Moving Forward: Vol. 19, Issue 1

Happy New Year! This is the first issue of Moving Forward for the 2014 Legislative Session. In this issue, we review the leadership changes in the House and Senate, some budget items of interest to the disability community, and give an overview of legislative terminology and effective advocacy. The first day of the 2014 Legislative Session will be Monday, January 13. We anxiously await the release of the Governor’s budget, expected January 15.

This is the first year since the recession hit that state agencies were not asked to reduce their budgets. However, even if there are no further agency budget cuts this year, there have been several years of budget reductions making it challenging to effectively use those resources to meet the current need.

We congratulate Ms. D’Arcy Robb, the Public Policy Director for the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities, on the birth of her baby girl in December. She is currently on maternity leave but will be back. We also welcome Ms. Dawn Alford as the new Planning and Policy Development Specialist for the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities. Please extend a warm welcome to her.

Get involved: (1) If you are not already a member of the GCDD advocacy network, we invite you to join and receive information as we work together to create a better place for Georgians with disabilities. Go to www.gcdd.org and click on “Join ourAdvocacy Network” and follow the instructions. (2) Register for Disability Day at: http://bit.ly/1eT5C5s


Moving Forward PDF File

Moving Forward Text File

Moving-Forward-Vol19-Issue1-page1

Moving-Forward-Vol19-Issue1-page2