Public Policy for the People: Volume 2, Issue 6 - March 14, 2016

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 Volume 2, Issue 6

Insider Highlights

The countdown has begun - only four more legislative days left. Today Monday, March 14 is legislative day 36, and Sine Die is scheduled for Thursday, March 24. Last week, the Senate passed its version of the FY 2017 budget. There were no new NOW/COMP waivers beyond the 100 NOW waivers the Governor put in his recommendations, and the Senate agreed with the House to keep the full $3.7 million in the budget to get the ICWP Personal Support Services rate up to that of CCSP/SOURCE. See the advocacy action below and be sure to thank the Senate for its support of the ICWP rate disparity issue.

Finally, last week on March 10, we held our final advocacy day for this session. We called it our Wildcard Day so we could choose what issue needed attention, and we chose the ABLE Act. Speaking of ABLE, the following information is hot of the presses. The ABLE Act (HB768) was heard on the Senate floor today and passed unanimously! It does have to go back to the House for a vote as the Senate version had a very minor wording difference.

Advocacy Actions: Get Involved!

Budget 101

On Monday, March 7 the Senate Appropriations committee passed its recommendations for the FY 2017 budget and on Thursday, March 10, the full Senate voted on the budget. To see a full list of differences between the House and Senate versions of the budget, click here. A committee made up of members from both the House and the Senate, a conference committee, was scheduled to meet early this morning (Monday, March 14) to discuss resolving these differences.

Issue Update

To see the most updated version of the GCDD 2016 legislative agenda, please click here.

Employment First
If you have not had the chance already, be sure to read the committee report that resulted from last fall's House study committee "Post-Secondary Education & Employment Options for Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities" that was chaired by Representative Katie Dempsey. As you recall in an earlier newsletter, we said the governor announced on Disability Day that he is happy to support the efforts of Rep. Katie Dempsey and her study committee to establish a Georgia Employment First Council hosted by GVRA that will create recommendations about how Georgia should proceed as an Employment First State.

Inclusive Post-secondary Education
Unfortunately, the when the House passed its version of the budget on February 19, it did not include any additional funding for the Georgia Inclusive Post-Secondary Education Program. However, we aren't giving up! Right now the Senate is deliberating on the budget so we need you reach out to the Senate TODAY and ask them to invest in inclusive postsecondary education programs by doubling the legislative funding from $200,000 to $400,000. ​
 
ABLE - submitted by Elizabeth J. Appley, Esq., AADD Public Policy Advocate

Last week the ABLE Act (HB 768) passed out of the Senate Finance Committee with a unanimous vote! As of last Friday, the Senate Rules Committee placed the ABLE Act (HB 768) on the Senate floor for a vote, Monday, 14. Today there was a vote on the Senate floor, and it passed unanimously! Since the version of the bill that the Senate passed had an amendment making an extremely minor addition in wording, it will have to go back to the House for a vote on the current version of the bill. Please contact your Senate member TODAY to thank them for their support of HB 768 (The ABLE Act). You can find your senator at www.openstates.org.

Family Care Act

Thank you to all of you who have worked so hard to support the Family Care Act this session. As we reported in the last issue, SB 242 is dead for this session because it did not make the crossover deadline. Please reach out to if you wish to be added to the list for the Job Family Collaborative so that you can be notified of the post-session debrief and strategy planning session to begin planning for next year.

Standard of Proof for Intellectual Disability

Thank you to all who have supported our efforts this session to get SB 401 introduced. Please contact Caitlin Childs at or Kathryn Hamoudah at if you are interested in joining the PAPE (Proof to a Preponderance of the Evidence) Coalition to strategize on this issue going forward.

Bills

Please note the information within this section is current as of Friday, March 11, 2016 (cutoff for publishing). To see a list of bills that GCDD is tracking with the latest status, please click here. Note: Click on the bill number to be taken to a page to get further information on the bill and see the entire language of the bill if you wish.


Advocacy Corner

Question of the Week

Question: Where can I find campaign finance disclosures for those running for an elected office?
Answer: Go to www.ethics.ga.gov, the website for the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission, to see campaign finance disclosures, lobbyist disclosure reports and lawmakers' personal finance disclosures.

To see a list of legislative terms associated with the Georgia General Assembly, click here.

Dates to Remember

GCDD Advocacy Days, Teach-ins, Weekly Policy Calls, and Disability Day:
Weekly GCDD legislative call: Every Monday at 9:30 a.m. Dial 1-888-355-1249 and enter passcode 232357 at the prompt.

Resources

Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities 2016 Legislative Agenda
Tips on How to Speak with Your Legislator
Accessibility on Capitol Hill
House Committee Meeting Calendar
Senate Committee Meeting Calendar
Watch the Session Live
Find your Legislator
Georgia State Constitution

Join Our Advocacy Network

To receive updates and calls to action during the session, be sure to join our advocacy network. In order to ensure you receive important legislative communications, be sure to select to receive both the Public Policy and UNLOCK alerts.

Sincerely,

GCDD Public Policy Team

Tags: GCDD, Advocacy, public policy