyone to access to an affordable, accessible home. Per NLIHC, the new Administration’s first actions include:
- House Republican Budget Proposal – A new House Republican Budget was released by Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington, and the House approved the framework for a massive reconciliation bill on 2/26 – the first major step in the process. Per the National Low-Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC): The bill would cut federal spending on social programs to pay for an extension of tax provisions primarily benefiting higher-income households and corporations and providing support for additional military and border defense. The House Budget relies upon $1.5 trillion in spending cuts. It is believed that Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will be targeted for deep cuts, including the imposition of work requirements. Per the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP): The House Budget would reduce food assistance and health coverage for people who need it, and could result in cost shifts to state, local, territorial, and tribal governments. 36 million people or more could be at risk of losing their health coverage through Medicaid, and more than 40 million people could receive less help from SNAP, with millions of them potentially losing their food assistance altogether.
-Senate Republican Budget Proposal – Per CBPP: On 2/7, Senate Republicans released a budget framework which lays a path for a future budget bill that appears to c increase military and homeland security spending and reduce food assistance and health coverage. The plan would direct four committees in the Senate, including those with jurisdiction over Medicaid, SNAP, student loans, and certain energy resilience programs to make cuts totaling at least $1 billion each. Currently there is only information on which committees would be required to find cuts to offset the spending, it is unknown how much would come from each committee or which programs they would target for cuts.
-Congressional Medicaid Proposals (including per capita cap and block grant proposals) – There are various Medicaid proposals floating around in Congress currently, including Medicaid Per Capita Cap policy proposals. Per CBPP: Recent proposals from Republican congressional leaders and a conservative think tank would impose a per capita cap on federal Medicaid funding or, similarly, turn Medicaid into a block grant. These proposals would dramatically change Medicaid’s funding structure, deeply cut federal funding, and shift costs and financial risks to states. Should this happen, faced with large and growing reductions in federal funding, states could cut eligibility and benefits, which could put millions of people at risk of losing health coverage and access to Medicaid-funded services. There are also various proposals from Republican Congressional leaders that would impose work requirements for Medicaid. Per CBPP: that 36 million Medicaid enrollees — including people in every state — could be at risk of losing their coverage under various proposals.
-Potential SNAP cuts – Prominent Republican lawmakers have proposed cuts and other policy changes to SNAP that could gain traction in Congress. If implemented, this could cut food assistance for millions of people in the country, per CBPP: “SNAP is our nation’s most effective and important tool to fight hunger, reaching over 40 million children, parents, older adults, disabled people, workers, and other low-income people each month, or about 1 in 8 people in the U.S., including 1 in 5 children. Research shows SNAP reduces food insecurity and is linked to improved health, education, and economic outcomes and to lower medical costs for participants. It also supports workers in low-paid jobs and has ripple effects in the economy overall and in individual communities as SNAP benefits are redeemed in stores across the U.S.”
Federal Bills Introduced in the new Congress (or expected to be introduced in the coming months):
-It was stated that the hearing for Dr. Mehmet Oz, the nomination for the Director of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), is being held on 3/14 at 10:00am.
Teague Morris – Senator King’s Office: Senator King’s office is receiving thousands of calls. We truly value the input and you’re doing an amazing job as advocates. Keep reaching out and advocating. Senator King is responsive where he can be, but he’s not necessarily responding to every little thing. He’s very thoughtful and deliberate when he chooses to speak.
Cullen: I’ve been very impressed with Senator King’s thoughtful, deliberate process when speaking and how eloquently he has explained the effect of proposals when he’s spoken, especially recently in Senate Floor speeches.
Teague: A reminder that I produce three weekly updates: aging, low-income, and Veteran’s issues. Each edition includes the Senator's press releases for the week, relevant policy articles, webinars/events, and funding sources. Each of these updates also includes a link to the Senator's monthly e-newsletter. Please feel free to reach out to me via email if you’d like to be added to the email list serv ([email protected]).
Cullen: Thank you, Teague, for being here and for your wonderful weekly updates!
State Legislature Update – No additional updates.
Cullen: There is a lot of chaos going on – at every level. Please continue to raise your voice and tell your stories so that lawmakers can make good policy decisions on the needs of people with disabilities in Maine. It will continue to be a very busy, chaotic stretch but thank you for rallying and raising your voice over the next several months. We are all better for it.
Other Business:
Kim Humphrey – Community Connect Maine: We are filling spots now for our Digital Storytelling Workshop in May. Dates are 5/3, 5/10, 5/17, and 6/7 from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm. Visit CommunityConnectME.Org or email me to sign up or learn more about it. Class size is limited, and spots fill fast. We welcome a variety of stories. It’s a supportive environment and an opportunity to make great connections. It is a FREE workshop, worth $300 to each participant.
Save the Date! MACSP 2025 Professional Development Summit: Empowering the Workforce, Elevating Impact: This is a two-day event being held at the Hilton Garden Inn in Bangor.
The next meeting will be on Monday, April 14, 2025, 12-2:00pm, via Zoom*.
Featured Speaker: Cumberland County District Attorney Jackie Sartoris.
Topic: The people who fall through the cracks and into the criminal justice system.
Unless changed, Coalition meetings are on the 2nd Monday of the month from 12-2pm.
(In 2025 the October meeting will be the 3rd Monday due to the holiday)
The Maine Coalition for Housing and Quality Services provides equal opportunity for meeting participation. If you wish to attend but require an interpreter or other accommodation, please forward your request two weeks prior to the monthly meeting to [email protected].
Cullen Ryan introduced himself and welcomed the group. Minutes from the last meeting were accepted.
Featured Speaker: Laura Cordes, Executive Director, Maine Association for Community Service Providers (MACSP). meacsp.org Topic: An introduction to the First Session of the 132nd Legislature, including bills to watch, what to expect, and the ways people can advocate to effect positive change in the Legislative Session.
Cullen: I am pleased to welcome Laura Cordes, Executive Director of the Maine Association for Community Service Providers (MACSP), presenting an introduction to the First Session of the 132nd Legislature, including bills to watch, what to expect, and the ways people can advocate to effect positive change in the Legislative Session. Laura keeps track of all of the relevant bills in the legislature and has made that available to members of this Coalition. She’s at the State House frequently and remains in the know regarding all-things Legislature. Thank you for being here today, Laura!
Laura Cordes: Thank you for having me! I always love being in this space that has intentionally brought together a variety of stakeholders over the years. If you’ve been in this space you’ve seen the MCHQS 132nd Maine Legislature First Regular Session 2025 Resource Document, which is a Google Document that can be edited – please let me know if you have any edits as I’m happy to make them.
Begin Presentation.
Laura thoroughly reviewed the MCHQS 132nd Maine Legislature First Regular Session 2025 Resource Document. Highlights are included below.
Laura:
Supplemental Budget – click here for the General Fund Language; click here for Part A. This amends the current operating budget which ends 6/30/25. Public Hearings and work sessions have been held. In its report back to the Appropriations and Financial Affairs (AFA) Committee, the Health and Human Services (HHS) Committee recommended restoring COLAs. The AFA Committee did not accept the HHS Committee recommendation to include funds for COLAs. The Supplemental Budget faced votes to be engrossed in the House and Senate, however neither chamber was able to pass the bill with enough votes required as an emergency bill. As of right now, this hasn’t passed, hasn’t been enacted, and has created a lot of tensions and along with what’s going on and projected to go on at the Federal level with Medicaid. This impacts the decisions being made, or not being made, in the state.
Without immediate passage as an emergency bill (which requires a 2/3 vote), MaineCare will not have enough funds to pay providers through June. As such, MaineCare announced a plan to cap payments which will begin for the majority of providers in the ID/DD sector later this month. Payments will be delayed – for instance if you submit seven bills, six may be paid and the seventh will be delayed (this is just an example). The Department has been very thoughtful in its attempt to not have capped payments affect providers that rely on MaineCare funding. However, we just don’t know how this is going to work. The Department recently delayed the capped payments for most providers for a few weeks, only capping payments primarily for hospitals currently.
There’s blame all around as to why the Supplemental Budget hasn’t passed. It’s concerning for everyone involved. It’s a financial crisis that’s turned into a political one – for a variety of reasons. There is still room for the House and Senate to come back together to pass the Supplemental Budget, and perhaps with funding needed for MaineCare.
-A self-advocate stated that it appears there’s more protection for trees in the state of Maine than there are for people.
Laura: This is a good point – it’s hard to separate what’s happening at the Federal level, but right now we do have a surplus and we have a Rainy-Day Fund. Priorities don’t have to be at odds, there is funding available to accomplish both. With proposals to significantly cut funding for Medicaid at the Federal level, it has raised a lot of concern about what states can fund, what the State should fund, and how the Rainy-Day Fund ought to be used.
Biennial Budget – click here for the General Fund Budget Language; click here for Part A. Public Hearings and work sessions are underway.
Overview of DHHS Investments & Adjustments in Biennial Budget: The Department is cutting $450 million in funding through various changes included in the Biennial Budget.
- Suspends Cost-of-Living Adjustments (COLAs) for MaineCare Rates for the next two years. Note: On 1/1/25 COLAs were also suspended in the Supplemental Budget.
- Changes the MaineCare Rate Setting System making COLAs and any increases in services reimbursement rates “subject to available funding”.
- Does not provide funding for pending rate increases/adjustments from rate determinations for adult ID/DD services and for services in the Lifespan Waiver (most recently set to launch in July of 2026, start of FY 27). If funding is not added to launch the Lifespan Waiver, we would need to advocate for this in a future Supplemental Budget.
All of the various committees submit report-backs to the Appropriations and Financial Affairs (AFA) Committee. The AFA Committee then takes those recommendations into account and moves portions of the Budget forward. The HHS Committee did vote recently to put funding back into the Budget for COLAs in its report-back. There’s confusion whether this is for all MaineCare rates or simply rates for HCBS for ID/DD populations.
It’s unclear how they will proceed with the Biennial Budget since the Supplemental Budget hasn’t been enacted. If the Biennial Budget doesn’t pass with a 2/3 majority, it won’t go into effect for 90 days. If this is the case, there might be a “bare bones” operational budget to address the start of the fiscal year.
Bills of Interest: I’ve included a list of bills in the Google Doc – More than 2,000 bills were filed. The list of working titles submitted before Cloture is available online. Committees are expected to vote bills out of their committees by 5/9/25. Some of the bills listed are still Legislative Requests (LRs) and may merge with other bills. Some of these bills may look familiar from previous Legislative Sessions. Some bills have been printed, with Public Hearings underway.
Please see the Google Doc for the full list of bills that Laura reviewed. Bills listed below included group discussion.
-LD 46, An Act To Establish A Grant Program To Increase Postsecondary Educational Opportunities For Students With Intellectual Or Developmental Disabilities Or Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Summary: This bill establishes a grant program in the Department of Education to increase postsecondary educational opportunities and support employability for students with intellectual or developmental disabilities or autism spectrum disorder.
Current Status: Public Hearing held 3/3; Work Session 3/10 – Education Committee.
Laura: I’ll let Robin speak to LD 46 because it is MPF’s bill.
Robin Levesque – Maine Parent Federation (MPF): The Work Session is underway right now. They had the Public Hearing on 3/5, and many self-advocates testified sharing their stories, which was very moving.
Update from Robyn regarding the Work Session (currently underway): The Committee amended the bill and changed the fiscal note to $100,000. This will only fund one grant versus the original five. This still faces votes in the House and Senate, and due to having a fiscal note it would go to the Special Appropriations Table prior to enactment. There is still a long way to go.
-LD 279 An Act To Address The Shortage Of Direct Care Workers For Children With Disabilities In Maine.
Summary: This bill allows for the reimbursement of a parent providing in-home personal care services to the parent's child by allowing the parent to register as a personal care agency if the parent has made reasonable but unsuccessful efforts to obtain regular in-home personal care services and has passed a background check.
Current Status: referred to HHS Committee.
-A parent stated that this is on a lot of parents’ radars. Many parents can’t find providers for their kids, and currently they would need to be a CNA in order to be reimbursed for care they provide for their children. There are many families with children with complex needs and this bill would allow parents to be compensated for the support services they provide their kids (above and beyond parenting).
-LD 834, An Act to Update the State Supplement to Supplemental Security Income.
Summary: Increases the minimum state supplemental income benefit to $65 per month for individuals and $97.50 per month for couples (150% of the individual amount).
Starting October 1, 2026, requires the benefit to be annually adjusted based on the cost-of-living increase in the federal payment standard.
Current Status: Public Hearing: 3/17, 10am – HHS Committee.
-LD 840, An Act to Modernize the State Supplement to Supplemental Security Income by Removing Marriage Disincentives. Summary: Replaces provisions of law that currently provide that payments to couples, both of whom receive the supplement, are 150% of the benefit for an individual with provisions of law providing that payments to the couples are 200% of the benefit for an individual.
Current Status: Public Hearing: 3/17, 10am – HHS Committee.
Monique Stairs – Speaking Up For Us (SUFU): This is an issue that many self-advocates are very passionate about. There’s advocacy at the Federal level on this, but we’ve tried for the past few years to pass legislation in Maine. Last time the initiatives were combined into one bill; however, this year we separated it into two bills to increase the likelihood of one bill being enacted.
-LD 769, An Act Regarding Access to Behavioral Health Supports for Adults with Certain Disabilities.
Summary: This bill amends the law governing access to behavioral health supports for adults with an intellectual disability or autism by replacing a complex multiparty review process with a clinical review requirement. It also removes the authority to use restraints on adults except as an emergency short-term step to protect the adult from imminent injury to that adult or others. It also codifies existing rules on safety devices, making it clear that such devices are not considered positive behavioral health support plans and therefore do not require the same level of review as positive behavioral health support plans. Also, to conform with current practice, the bill repeals a provision of law regarding the authority of providers of residential services to establish house rules in residential units owned or operated by the provider.
Current Status: Public Hearing: 3/18, 1pm – HHS Committee.
Laura: The bill comes after the work the Department did on the Behavioral Regulations. This bill, the best I understand, focuses on the use of restraints and safety devices. It also seems to reorganize the review and approval process for behavioral supports or behavioral health support plans.
Bonnie-Jean Brooks – Maine Developmental Services Oversight and Advisory Board (MDSOAB): We have a subcommittee of the MDSOAB that has discussed the bill. We’re in the process of getting feedback from this subcommittee and the MDSOAB members. We’re unsure which position we’re going to take on it. I think one of the largest concern is the availability of clinical people to meet with the review team, but to also be available to providers as they’re working on support plans.
Betsy Hopkins – DHHS OADS: This is a Department bill. It was the end result of a lot of work we did with a very dedicated group of people that met monthly for well over a year. As you mentioned, the bill was put forward to amend the law governing access to behavioral health support for adults with an intellectual disability or autism and update our Chapter 5 Rule. This is the Rule which has been in place that outlines the process for the three-person committees – the current process to approve behavioral management plans which allow for the planned use of restraints. One of the major changes to the Rule will be removing the approval process for planned restraints. If emergency restraints are needed for health and safety reasons, that will be allowed, but there will be a process in place when emergency restraints are used, and it will be considered a reportable event. Throughout the stakeholder work on this topic there were a lot of stories shared about the impacts of people when they were restrained, how staff felt using restraints, etc. We talked with other states regarding best practices around this, many of which have eliminated planned use of restraint. Use of restraints is not allowed in Section 18. This Rule also governs the use of safety plans. Currently this is a very complex process which takes a lot of time and falls within the three-person process. We pulled out the Safety Planning process in this Rule to put it on this side. There’s still a process and sign-off needed. But any safety device requested by an individual requires a sign-off by a medical professional. We wanted to include this in the PCP process regarding safety devices, so long as they don’t restrict people’s rights. A lot of thought went into this. We’ve heard there are some questions that have come up and potential concerns.
-A parent asked if restraints and safety devices would be defined in the Bill and in the Rule.
Betsy: Yes, they are defined in the Rule and there has been some confusion around that. I will find this and share that information.
Staci Converse – Disability Rights Maine (DRM): I was part of that group that Betsy mentioned, and I wanted to add how much time went into all the planning. I also wanted to emphasize from the advocacy community how important this bill really is.
-A self-advocate stated that in 2021, for the first time since Pineland closed, people had the opportunity to be heard regarding the extent of abuse that happened inside the institution. The wounds are still very deep. The issue is when Pineland closed the issue of restraint remained. There’s phenomenal work that the Department did to help providers have access to least-restricted best practices. From the self-advocate standpoint, restraints are abusive.
-A parent and former Pineland staff person stated that she is still sick over what she witnessed as part of review committee regarding Pineland. However, she stated that she also has a daughter who cannot control certain behaviors, and it terrifies her, and daughter desires small restraints that greatly assist her and address immediate safety needs. She stated that she wishes hospitals were aware of less restrictive practices. She expressed caution all around regarding the use of restraints – there’s a delicate balance.
Laura: Thank you for all of this. There’s a meeting with the Department to discuss this further versus just reading the concepts in the bill itself.
-There was discussion regarding a bill Speaker Fecteau submitted pertaining to the workforce crisis for Section 96 (nursing care) that has not been printed yet. A parent stated that it appears that there’s not a waitlist for Section 96.
Laura: Speaker Fecteau’s bill I believe will require the Department to report on the unmet needs for Section 96. So, you have what’s authorized and what’s being received – the in-between are the unmet needs or the “care gap”.
Betsy: I’ll say that I don’t oversee Section 96, but I can take your question back and see if I can get an answer to your question.
-It was stated that the “waitlist” works differently for Section 96. It’s not defined as a waitlist because someone has been authorized for the service and if there were staff available someone could access it.
Laura: Key Committees and Committee Members, with contact information, are also included in the Google Doc. As a reminder, if you can’t attend Public Hearings when they occur, I would encourage you to submit testimony online , ideally on or before the day of the hearing. This is still a great time to reach out to your State legislators to tell your story.
Cullen: Thank you, Laura, for keeping us up to date at every step of the way, and for going through the bills so carefully to help us understand the intentions and implications. Thank you for taking the time to keep us informed so that we can weigh in and for all you will do this Legislative Session. Well done!
End Presentation (round of applause would have occurred were it not for everyone being muted and on Zoom)
DHHS – Office of Aging and Disability Services (OADS) - www.maine.gov/dhhs/oads
Betsy Hopkins: We have people at DHHS who are solely focused on paying attention to the Federal level. The tact that they are taking is to not discuss anything unless it’s official and directly known to impact something – for instance Medicaid. We’re trying to pay attention to what’s happening out there. There are some national organizations out there who are doing the exact same thing. I’m attending a weekly meeting regarding everything going on at the Federal level. This doesn’t take away the fear or anxiety, but please know that if something does happen that will affect disability services, we will definitely shine light on that as soon as possible.
Cullen: Thank you, Betsy, for being here and for this information. Transparency is the antidote to fear and anxiety. Thank you for being a steady voice and for your strategy for monitoring what’s happening and waiting to put anything out until it’s official to avoid confusion.
Additional OADS Updates:
Innovation Summit – Registration is now OPEN! DHHS and the Office of Aging and Disability Services presents Innovation Summit: A Path for Maine. The Innovation Summit: A Path for ME will be held in Portland, Maine, from May 19 to May 20, 2025, bringing together individuals, families, service providers, advocates, vendors, and professionals committed to enhancing the lives of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, autism, brain injuries, or other similar conditions. This dynamic event promises two days of learning, networking, and community building, focused on improving access, services, and opportunities for individuals with disabilities.
Conference Highlights Included in your Registration:
- Workshops & Presentations: Participate in insightful sessions covering topics such as inclusive education, employment opportunities, advocacy strategies, mental health, and technology for individuals with autism and disabilities. Click here to see the Schedule
- Meet New People: Connect with a diverse group of individuals, families, and professionals who share a common goal of advancing inclusion and quality of life for people with disabilities.
- Inspiring Speakers: Hear from renowned experts, advocates, and thought leaders who will inspire and provide practical solutions for challenges faced by individuals with disabilities and autism. Click here to find out who the speakers will be.
- Tech Expo: Discover cutting-edge resources from local and national organizations, including vendors, that support people with disabilities and autism, ranging from medical professionals to advocacy groups and service providers. Click here to find out more.
- Demonstrations: Engage in hands-on activities designed to promote community awareness and showcase practical tools and strategies for families, individuals, and service providers.
Summit Details:
- When: May 19 and May 20, 2025
- Where: Holiday Inn by the Bay, Portland, Maine
- Registration: Early registration begins with discounted rates available for individuals, families, and groups. Click here to Register today!
Work & Benefits Navigator Trainings: Trainings are now available for any professionals working through the waiver programs. The Work and Benefit Navigator Training through MaineHealth is funded by OADS. The training content is required in several positions where staff are supporting waiver members to learn about employment as required by the Home and Community Based Global Rule.
April Session – Virtual: This session is for employment support providers only such as Employment Specialists, VR Counselors, and Clubhouse Staff.
When: April 10 and 17, 2025, from 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM - Trainees must attend both sessions in the same month
June Session – Augusta: This session is for non-employment providers only such as case managers, residential staff, and educators.
When: June 3, 2025, from 9:00 AM - 4:30 PM.
Location: Maine Department of Labor, 45 Commerce Drive, Augusta
Space is limited. Registration is required. Confirmation will be sent two weeks before session. Cost is $25; no cost for DHHS employees or VR Counselors. Contact hours available. Must attend entire session and actively participate to receive credit.
Click here to register!
Lifespan Provider Readiness Project: Launched in spring 2024, and presented to the provider network in fall 2024, the project is partnering with National Disability Institute (NDI) to help the provider network build capacity for the upcoming Lifespan Waiver implementation. OADS and the provider network have been collaborating since 2023 to support the Innovation Pilot Grant project. As part of this effort, the project has developed a technical assistance application. More than 100 providers applied for this technical assistance along with some stipends to help them prepare for Lifespan Waiver services. Those award notices were sent to providers on Friday, February 7th, with a kickoff meeting planned for all on February 11th. The technical assistance and support for providers will continue through June 30th, 2025. You can find more information about this work here.
DHHS-OADS: Home & Community-Based Services Quality Assurance Project Town Hall Follow-Up: Thank You to Those Who Participated in the Town Hall! On Tuesday, January 21st, DHHS hosted a town hall meeting with a group called Alvarez and Marsal (A&M) to share information about its Home and Community Based Service (HCBS) Quality Assurance project and to ask for your feedback. DHHS is grateful to everyone who joined and shared ideas about how DHHS can improve the way it handles problems to make services safer and better. Your input is helping to make a difference in how problems like injuries or medication mistakes are handled! If you couldn’t join the live session, the recording is available on the DHHS website. You can watch the recording here. In addition to hearing initial feedback and questions during the town hall, DHHS wanted to hear more about your experiences in other settings that may be more comfortable for sharing feedback. As such, DHHS held focused listening sessions at the end of January with small groups and created a survey as opportunities to hear more from you.
Survey for all Interested Parties – DHHS also wants to collect your feedback through a survey. All members, families, advocates, and support groups are encouraged to complete the survey. This survey will not collect any identifying information, such as name or email address, from respondents. This survey will ask questions related to how DHHS handles problems to make services safer and better. Your answers could help DHHS make the system that handles problems better! Click here to take our SURVEY
DHHS – Children’s Behavioral Health Services (CBHS), Office of Behavioral Health (OBH) - www.maine.gov/dhhs/obh/support-services/childrens-behavioral-health - No Update
DOL – Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) - www.maine.gov/rehab/dvr
Libby Stone-Sterling could not attend today’s meeting but sent the following update via email: The Division for the Blind & Visually Impaired and Division of Vocational Rehabilitation are excited to offer a new program for transition students this July! Introducing VIBE: Venturing into Independence & Building skills for Employment. Please share our flyer with students and families. VIBE participants must be 14+ and be a VR or Potentially Eligible student with a disability receiving services from DBVI or DVR.
Program Details:
When: July 13–25, 2025
Where: University of Southern Maine, Gorham campus
Overview: VIBE will focus on career and college exploration, self-advocacy skills, workplace readiness, independent living skills, and hands-on learning in the classroom and community. VIBE will include a two-day and one overnight trip to Boston, where students will experience various modes of public transportation, and participate in an employer visit and college tour. Students will have many opportunities for social/leisure activities to foster fun and build friendships.
Participant Expectations
Students must:
- Be independent with basic personal care needs (toileting, bathing, dressing, etc.).
- Have basic safety skills (able to stay with the group, respect others personal space and property).
- Be able to manage appropriate social and behavioral expectations independently or with minimal support.
- Have good physical and mental stamina: Breaks will be provided; however, program days will be busy with a lot of listening, learning, community travel, and hands-on activities.
Space is limited for this program, so please encourage your student to register early. Registration deadline is April 30, 2025.
Click here to register.
Office of Special Services and Inclusive Education (OSSIE) - www.maine.gov/doe/learning/specialed - No Update
Disability Rights Maine (DRM) Update:
Lucas Cuellar: I will echo others regarding the impact of restraint I’ve seen. There are circumstances and times when we see plans that include the use of restraint when the plans are very well designed to support the person at all other levels. In these circumstances the use of emergency restraint (versus planned) could work well.
I’m sure you’ve all seen that the Department is once again enforcing certain aspects of the Section 21 Home Support Agency Per Diem Authorizations in Two-Person Homes requirement. We are aware that people are concerned that if they’re living in a two-person home that is billed in the way in which it was allowed under the K Waiver they may be receiving notice that their services will end if the home cannot find a second person to live there. There is a process by which people can request a reasonable modification or accommodation under the ADA to be served as one person in the home (as opposed to two). I wanted to mention that there is an exceptions process by which people could request an exception to monetary services provided under the waiver. Hopefully, this will all roll out and people will be able to feel good about things and if not we’re ready to assist with advocacy around modifications/accommodations/exceptions. I also wanted to mention that one of our Youth Self-Advocates is working with Titus and the Department to provide more information for young people in schools to self-lead their IEP meetings.
Cullen: Thank you, Lucas!
Federal & Housing Updates:
-A self-advocate stated that all of the unknowns at the Federal level are concerning and causing a lot of fear and anxiety. Federal funding affects the system of care for Maine; it’s very stressful.
Cullen: Thank you for expressing that. It is very difficult to stay grounded and oriented when things come in fits and bursts, and then there’s nothing concrete. This creates confusion and stress and also complicates a coordinated response. It is a very stressful time. As we discussed last month, there’s an effort to thwart a lot of government programs that have had funding authorized by Congress. There’s a lot being thrown out there all at once to create confusion, and sometimes fear and chaos, and it’s very hard to tell how everything will shake out. There are more questions than answers. I’m glad we can come together as a Coalition and share the information that we know and get through all of this together.
All of us ought to focus on continuing our efforts despite any and all attempts to undermine our work. We have the benefit of a Delegation that appears to be on the side of trying to stop these efforts. The biggest threat that we’re facing, I believe, is potential cuts to Medicaid. Medicaid is again the target of cuts through various proposals, including Medicaid per capita cap and block grant proposals, floating around Congress (see below for more information). We will be watching this closely. We will also continue to closely monitor Executive Orders and other policy proposals which would affect housing, services, and other resources for people with ID/DD. When things arise, we will be sure to make you aware through action alerts.
-Executive Orders – After his Inauguration, President Trump initiated a series of Executive Orders (EOs) which, if implemented/upheld by the courts, could make more difficult for everyone to access to an affordable, accessible home. Per NLIHC, the new Administration’s first actions include:
- Directing federal agencies to terminate all diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) practices and policies and rescind previous executive actions expanding DEI efforts to underserved communities.
- Institute a hiring freeze which would prevent HUD from hiring essential staff.
- Denying fair housing and civil rights protections to LGBTQ individuals and directing HUD to rescind protections for transgender people experiencing homelessness and seeking shelter, which could lead to more people experiencing unsheltered homelessness. Directing federal agencies to prevent sanctuary jurisdictions, or jurisdictions that limit or deny cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, from receiving federal investments. If this EO is used to deny states and localities access to federal housing, homelessness, and community development funding/programs, it would undermine local governments’ ability to help families purchase a home, build more affordable rental housing, and prevent and address homelessness.
- House Republican Budget Proposal – A new House Republican Budget was released by Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington, and the House approved the framework for a massive reconciliation bill on 2/26 – the first major step in the process. Per the National Low-Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC): The bill would cut federal spending on social programs to pay for an extension of tax provisions primarily benefiting higher-income households and corporations and providing support for additional military and border defense. The House Budget relies upon $1.5 trillion in spending cuts. It is believed that Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will be targeted for deep cuts, including the imposition of work requirements. Per the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP): The House Budget would reduce food assistance and health coverage for people who need it, and could result in cost shifts to state, local, territorial, and tribal governments. 36 million people or more could be at risk of losing their health coverage through Medicaid, and more than 40 million people could receive less help from SNAP, with millions of them potentially losing their food assistance altogether.
-Senate Republican Budget Proposal – Per CBPP: On 2/7, Senate Republicans released a budget framework which lays a path for a future budget bill that appears to c increase military and homeland security spending and reduce food assistance and health coverage. The plan would direct four committees in the Senate, including those with jurisdiction over Medicaid, SNAP, student loans, and certain energy resilience programs to make cuts totaling at least $1 billion each. Currently there is only information on which committees would be required to find cuts to offset the spending, it is unknown how much would come from each committee or which programs they would target for cuts.
-Congressional Medicaid Proposals (including per capita cap and block grant proposals) – There are various Medicaid proposals floating around in Congress currently, including Medicaid Per Capita Cap policy proposals. Per CBPP: Recent proposals from Republican congressional leaders and a conservative think tank would impose a per capita cap on federal Medicaid funding or, similarly, turn Medicaid into a block grant. These proposals would dramatically change Medicaid’s funding structure, deeply cut federal funding, and shift costs and financial risks to states. Should this happen, faced with large and growing reductions in federal funding, states could cut eligibility and benefits, which could put millions of people at risk of losing health coverage and access to Medicaid-funded services. There are also various proposals from Republican Congressional leaders that would impose work requirements for Medicaid. Per CBPP: that 36 million Medicaid enrollees — including people in every state — could be at risk of losing their coverage under various proposals.
-Potential SNAP cuts – Prominent Republican lawmakers have proposed cuts and other policy changes to SNAP that could gain traction in Congress. If implemented, this could cut food assistance for millions of people in the country, per CBPP: “SNAP is our nation’s most effective and important tool to fight hunger, reaching over 40 million children, parents, older adults, disabled people, workers, and other low-income people each month, or about 1 in 8 people in the U.S., including 1 in 5 children. Research shows SNAP reduces food insecurity and is linked to improved health, education, and economic outcomes and to lower medical costs for participants. It also supports workers in low-paid jobs and has ripple effects in the economy overall and in individual communities as SNAP benefits are redeemed in stores across the U.S.”
Federal Bills Introduced in the new Congress (or expected to be introduced in the coming months):
- SSI Savings Penalty Elimination Act: This is expected to be reintroduced this month as a bipartisan/bicameral bill in the Senate and House. The bill will update SSI’s asset limits for the first time since the 1980s to ensure people with disabilities and seniors are able to prepare themselves for a financial emergency without putting the benefits that they rely on to live at risk. à There is a sign-on letter being circulated for groups and organizations to endorse the reintroduction of this bill. Click here for more information.
- S 343/HR 869 Keep our PACT Act: This bill would require full funding of part A of title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
- HR 1634 ThinkDIFFERENTLY About Disability Employment Act: This bill would provide for a memorandum of understanding between the Small Business Administration and the National Council on Disability to increase employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities, and for other purposes.
- HR 1757 To amend title XVI of the Social Security Act to provide that the supplemental security income benefits of adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities shall not be reduced by reason of marriage (bill title will change, this is merely a placeholder): Full bill text is not yet available. This bill would amend title XVI of the Social Security Act to provide that the supplemental security income benefits of adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities shall not be reduced by reason of marriage.
- S 466 A bill to amend title II of the Social Security Act to increase the age threshold for eligibility for child's insurance benefits on the basis of disability (bill title will change, this is merely a placeholder): Full bill text is not yet available. This bill would amend title II of the Social Security Act to increase the age threshold for eligibility for child's insurance benefits on the basis of disability.
- The Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act: Expected to be reintroduced. This bill would create nearly two million new affordable homes across the country – including thousands in Maine. The Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act would expand the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) to provide more homes for low-income people, support small businesses trying to attract workers, and fill the state’s gap of more than 20,000 affordable housing units. This has strong bipartisan, bicameral support, increasing its likelihood for passage.
-It was stated that the hearing for Dr. Mehmet Oz, the nomination for the Director of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), is being held on 3/14 at 10:00am.
Teague Morris – Senator King’s Office: Senator King’s office is receiving thousands of calls. We truly value the input and you’re doing an amazing job as advocates. Keep reaching out and advocating. Senator King is responsive where he can be, but he’s not necessarily responding to every little thing. He’s very thoughtful and deliberate when he chooses to speak.
Cullen: I’ve been very impressed with Senator King’s thoughtful, deliberate process when speaking and how eloquently he has explained the effect of proposals when he’s spoken, especially recently in Senate Floor speeches.
Teague: A reminder that I produce three weekly updates: aging, low-income, and Veteran’s issues. Each edition includes the Senator's press releases for the week, relevant policy articles, webinars/events, and funding sources. Each of these updates also includes a link to the Senator's monthly e-newsletter. Please feel free to reach out to me via email if you’d like to be added to the email list serv ([email protected]).
Cullen: Thank you, Teague, for being here and for your wonderful weekly updates!
State Legislature Update – No additional updates.
Cullen: There is a lot of chaos going on – at every level. Please continue to raise your voice and tell your stories so that lawmakers can make good policy decisions on the needs of people with disabilities in Maine. It will continue to be a very busy, chaotic stretch but thank you for rallying and raising your voice over the next several months. We are all better for it.
Other Business:
Kim Humphrey – Community Connect Maine: We are filling spots now for our Digital Storytelling Workshop in May. Dates are 5/3, 5/10, 5/17, and 6/7 from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm. Visit CommunityConnectME.Org or email me to sign up or learn more about it. Class size is limited, and spots fill fast. We welcome a variety of stories. It’s a supportive environment and an opportunity to make great connections. It is a FREE workshop, worth $300 to each participant.
Save the Date! MACSP 2025 Professional Development Summit: Empowering the Workforce, Elevating Impact: This is a two-day event being held at the Hilton Garden Inn in Bangor.
- Wednesday, June 25th: Strength in Connection: Supporting the Case Management Workforce – Professional Development Workshop for all Case Management and Care Coordination Professionals spanning children and adult services.
- Thursday, June 26th: Bridging Perspectives: From Quality Intentions to Exceptional Outcomes – Professional Development Workshop for any professional in disability support services committed to ensuring quality and continuous improvement for services, our workforce, and people supported.
The next meeting will be on Monday, April 14, 2025, 12-2:00pm, via Zoom*.
Featured Speaker: Cumberland County District Attorney Jackie Sartoris.
Topic: The people who fall through the cracks and into the criminal justice system.
Unless changed, Coalition meetings are on the 2nd Monday of the month from 12-2pm.
(In 2025 the October meeting will be the 3rd Monday due to the holiday)
The Maine Coalition for Housing and Quality Services provides equal opportunity for meeting participation. If you wish to attend but require an interpreter or other accommodation, please forward your request two weeks prior to the monthly meeting to [email protected].