Monday, March 28, 2011

SB 210 Passes out of Joint House Committee - Next Stop, Full House

This morning, a joint committee comprised of the House Social Service Budget Committee and the House Aging and Long Term Care Committee met to hear and deliberate Senate Bill 210.  The joint committee heard testimony from Richard Schenk of the Alliance and Tom Laing of InterHab, and also received a briefing on the bill from legislative staff.  SRS was given the opportunity to speak to the bill, but indicated they did not wish to offer testimony. 

Deliberations on the bill included concerns that new dollars would expand the federal deficit, concerns that new dollars would not go to increase direct care worker wages, and concerns that new funds wouldn’t be used to address the DD waiting lists.  In the end however, the joint committee voted  largely in favor of passing the bill out of both committees.  Only three “no” votes were registered.

Next stop for the bill would be debate by the full House, which could occur as early as Wednesday.  That means we have to kick our efforts into high gear right away!  


If you have a representative on either the Social Service Budget committee, or the Aging and Long-Term Care Committee who voted in support of SB 210 today - thank them for that support and encourage them to speak on the bill's behalf when the bill is considered by the full House.


In addition, make another round of contacts with each of your Representatives to ask for their support of SB 210 - provide them with information on the bill and the positive impact it will have on the DD system.


We'll be sure to update the blog with more information as we get it!  For now, kick your advocacy efforts into high gear and let us know what you hear from your Representatives!

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