Dear Friends of Mainers with Disabilities,
The legislature has passed an amended supplemental budget, pared way way down due to the covid-19 emergency. A couple of issues of interest to the disability community (dollar figures refer to general fund amounts):
The means that LD 1984 (the wait list bill) will be carried over. (That bill has been amended by the HHS committee to clear the 29 wait list, take some people off the 21 wait list, and temporarily raise the per-person expenditure limit in Section 29.) So we will have to return to the wait list issue whenever the legislature convenes for the special session. The Governor has issued a press release that ends by saying "she intends to call the Legislature back for a Special Session as soon as is safe and prudent and that it is her strong preference that during such a session priority attention be given to only the most pressing matters." She said the same in item 2-2 in the same senate calendar supplement referenced above. It will be up to the disability community to ensure that the legislature recognizes the unfinished business on wait lists as such a most pressing matter. Thank you for your work to date. May you and everyone you care about stay safe and healthy throughout the covid-19 crisis and into the future. |
Postings |