On June 22, The Arc of Illinois along with disability advocates across the country celebrate the 19th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Olmstead decision, which has forced states to offer opportunities to people with disabilities to live in the least restricted settings. On this day, we ask you to make TWO ACTIONS: 1) Join the... Read more »
Call to Families on Homebased who use Self-Directed Assistance (SDA). The Division of Developmental Disabilities has made significant changes to the services formally known as service facilitation. With the updated Adult Services Waiver and the implemenation of conflict-free case management, service facilitation officially went away and in its place came self-directed assistance (SDA). The Arc... Read more »
Hope everyone had a great weekend celebrating June and the passage of a new state budget. Today the Governor is expected to sign the $38.5 billion dollar budget into law. We are thankful that much has been included in the new budget – restoration of funding for DD grants, restoration of preventative dental care under... Read more »
Happy Friday! Although we have been focused this week on Springfield, the federal government continues to make disability policy. Check out this update from the Arc of the United States: for the week of May 29, 2018 Action Alert Did Your Representatives Vote to Protect SNAP? Major Recent Events Budget & Appropriations – Appropriations... Read more »
Earlier today the House passed the FY19 state budget appropriations bill 97-18-0. See here how your house members voted. See how your senator voted. Here is the BIMP language as well. Remember there is the budget appropriations bill and then the BIMB which is the implementation bill. The Arc of Illinois is very pleased that the Legislature... Read more »
Last night, the Senate passed a budget (check it out here). House Bill 109 Amendment #2 (with a vote of 54 yeas and 2 nays) now goes to the House for approval. Once the House approves it will be sent to the Governor for signature. The budget is more than 1200 pages, but here are some... Read more »
Tell Congress to Keep Its Hands Off SNAP Access to nutritious food for millions of people in the U.S. is at risk Last week the U.S. House of Representatives defeated H.R. 2 (the Agriculture & Nutrition Act of 2018, or “Farm Bill”) that would have cut off or reduced basic food assistance under the Supplemental Nutrition... Read more »
It has been a busy week! In this update we talk about: State legislative activity Electronic Visit Verification and connection to Homebased Self-Direction Assistance Changes 1115 waiver implementation and possible connection with IDD Lawsuit around Medicaid Issues Access Living Lawsuit about Chicago Special Education State Legislative Activity This was a committee deadline in the House. ... Read more »
Thanks to those who responded and are willing to offer insights about legislative and administrative changes needed to improve access to employment. Our focus will be two fold: What is needed to help to support agencies shifting people away from subminimum wage? What is needed to improve capacity and increase supported employment opportunities for people... Read more »
Just announced today: CMS released additional guidance for states around EVV. It is saying that excludes ICFDDs AND group home/congregate settings (see the FAQ link below). Guidance is here: https://www.medicaid.gov/medicaid/hcbs/guidance/electronic-visit-verification/index.html The Arc of the United States is still advocating for general delay of implementation is struggling states like ours. New SDA billing rules A couple of... Read more »