Wednesday, November 16 2011

Earlier today, the Legislative Analyst’s Office released its Fiscal Outlook for the next budget year Read Report. According to the report, the LAO forecasts state revenues will be $3.7 billion below the level assumed in the FY 11-12 budget. This is terrible news for those of us in the IHSS community because the “triggers” contained in the FY 11-12 budget are based on the LAO’s and the Department of Finance’s forecasts (whichever is higher). Though the Department of Finance projections are not yet released, this report by the LAO indicates that it is more likely than not that the budget triggers will be pulled in December. Read more about possible 20% cuts to IHSS

The first tier of trigger reductions includes approximately $110 million in cuts to the IHSS program. This would occur through a 20% across the board reduction in service hours scheduled to implement on January 1, 2012. In preparation for this possibility, many weeks back UDW embarked on a statewide member education and training campaign. In addition, UDW activists have been hard at work visiting our Legislators in their district offices and asking for their support in the event that the budget trigger is pulled. We want them to give us more time to come up with alternative ways to achieve the necessary savings so that we can avoid the 20% across the board cuts.

The report released today by the LAO will only make us work harder to prevent these terrible cuts from taking place. The Legislature and the Governor need to hear from you – they need to know how important the IHSS program is to California communities!

Click here to for your Legislator’s contact information and click here to get involved in our efforts to fight the 20% cut.

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