Some parts of the budget are being leaked to the public by Capitol Fax and other
sources as a result of a briefing of Legislative Leaders last night.  Here is what we
know this morning:

  • A whopping $1.5 bil is being cut out of Medicaid.
  • All community grants have been eliminated, including respite, dental, The
    Autism Project and The Arc’s Life Span Program.
  • There is a 10% cut to state institutions.
  • At this time I am not aware of any cuts to community developmental disability
    services.  That doesn’t mean that there aren’t any.

We will certainly monitor this and ask questions at the Budget Briefing at 2:00 p.m.
today.

As I have said many times before, this is the first step in the budget process.  The
proposed budget will be presented at noon today and then it will be up to the
members of the House and Senate to either rewrite, dissect or come to some
compromise of what has been proposed. Remember, the Democrats hold a veto-
proof majority in both houses. Our local legislators become critical in this budget
process this year.  Expect many calls to action from The Arc, and your sharing of
personal stories of the impact on developmental disability services is paramount
in these uncertain times.
Once again, we have a lot of work to do, but we will prevail!


Tony Paulauski
Executive Director
The Arc of Illinois
20901 S. LaGrange Rd. Suite 209
Frankfort, IL 60423
815-464-1832 (OFFICE)
815-464-1832 (CELL)
Tony@thearcofil.org