Governor Charlie Crist's Fiscal Year 2008-09 Budget Recommendations

Governor Charlie Crist's Fiscal Year 2008-09 Budget Recommendations were released on Thursday.
In the proposed budget, services for individuals with developmental disabilities provided by the Agency for Persons with Disabilities (APD) and the Bureau for Exceptional Student Education Services are not slated for further reductions or eliminations at this time.

You can examine the Governor's complete budget by clicking here.
The Governor's office based its budget on the October 2007 estimating conference. Since October, however, Amy Baker, head of the Office of Economic and Demographic Research, has recommended that between $400- $600-million more dollars be cut from the budget, in order to better reflect the state's continuing decline in revenues. In addition, various financial experts have warned that by the time the 2008 legislative session is over, the Florida Legislature will need to cut almost $1-billion more dollars in order to balance the state's budget.
With this information in mind, the Legislature will be studying suggestions to further reduce the costs and administration associated with serving people with developmental disabilities. Some members of the Senate, in particular, have publicly suggested that major changes need to be made to the Agency for Persons with Disabilities administratively and with regard to the prioritization of how people are served off the waiting list. As this Alert is being written, proposals for managed care solutions to controlling costs are being seriously considered.
So, what can you do?

The Florida Developmental Disabilities Council, Inc. strongly opposes managed care “solutions” for the implementation of Developmental Disability Home and Community Based Waiver Services and proposes expanding the Consumer Directed Care Program designed to allow consumers and families the ability to choose their services and providers, while having to live within their budgets.
Please contact the members of the Senate Health and Human Services Appropriations Committee and the members of the House Healthcare Council and voice your opposition to managed care “solutions” that will take dollars away from needed services and put them in the pockets of large and impersonal managed care corporations.

Share Your Stories
The Council wants to hear from those among you willing to share your stories with the media about the importance of these services in your life and also how last session's service reductions and eliminations have adversely affected your life and the lives of those you love.
Please email Ms. Vanda Bowman at vandab@fddc.org or call Ms. Bowman, toll-free, at 800-580-7801 with details and current contact information. Your information will not be released without your permission.