The Week Ahead

SENATE

No items to report

HOUSE

Committee on Children and Families

9:00am                      Room 142-S


Tuesday, February 1st:
Testimony on Autism Issues

Thursday, February 3rd:
Testimony on Seclusion & Restraint of Autistic Children

Social Services Budget Committee

3:30 PM                DSOB 711

·         Wednesday, February 2

Parsons State Hospital and KNI budget hearing - staff overview and agency presentation

·         Thursday, February 3

Parsons State Hospital and KNI budget hearing – public testimony

Have you checked out www.kslegislature.org lately?

If you've visited the Kansas legislative website, www.kslegislature.org recently, you'll have noticed things look a little different than last year.  Currently, a new website is under construction and a temporary site is sitting in its place.  The temporary site still has a lot of great features - such as finding your legislator or listening live to Senate and House Sessions.  The new site is scheduled to launch on February 15th, and is promised to be an improvement over the last one!

In the meantime, if there is anything your InterHab staff can be helpful with, please let us know.

Week in Review: Hearings & Meetings

It was indeed a busy week in the legislature – particularly in the House!  On Tuesday morning, Interhab staff presented testimony to the House Children and Families Committee.  Policy issues surrounding the HCBS MR/DD Waiver and the subject of direct care workers and wage parity were discussed.  Staff also shared written testimony by Colin McKenney, MCDS regarding the concept of a Family Support Waiver.

On Wednesday afternoon, InterHab staff attended the House Social Services Budget Committee hearing to listen in on an update from Deputy Secretary of Disability and Behavioral Health Sciences, Ray Dalton regarding the Money Follows the Person (MFP) grant.  Dalton reported that the federal Affordable Care Act has extended the MFP grant to 2016.  He informed the committee that the overarching goal of the grant is to assist states in moving individuals from institutional settings to community-based care.  Dalton informed the committee that the grant offers an enhanced federal match rate (80/20) for the 1^st year an individual is in the community and that this would be very useful should individuals transition from KNI to the community.  While there were plenty of handouts, including the Facilities Closure Commission recommendations and Governor Parkinson’s Executive Order, there was not much discussion on institutional closure following Dalton’s report.

Staff also attended the House Committee on Aging and Long-Term Care this morning where SRS Secretary, Robert Seidlecki gave an overview of SRS.

InterHab staff have also met with principal advisers to the new Governor, as well as key legislators in the past week to review the fundamental principles of the proposal to adopt a DD Provider assessment law. To date the proposal has been received everywhere with genuine interest, which has helped to sustain our optimism for the adoption of this vitally needed funding method.. There remains several small technical matters to resolve, but progress has been made each day since the inauguration of the new Governor and the swearing in of new legislators.  

Busy week in the Legislature

Several legislative committees will focus on disability-related issues this week. Among the committee hearings:

Tuesday, January 26th -

The House Social Service Budget Committee will hear an overview of HCBS waivers from SRS, while the Children and Families Committee will hold a hearing on the waivers.

Wednesday, January 27th -

The House Appropriations Committee will receive an update on SRS from acting secretary Robert Siedlecki, while the House Social Services Budget Committee will receive an update on Money Follows the Person.

Thursday, January 28th -

Acting SRS secretary, Robert Siedlecki will present an agency overview to the House Aging and Long Term Care Committee.

2011 Legislative Session underway!

the 2011 Legislative Session began on Monday, a snow-filled day which also saw Sam Brownback sworn in as the 45th Governor of the state of Kansas.

As the session gets underway, it's important that you renew your commitment to advocacy on behalf of Kansans with developmental disabilities. Start today by sending best wishes for the 2011 Legislative Session to your legislators via e-mail. It takes only a couple of minutes.

To send an e-mail, please visit the Invisible Kansans website and click on the "Support Kansas DD Funding" button. You will then be asked to provide your zip code. A few more clicks and your e-mail will be sent to your legislators. It's easy!

Brownback Announces SRS Nominee

Governor-Elect Sam Brownback introduced his nominee for secretary of SRS this afternoon at a  news conference at the Statehouse.  Bronwback's SRS nominee is Robert Siedlecki, Jr., current Chief of Staff for the Florida Department of Health.

The Florida Department of Health’s website lists the following biographical information regarding Mr. Siedlecki:

Robert Siedlecki, Jr., is the Chief of Staff of the Florida Department of Health. Prior to his current position, Rob served for almost six years in the federal government as Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for Children and Families in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and as Senior Legal Counsel to the Task Force for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives at the U.S. Department of Justice. In addition, he has over eight years of practice in the private sector. Rob is a graduate of Harvard College (1991) and Cornell Law School (1995).

A native of south Florida, Rob grew up in Broward and Palm Beach Counties and is a graduate of Pine Crest High School (1987) in Ft. Lauderdale.