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Captiol Weekly  9/30/10 — Nearly a year after the Schwarzenegger administration awarded $26.5 million to county district attorneys to combat fraud in the state In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) system, DAs are beginning to report some results.  However, it remains unclear whether the program will result in the $130 million in savings promised by the governor, numbers that would indicate nearly $5 in return for every dollar spent. Read the rest of this entry »


By Evan Halper, Los Angeles Times
Care recipients are supposed to be able to get the information for free from the state, but lack of an implementation plan and a conflicting statute are cited as reasons it’s not happening. Read the rest of this entry »


Doug Moore, UDW Executive Director  addresses rally in Orange County.  Video - Read the rest of this entry »


Do you think IHSS providers and consumers are “fraudsters”? Read the rest of this entry »


  1. This election is perhaps the most important one in the history of California — certainly for IHSS. Read the rest of this entry »

CDCAN DISABILITY RIGHTS REPORT #182-2010 –  OCTOBER 7,  2010

California Budget Crisis:

Details On In-Home Supportive Services Reductions

Budget Trailer Bill Attached To This Report – 2009 IHSS Cuts Not Rescinded But Delayed To Allow Cases To Be Decided by Courts – Details on New 3.6% Across the Board Cuts; Disqualifying Convictions for Providers and IHSS Worker Provider Fee Read the rest of this entry »


Los Angeles Times –New rules broaden category of convictions that may disqualify a person from caring for the elderly and disabled through In-Home Supportive Services.

Reporting from Sacramento — The budget package that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Friday restricts violent felons from working in the state’s home healthcare program for the elderly and disabled.

The new rules follow a Times report last month that scores of people convicted of crimes such as rape, elder abuse and assault with a deadly weapon are permitted to care for some of California’s most vulnerable residents through the In-Home Supportive Services program. The changes take effect in 90 days. Read the rest of this entry »


California Healthline Monday, October 11, 2010
On Friday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) signed an $87.5 billion spending plan and used line-item vetoes to cut nearly $1 billion from health programs and other services, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The action came on the 100th day of California’s fiscal year (Dolan/Goldmacher, Los Angeles Times, 10/9). Earlier on Friday, the Senate voted 27-9 to approve the main bill (SB 870) of the budget package after the Assembly voted 54-1 to approve the main bill on Thursday (Hindery/Thompson, San Jose Mercury News, 10/8). Read the rest of this entry »


Bakersfield.com Community Voices
The disabled and senior community of California is living in fear. Understandably, considering we are now in our third month with no budget. People are not getting paid and the stalemate has no end in sight. Each year that there has been a deficit, the first thing on the chopping block seems to be services for seniors and the disabled, a fact that is chilling. Read the rest of this entry »


A Democrat running in a Republican-leaning district, political newcomer Phu Nguyen hopes to sway enough voters to win the seat now held by the first Vietnamese state legislator.

Phu Nguyen is running for the state Assembly district representing Garden Grove, Westminster, Costa Mesa and surrounding areas. An immigrant with little political experience, his campaign is relying on support from the Vietnamese community.After one month at sea, the death of nine children aboard their boat and eight months in a Hong Kong refugee camp, Phu Nguyen’s family finally arrived in America. His parents had only $2 in their pockets when they came to Orange County in 1981, Nguyen says, and today they have a multistate corporation and one of the nicest homes in Huntington Beach.

That quintessential immigrant story inspired Nguyen, 33, to try to improve the lives of people in Vietnam and in America, he said recently. Now the Democrat is running for the California Assembly seat that represents Costa Mesa, Westminster, Garden Grove and surrounding areas.

A political newcomer, Nguyen has held leadership positions in Vietnamese American groups and has vastly expanded his family’s overseas remittance business, he says. But many of his accomplishments are from his time as a student, and he’s been criticized for his lack of government experience.

Read full story in LA Times


UDW has blown the whistle on yet another unfounded claim by Gov. Schwarzenegger about the IHSS program:  That the program is full of providers who convicted felons and are endangering recipients. Read the rest of this entry »


Homecare Provider Clara McDonald, Republican, explains why she is voting for Jerry Brown in November.

Read the rest of this entry »


CDCAN DISABILITY RIGHTS REPORT #175-2010 –  OCTOBER 4,  2010 – MONDAY

SACRAMENTO, CALIF (CDCAN) [Updated 10/04/2010  10:15 AM  (Pacific Time)]  – The California Supreme Court, in two separate opinions released this morning, decided in favor of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on his power to order mandatory furloughs of state employees and the use of the Governor’s line-item veto power in a bill that revised the 2009-2010 State Budget in July 2009.  Read the rest of this entry »


CDCAN REPORT #172-2010  September 30, 2010

Update on Governor’s Actions:

Governor Completes Action on Bills
2010 Legislative Total: 1,024 Bills Passed By Legislature and Sent To Governor
– Signed 726 – Vetoes 298 Read the rest of this entry »


from California Progress Report

Not wishing to be overshadowed by the aggressive anti-fraud tactics in Stanislaus County  (California’s War on the Elderly and Disabled: A Dispatch from the Front Lines) Sacramento County District Attorney Jan Scully is publicizing the exploits of her own “fraud squad” in the struggle against what she claims is “massive fraud” in the In Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program. Read the rest of this entry »


Thanks to all of you for your outstanding entries in our “Share Your Story” contest. All of you have shown what homecare really means to UDW members and the people for whom they care. Read the rest of this entry »


Mike Loza, UDW Northern Regional Coordinator, rallies homecare providers at Stanislaus Board of Supervisors in preparation for speaking publicly before the board, September 14, 2010.  See video — Read the rest of this entry »


Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Kern Counties now have a new Regional Coordinator — Yesenia Decasaus. Read the rest of this entry »


Orange County members will now have their own Regional Coordinator.

Danta Harrison, Regional Coordinator for Orange County

Danta Harrison will be serving Orange County members as Regional Coordinator.


California’s War on the Elderly and Disabled: A Dispatch from the Front Lines

“Backed by anxious supporters, some on crutches or in wheelchairs, nearly two-dozen passionate speakers on Tuesday railed against “Gestapo” tactics of Stanislaus County home care fraud investigators.” Modesto Bee, Sept. 1, 2010

A flawed and mean-spirited attack by right-wing ideologues on some of California’s most vulnerable citizens has begun to sprout poisoned fruit in California’s Central Valley.

Using some of the millions of dollars distributed by the Schwarzenegger Administration in the name of fighting fraud in the In Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program, Stanislaus County earlier this year created a Special Investigations Unit. Read the rest of this entry »


Virginia Wilson
Virginia Wilson–”Ms. V”–one of the most dedicated and beloved volunteer leaders in UDW’s history, has lost her battle with cancer in San Diego.

Read the rest of this entry »


Introducing the All-New Jerry Brown Briefing Book!
Jerry Brown has spent a lifetime fighting for California’s workers. During his nearly four decades of public service, he has compiled an impressive record in support of the issues that matter most to us. And his forward-thinking vision for the future is just what California needs to get our economy back on track, create quality jobs, restore our education system and revive other vital public services that have been decimated under Governor Schwarzenegger. Read the rest of this entry »


The UDW Elcctions Committee has certified the election results for two Chapter Executive Board positions for Santa Barbara County IP Chapter.  Congratulations go out to Lidia Perez, and Beatriz Zamora for winning these seats, and the opportunity to represent UDW members in Santa Barbara! Read the rest of this entry »


For several months, uniformed agents from a Special Investigations Unit (SIU) created by our county have been conducting unannounced raids on homes; harassing and intimidating elderly, blind and disabled citizens; and arbitrarily cutting people’s homecare services. Read the rest of this entry »