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January 2012 State Budget Overview

Overview

Governor Jerry Brown submitted his budget to the state legislature on January 5, 2012. The Governor’s budget forecasts a combined deficit of $9.2 billion ($4.1 billion in the current fiscal year and $5.1 billion in FY 12-13). Though this is a significant improvement over the budget deficit in January 2011 (estimated at $25.4 billion), addressing this shortfall promises to be just as difficult.

Notably, as a result of roughly $16 billion in spending cuts enacted in the last year, California’s structural – or ongoing – deficit is now estimated to be less than $5 billion in each of the next three years. The State is slowly recovering from the Great Recession; however this recovery is plagued by external factors such as the European debt crisis and political instability on the Federal level. Read the rest of this entry »

UDW Statement on IHSS and Managed Care

UDW supports the concept of integration of IHSS into
Medi-Cal managed care. However until we know all the details we are not yet taking a position on the Governor’s proposals.

Regardless of what is being proposed, UDW is guided by the following principles: Read the rest of this entry »

You name it, they do it: Homecare providers in their own words

Published by Work in Progress
The Official Blog of the U.S. Department of Labor

Homecare providers, caregivers, personal assistants – the millions of workers who provide in-home care in this country go by many names, but they all share a commitment to serving others. Unfortunately, many of these workers share something else in common: low wages. Although they provide a valuable service to many Americans, assisting their clients with daily tasks and enabling them to maintain their independence, many homecare providers do not receive minimum wage or overtime protections guaranteed by the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Many of these workers have medical training. Many regularly work more than 40 hours every week. Many are the sole breadwinners for their families. But, because the FLSA includes an exemption for “companions” – an exemption originally intended to cover “elderly sitting” similar to casual babysitting – these employees are not always fairly compensated for their work. Read the rest of this entry »

AFSCME Battleground Bulletin, January 2012

Read the rest of this entry »

UDW State Budget Report 2012-13

Overview

Governor Jerry Brown submitted his budget to the state legislature on January 5, 2012. The Governor’s budget forecasts a combined deficit of $9.2 billion ($4.1 billion in the current fiscal year and $5.1 billion in FY 12-13). Though this is a significant improvement over the budget deficit in January 2011 (estimated at $25.4 billion), addressing this shortfall promises to be just as difficult.

Notably, as a result of roughly $16 billion in spending cuts enacted in the last year, California’s structural – or ongoing – deficit has been reduced to nearly a quarter of its prior amount ($20 billion). It is now estimated to be less than $5 billion in each of the next three years.

Similar to last year, the Governor’s budget attempts to resolve the deficit through a combination of spending reductions ($4.2 billion) and increased revenue and other actions ($6.1 billion). Additionally, it would allocate $1.1 billion to the state’s reserve account. Read the rest of this entry »

Governor Proposes Cuts to IHSS Program

California Senior Legal Hotline
January 9, 2012 | Manny Randhawa

According to a recent San Jose Mercury News article, California Governor Jerry Brown announced Thursday his proposal to eliminate In-Home Supportive Services funds for benefit recipients who live with someone else.

If adopted by the state legislature, this proposal would save the state $164 million, but would come at the cost of a severe deterioration of the quality of life for seniors and disabled individuals currently receiving assistance from the program, according to critics of the plan.

Such a move would affect 60 percent of IHSS recipients, as most live with other family members who provide them care.

Seniors, Disabled Worry About Cuts to In-Home Care

By JUDY LIN Associated Press, 01/07/2012

LOOMIS, Calif.—Born with spinal muscular atrophy, a genetic disease that prevents muscle development, Anthony Muli has never walked and his doctors never expected him to live past age 2.Now, at 24, he’s a sports fanatic and a whiz on the computer. His room inside his grandmother’s house in the Northern California town of Loomis, east of Sacramento, is decorated with San Francisco 49ers and Sacramento Kings memorabilia.

He enjoys as much of life as he can with the help of his 72-year-old grandmother and caretaker, Jo Ellen Zerr, who does everything from cleaning his tracheotomy tube to driving him to his medical appointments.

The level of care is made possible in large part because of California’s In-Home Supportive Services program, which helps about 435,000 California seniors and people with disabilities. The program pays caretakers, many of them family members, hourly wages and benefits between $8 and $14.78 to help people get dressed, cook and bathe. For her work, Kerr, a retired clerk, receives about $2,800 a month before taxes to do a job she would do for free. Read the rest of this entry »

State’s Disabled Look to Court Decision

By LARRY MITCHELL – Staff Writer

Mercury News Posted: 01/06/2012 12:12:20 AM PST

Photo Credit: OrovilleMr.com

Karen Duncanwood of Paradise, Troy Rathburn of Magalia, Susan Hess of Paradise and Evan LeVang,…

CHICO — No one can blame Dan Grover of Chico for worrying about a court decision due next week.

Grover, 49, uses a wheelchair to get around.

He relies on hired helpers to get him in and out of bed, on and off the toilet, and in and out of the shower. They are paid $8.15 an hour through a government program called In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS).

Grover said he and nearly 450,000 other Californians who depend on IHSS are very concerned that to save money, the governor and Legislature have decided to cut their hours of service by 20 percent.

For some IHSS recipients that would mean that 20 percent less clothes washing, house cleaning and shopping would get done.

But for Grover and others in his situation, it means a 20 percent reduction in vital functions of life.

“I’m a mammal, not a clock,” he said. “I can’t go to the bathroom 20 percent less.” Read More

A California Budget for the 99%

Distributed by emasil, January 6, 2012
HHS Network of California

As you may have heard, Governor Brown released his 2012-2013 CA Budget ahead of schedule yesterday. The budget included severe cuts to Health and Human Services in CA – nearly $2.5 billion total.

We are appalled that Governor Brown’s solution to California’s budget crisis is $2.5 billion in cuts to essential health and human services. Since 2008, California’s health and human services have suffered an astounding $15 billion in cuts, and this budget only continues the gutting of the social safety net that so many California families depend on.

How the $2.5 Billion in Cuts Breaks Down: Read the rest of this entry »

Brown Budget Released: Developmental Services, and CalWORKS Face Huge Cuts

California Progress Report January 05 2012

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Send to friendBy Marty Omoto
California Disability Community Action Network

Governor Brown released his proposed 2012-2013 State Budget that calls for, as he previously announced in November, $157 million in new state general fund spending reductions to developmental services in the current budget year to be achieved in large part due to higher than expected savings from previously approved cuts and other changes, and another $200 million in new cuts in state general fund spending during the 2012-2013 State budget year that begins July 1, 2012.

The cuts in the 2012-2013 State Budget year could – depending on where the reductions are made – swell to $400 million if federal matching funds are included. Read the rest of this entry »

UDW Preliminary Overview; FY 2012-2013 Governor’s Budget

Overview

Governor Jerry Brown submitted his budget to the state legislature on January 5, 2012. The Governor’s budget forecasts a combined deficit of $9.2 billion ($4.1 billion in the current fiscal year and $5.1 billion in FY 12-13). Though this is a significant improvement over the budget deficit in January 2011 (estimated at $25.4 billion), addressing this shortfall promises to be just as difficult.

Notably, as a result of roughly $16 billion in spending cuts enacted in the last year, California’s structural – or ongoing – deficit is now estimated to be less than $5 billion in each of the next three years. The State is slowly recovering from the Great Recession; however this recovery is plagued by external factors such as the European debt crisis and political instability on the Federal level. Read the rest of this entry »

MORE PAIN AHEAD: GOVERNOR’S PROPOSED 2012-2013 BUDGET CALLS FOR FURTHER CUTS IN IHSS

Even as UDW and other IHSS stakeholders fight through the courts to prevent a 20 percent across the board cut in IHSS already mandated in the current state budget, Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed 2012-2013 budget recommends even more cuts to the program.

Among his recommendations, the governor is reintroducing a cut he proposed last year to eliminate domestic and related services for all IHSS consumers who live with someone else (even if those they are living with are NOT their providers). This will affect approximately 300,000 IHSS consumers who would lose an average of 17 hours on top of the 23 hours that would be cut with the 20% and an earlier 3.6% cut.

UDW quickly criticized the governor’s proposals, claiming that “just like his predecessor, Gov. Brown continues to try to use the IHSS program as a ‘piggy bank’ for budget cuts. IHSS cuts were wrong in 2008; they are just as wrong in 2012.” Read the rest of this entry »

Homecare Workers Deserve Basic Rights

Published by The Progressive
By Starita Smith, January 4, 2012

Home care workers should get standard labor protections.

President Obama is proposing an adjustment to laws governing working conditions for approximately 2 million workers whose job is helping elderly and disabled people with such basic tasks as eating, caring for their wounds and doing physical therapy. Under the Obama proposal, these workers would have to be paid at least a minimum wage and overtime, bringing them under the aegis of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Some Republicans are opposed to the measure, complaining that it will be expensive (government programs pay for much of home care) and may hurt the people it is intended to help.

Home care workers provide necessary services that allow their patients to live at home. With the portion of the population represented by elderly people growing rapidly, the services of these workers is a valuable alternative to institutionalization. They interact with the patients sometimes in very intimate situations and treat them with compassion and patience. Read More

California’s $1B Automatic Budget Cuts at a Glance

Mercury News
By The Associated Press Posted: 01/01/2012

Gov. Jerry Brown announced in December that California’s tax revenue will fall short of his earlier projections, triggering automatic budget cuts to schools, colleges and social services. The governor said revenue is projected to fall $2.2 billion short of that figure for the current fiscal year, prompting about $1 billion in cuts that will take effect starting Jan 1.Brown warns that additional trigger cuts will be part of his budget proposed for the fiscal year starting July 1 if voters reject his plans for tax hikes. Here is a look at the midyear cuts: Read the rest of this entry »