Forwarded Action Alert – Maine Disability Alerts: Upcoming Public Hearing regarding LD 1984 "An Act To Eliminate Waiting Lists for Home and Community-based Services for Adults with Intellectual Disabilities, Autism, Brain Injury and Other Related Co

Forwarded Action Alert – Maine Disability Alerts:  Upcoming Public Hearing regarding LD 1984 "An Act To Eliminate Waiting Lists for Home and Community-based Services for Adults with Intellectual Disabilities, Autism, Brain Injury and Other Related Conditions."  
Dear Friends of Mainers with Disabilities,
 
A Public hearing has been scheduled for LD 1984, "An Act To Eliminate Waiting Lists for Home and Community-based Services for Adults with Intellectual Disabilities, Autism, Brain Injury and Other Related Conditions"
 
The public hearing will be at 2 pm on Monday, 1/27 in the Health and Human Services (HHS) committee room, which is room 209 Burton M Cross State Office Building, Augusta (free parking is available in the garage across the street).
 
Please consider taking action to show your support for this bill, and there are a few easy ways in which you can do so:

• Testify in person at the public hearing on Monday, 1/27, at 2:00pm.   
• Submit written testimony:
  • You can submit written testimony online, and doing so is simple.  You can use the webform at https://www.mainelegislature.org/testimony/ if you choose "Health and Human Services" committee, then choose date "Jan 27 2020 2:00 PM" then check the box for LD 1984, as illustrated in the picture below:

• You can email it directly to HHS committee members at the following addresses:
  • Sen Geoff Gratwick (D-Penobscot) (sen chair) [email protected]
  • Sen Ned Claxton (D-Androscoggin) [email protected]
  • Sen Marianne Moore (R-Washington) [email protected]
  • Rep Patty Hymanson (D-York) (house chair) [email protected]
  • Rep Margaret Craven (D-Lewiston) [email protected]
  • Rep Abigail Griffin (R-Levant) [email protected]
  • Rep Kathy Javner (R-Chester) [email protected]
  • Rep Colleen Madigan (D-Waterville) [email protected]
  • Rep Michele Meyer (D-Eliot) [email protected]
  • Rep Beth O'Connor (R-Berwick) [email protected]
  • Rep Anne Perry (D-Calais) [email protected]
  • Rep Holly Stover (D-Boothbay) [email protected]
  • Rep Rachel Talbot Ross (D-Portland) [email protected]
• If you chose to speak at the Public Hearing and/or submit written testimony, your message can be simple:
  • If you think that the waitlists should be eliminated then you may consider thanking them for previous funding to help address a portion of the Section 21 waitlist, and ask that they make LD 1984 a top priority so that that all of the waitlists can be eliminated.  There are currently about 1,600 people on the wait list for the Section 21 comprehensive waiver and hundreds each on the Section 29, 20, and 18 wait lists. 
  If you happen to be a constituent of any of the legislators on the HHS Committee you could consider reaching out to them directly via email asking for their support.  If your Representative and/or Senator is not on the HHS Committee, you could still reach out and ask that encourage their colleagues on the HHS Committee to support LD 1984 to eliminate the wait lists.  You can get their email addresses by searching based on your town for House members at http://legislature.maine.gov/house/house/MemberProfiles/ListAlphaTown and for Senate members at http://legislature.maine.gov/senate-home-page/find-your-state-senator
   
  Thank you!