|
Of interest to home care workers and their clients
Stories |Video |Radio
See UDW on You Tube
Below are links to articles and news video covering subjects
of interest to home care workers and their clients. Articles are
ordered by date, starting with the most recent.
Reader Commentary: Response To
IHSS Overpayment To 'Deceased Persons'
February 8, 2010. S. Carpenter. Public CEO.com
Unless a Provider of I.H.S.S. services actually forges a time sheet due to not reporting that their recipient died, there is no way a Provider can be paid for services to a dead person. Every two weeks, here in Yolo County of California, the Provider must bring a fresh time sheet to the recipient to be signed and dated by BOTH of them. Without the signature of the recipient, the Provider will not be paid. If a time sheet is turned in without the recipient's signature, it is returned to the Provider with a note that they need to obtain the signature of the recipient. Obviously, if the recipient has died, they will not be able to sign. Therefore, again, this supposed 'fraud' could be traced to forged signatures.
Read Story & Comment
What is the Real Goal of Fraud Investigations?
February 6, 2010. Abby Jean. Feminists With Disabilities
"..The only area of program funding that has increased is fraud detection, with a grant of $26.5 million to counties to engage in fraud detection. That's the equivalent of approximately 3 million service hours at the current rate of pay...
But there has been a lot of research on IHSS fraud in the past, and it simply does not seem to be very prevalent: an audit released last year (pdf link) found a fraud rate of only 1% in the program. A recent program in Sacramento turned up similarly low levels of program fraud : “The Sacramento County District Attorney, who received more than $3 million from the state for anti-fraud efforts, reported last week that after four months her office had uncovered a total of 19 cases of fraud out of more than 42,000 homecare clients in the County.” That's a rate of 0.04%..."
Read Story & Comment Budget cuts endanger In-Home Supportive Services
Feb 6, 2010. James Koren. Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Frances Deeds' arthritis has made it difficult to cook, clean or even stand up for too long. "I can't walk around very much," said Deeds, 88, who lives in Upland. "I don't think I could use the vacuum cleaner, to tell you the truth. And I definitely couldn't strip the sheets off the bed."For those and other chores and errands - going to the grocery store or doctor's office, opening mail, writing checks - Deeds depends on home-care worker Olga Marquez, who comes by her apartment for a few hours each weekday. But Deeds and more than 18,000 other San Bernardino County residents could lose their home care in June if the state Legislature approves budget cuts proposed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Read Story & Comment California Budget Crisis Cuts Close to the Bone
February 4, 2010. New American Media
Ironically, those cuts would come at a time when Californians need the programs most. A new report released this week from the non-profit, California Budget Project, Proposed Budget Cuts Come at a Time of Growing Need, argues that California's economy hasn't been weaker since the Great Depression. The 12-page report notes that Californians are ill-equipped to weather the cuts the governor is proposing.
The Golden State has lost more than a million jobs since the recession began, and it continues to lose tens of thousands of jobs every month.
Read Story & Comment A Big 5 Power Grab: A bad way to make budgets
February 4, 2010. Jovan Agee. Capitol Weekly
"Lost amid all the concern about the budget crisis facing California is a fundamental and dangerous shift in the way the state budget is created....
Unfortunately, instead of its traditional role as an arbiter, the Big 5 is now being used to circumvent the budget process and exclude input from other legislators and knowledgeable stakeholders...
Despite the fact that this budget affected every California citizen and involved tens of billions of dollars in spending, there was no opportunity for fact-checking or for real discussion or debate..."
Read Story & Comment
S.D. County Blasts State Controller On
In-Home Supportive Services Review
February 3, 2010. KPBS.
State Controller John Chiang says San Diego County made $539,000 in questionable payments in 2008 to In-Home Supportive Services clients or employees who were listed as dead. Pam Smith, who runs San Diego's program, disputes those findings and she says she can't figure out why Chiang is generating doubt about In-Home Supportive Services. "Frankly, we were very surprised, alarmed and perplexed by why they did this," Smith said. "And we are not aware of any case in this period of time where we have continued to pay a provider after the client had passed away."
Read Story & listen to Radio Broadcast
IHSS Community: Protect Your Rights, Protect Yourselves
January
3, 2010. Senetor Noreen Evans Blog
Nancy Riley is the long-time in-home care provider for Michael Condon, a Vietnam veteran who was recently interrogated and threatened at his home by an armed state investigator questioning his IHSS benefits. This alarming incident demands a thorough investigation and I encourage anyone with a similar experience to report it immediately. Legislation adopted last year calls for unannounced home visits to investigate suspected fraud. However, the legislation also required the Department of Social Services (DSS) to develop protocols for these visits. These protocols have not yet been developed, so it was a big surprise to find out that unannounced visits have already begun with no guidance in place to protect anyone involved. It was also a surprise to find out that the Department plans to purchase Polaroid cameras to photograph IHSS recipients.
Read Story & Comment
Community column: State must avoid Groundhog Day syndrome
January 3, 2010, The Californian.
The state budget has everyone using the phrase "Groundhog Day." It's California's Groundhog Day, they exclaim. Their tone is one of humor tinged with exasperation. They aren't referring to the national holiday in which a large rodent is supposed to predict the length of the seasons, but instead to the Bill Murray film in which he re-lives a bad day. The point being that California is just re-living all of the same budget problems. The message: Here we go again.
Read Story & Comment A Wake of Death and Destruction
January 3, 2010.
Brian Leubitz. California Progress Report
When Arnold came to Sacramento, riding a populist wave that was based, in substantial part, to a populist anti-tax message, he promised to "blow up the boxes." In the 6+ years since then, not only did he dig a deeper hole in the budget with his "car tax" cut, but he also managed to further mangle an already broken system. But structural concerns pale in comparison to the toll in lives that we may face in the next few years if something substantial isn't done to curb his recent budget plan. One key item that will send the state reeling? The in-home support services (IHSS) cuts. Arnold's current plan is that if the state gets a bunch of money from the feds, he'll cut 87% from IHSS. If the state gets nothing, he'll completely eliminate IHSS. The depth of the tragedy this would entail is really quite hard to imagine.
Read Story & Comment
Editorial: In-home services a cruel target
February 2, 2010. San Luis Obispo Tribune
"With the state of California once again looking at a multibillion-dollar shortfall, more painful budget cuts are inevitable. But when a budget “fix” winds up costing more than it saves, the idea should be quickly abandoned. Case in point: In-Home Supportive Services. Clearly, the program is worthwhile from a fiscal standpoint and a humanitarian one. Yet Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is once again targeting it for draconian budget cuts that would have devastating consequences.
For starters, the governor wants to reduce the amount of the state's contribution toward caregivers' wages. In San Luis Obispo County, that could mean that wages for IHSS caregivers would drop to $8 per hour, from the current $10.
Read Story & Comment How Low We've Sunk
February 1, 2010. Steve Mehlman. California Progress Report
A homecare provider from San Diego told legislators yesterday how she and her client--a quadriplegic Vietnam veteran--were threatened and harrassed by a fraud investigator from the state. Nancy Jo Riley of San Diego testified that she and her client were "randomly selected" for a fraud investigation last October as part of a new "anti-fraud" initiative by the state. According to Ms. Riley, the agent from the Department of Health Care Services (DCHS) first threatened in a phone call to cut off all IHSS unless she and her client met with him immediately...The Sacramento County District Attorney, who received more than $3 million from the state for anti-fraud efforts, reported last week that after four months her office had uncovered a total of 19 cases of fraud out of more than 42,000 homecare clients in the County.
Read Story & Comment In-home services to get support from Board of Supervisors
February 1, 2010. San Luis Obispo Tribune
Board of Supervisors to sign memo that will keep care workers in place for 1,700 residents. - The more than 1,700 county residents who receive care through In-Home Supportive Services will soon have a little more certitude about their futures, as the county prepares to sign a memo of understanding that will keep care workers in place through June 2011. Workers will receive their current wage of $10 an hour under the proposal that comes before the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday. The workers are represented by the United Domestic Workers of America and have been without a contract since July 1. In-Home Supportive Services serves disabled individuals who would face going into an institution if the program did not exist, according to Lee Collins, the county's director of Social Services.
Read Story & Comment
Safety net is shredding for cerebral palsy patient
February 1, 2010. Susan Ferriss. Sacramento Bee
Helen O'Connell can't fathom why Medi-Cal will no longer pay to have her teeth fixed unless she moves into an institution. "It's not fair, and it doesn't make sense," she said. O'Connell rents an apartment in Sacramento, where she struggles daily against the advance of the cerebral palsy she's had since childhood. She once was able to walk with braces, and got married and had a son. At 49, she's alone now, and although she's in a wheelchair, she works hard to keep her hands as flexible and strong as possible by painting and sculpting clay. "I'm in a disabled world," O'Connell said, "trying to make it in an able-bodied world."
Read Story & Comment
Statehouse Insider: Higher education plan
in spotlight after measure idea
January 31 2010. Erica Felci. The Desert Sun
"...Assemblyman Brian Nestande told The Desert Sun last week he's working with Democrats on a bipartisan effort to reform In-Home Supportive Services. The Palm Desert Republican called it “a new model” for the program, which provides caregivers to disabled, blind and elderly clients so they can stay in their houses instead of nursing homes and care facilities. The program has been a notable topic of conversation since the governor's budget proposal included almost $923 million in cuts for IHSS. It also faces potential elimination unless state leaders can convince federal lawmakers to send them more money.
Read Story & Comment
Feisty Redding woman complains to governor about proposed in-home care cuts
January 30, 2010
Dicy McBee wrote a letter to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger regarding his proposal to cut In-Home Support Services (IHSS). "I say, my God, governor, have you thought of the consequences?" she begins. Dicy, who insisted on going by her first name and not giving her age (here's a hint: she's seen the end of five U.S. wars in her lifetime), is originally from Texas, but has lived in Redding since 1977. With a soft Southern drawl, she described how she fell off a horse at age 6 and almost lost her arm as a result.
Read Story, Watch Video
Loretta Schertz Keller: Governor's indifference to elderly independence
January 29, 2010. Pasadena Star
I wonder what would be as personally important to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as being able to live independently in his own home. Yes, California is facing a $19.9 billion shortfall and the state may have to issue IOUs, but rather than impose new broad-based taxes, the good governor wants to slash the state's programs used by the poor and indigent. Included in his proposed budget for the coming fiscal year are steep cuts that would deprive needy elderly of the financial assistance that enables them to stay in their homes and instead would force them into more costly - and usually more bleak - alternatives.
Read Story & Comment
Legislative Analysts Office Special Report; How the Special Session Action Would Affect Social Services
Jan 29, 2010. Office of the Legislative Analyst
"...adoption of this package would result in the loss of about $3 billion in federal funds... In this piece we provide our analysis of the Governor's proposals, in some cases offer alternative approaches, and recommend the actions that we believe the Legislature should take on them at this time..."
Read Full Report
Counties can't keep backfilling funds
January 28, 2010. Supervisor Paul
Biane
. Opinion, The Sun
Imagine this - you run a nonprofit business that helps a lot of people. Each year, your budget shrinks, but demand for your services increases, forcing you to dip into your bank account to keep things running. Meanwhile, your personal expenses steadily increase, yet you still have to run the nonprofit to continue providing people with services they need. California's most populous counties - including the County of San Bernardino - find themselves in a similar situation with the numerous state and federal social service programs counties are required to administer. Since 2004, the state's largest counties have seen their financial support for state and federal programs such as Child Welfare, Medi-Cal, In Home Supportive Services and others increase about 14 percent. At the same time, state and federal funding for the programs has dipped or flattened in spite of rising demand. And this lopsided funding situation shows no signs of abating.
Read Story & Comment Caring for Caregivers
January 28, 2010.
Terrell McSweeny. Seniors World Chronicle
Washington DC - This week the Middle Class Task Force unveiled a series of initiatives in the President's FY 11 budget that are aimed at helping families with soaring child care costs, balancing work with caring for elderly relatives or people with disabilities, paying for college, and saving for retirement. These are costs that – along with health care – have risen dramatically for families at a time when their incomes haven't. Some people call this "squeeze" because of the pressure these costs put on family budgets. But for many families it just seems like it is impossible to get ahead...
The nearly $103 million investment proposed by the Middle Class Task Force will support more respite care, counseling, training, referrals, and adult day care. As Sandy Markwood, CEO of National Association for Area Agencies on Aging explained:..."
Read Story Adult day care facilities face closing from past, future budget cuts
January 28, 2010. Brian Rokos. Press Enterprise
Frail, elderly people and mentally ill adults could be forced into hospitals and nursing homes if day-care services close because of the state's budget cutting, care providers say. The Inland area has at least a half-dozen such places, including Inland Empire Adult Day Health Care in Corona. The majority of clients are low-income, frail, elderly people with serious illnesses and conditions such as high blood pressure , diabetes , dementia and cerebral palsy, said program Director Barbara Porter. Staff members give shots, test blood sugar, adjust catheters and feeding tubes, and try to prevent minor illnesses from becoming more serious. Mental-stimulation activities are provided. Most clients stay for about six hours a day. "Our whole goal is to prevent them from having to go into a higher institutional level of care," Porter said.
Read Story & Comment San Diegan Testifies In Sacramento About In-Home Care
January 28, 2010. Amita Sharma. KPBS News
SAN DIEGO — California lawmakers got feedback yesterday on how new rules to catch cheating within an in-home care program for the disabled are working. For 23 years, San Diegan Joey Riley has taken care of Michael Condon, who is paralyzed from the neck down. She says new rules requiring criminal background checks, fingerprints on timesheets and unannounced home visits within the In-Home Supportive Services program have left her feeling beyond unappreciated. Yesterday, Riley took that message to a state assembly budget hearing on the reforms.
Read Story , Listen to radio broadcast online, Comment
Video of State Assembly Hearing on IHSS
January 27, 2010. Politics & Public Affairs, California.
View
San Diego homecare provider tells state legislators about threats, "humiliating" questioning during IHSS "Anti-Fraud" home investigation,; committee chair promises to investigate unwarranted home visit.
January 27, 2010. PR news, UDW Homecare Providers Union
Sacramento -- An In Home Supportive Services (IHSS) homecare provider from San Diego told state legislators today that she and the quadriplegic for whom she has cared for nearly 25 years were threatened with termination from the program unless she met “immediately” with a fraud investigator from the state Department of Health Care Services (DHCS). Nancy Jo Riley testified that she and her client, Michael Condon, a quadriplegic Vietnam veteran, were “randomly selected” for a fraud investigation last October as part of a new “anti-fraud” initiative by the state. According to Ms. Riley, the investigator asked her and Mr. Condon a long series of “humiliating” questions. He then said he could not understand why a person with a severe disability like Mr. Condon's should be subject to a fraud investigation in the first place.
Read Full Press Release
Lack of Consensus Over Cost Savings
From Cuts to In-Home Health Care
January 27, 2010. California Healthline
Whether or not California can achieve savings by cutting its in-home health care programs might depend on the number of current beneficiaries who would end up in nursing homes, the Ventura County Star reports. Advocates See Increasing Costs. Eldercare advocates have criticized Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) for budget proposals that would eliminate adult day health care and shrink the state's In-Home Supportive Services program. The budget also calls for a wholesale elimination of IHSS if Schwarzenegger does not secure new federal funds.
Read Story & Comment
Slashing senior care may or may not add up for state
If in-home services lost, nursing homes may be only option
January 26, 2010. Ventura County Star
Anita Shapiro, who is 82 and lives alone, spoils the math. Seniors advocates argue proposals for sweeping state cuts to in-home supportive services and the elimination of adult day healthcare would cost more than it would save by driving people into nursing homes that cost Medi-Cal as much as five times more money. Shapiro, who lives on Social Security of $1,134 a month, has more health issues than she can list. She has trouble dressing herself without the caregiver who visits her five days a week. She can't drive. She can't go to a store alone. Workers at the Ventura County Human Services Agency said Shapiro would land in a nursing home without her caregiver. Shapiro said she will never allow that to happen. She'll stay in her Moorpark senior complex with or without caregivers. “I just won't go to a nursing home. I'd rather die,” she said.
Read Story & Comment
Unions Prepare To Fight Governor's IHSS Cuts, Other Budget Proposals
January 25, 2010. California Healthline.
Union leaders are blasting Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) for a range of budget proposals that they say would cut wages, reduce benefits or scale back job protections for union workers, the Los Angeles Times reports. The governor's budget plan would tighten eligibility requirements for In-Home Supportive Services and drop many current beneficiaries from the program. The move would eliminate jobs for a large number of IHSS caregivers, who primarily are union workers. The governor's budget plan also would reduce the state's contribution to IHSS workers' wages.
Read Story & Comment Schwarzenegger's budget plan puts unions in the cross-hairsSchwarzenegger's budget plan puts unions in the cross-hairs
January 25, 2010.
Shane Goldmacher
. Los Angeles Times
His proposals to privatize prisons, curtail teachers' seniority protections and reduce the number of in-home care workers would be major blows to powerful labor interests. They're girding for a fight... Reporting from Sacramento - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has put organized labor squarely in his cross-hairs in 2010, opening a fight that will largely determine the shape of his final year in office.
Schwarzenegger's proposals would cut the size of the union workforce, reduce pay, shrink future pensions and roll back job protections won through collective bargaining.
Labor and the unions' Democratic allies are already girding for battle.
"It's a continuing jihad against organized labor," said Steve Maviglio, a Sacramento-based Democratic strategist. "The governor thinks public employee unions are Enemy No. 1."
Read Story & Comment
Speaker Karen Bass and Speaker-elect John A. Pérez
Announce Assembly Transition
January 25, 2010. Press Release. Karen Bass' Website
SACRAMENTO – Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) and Speaker-elect John A. Pérez (D-Los Angeles) announced today that March 1, 2010 will be the date of Pérez's official swearing in as the 68th Speaker of the California State Assembly. “It's recently been announced that March 1, 2010 will mark one of the roughest transitions in history--the changing of the Tonight Show from Conan O'Brien to Jay Leno,” Bass said. “I am delighted that March 1, 2010 will also mark one of the smoothest transitions in history, when I turn the Assembly gavel over to incoming Speaker John Pérez. As we have been meeting and working together closely these past few weeks, I know absolutely that John is more than ready, willing and able to step in as Speaker and do an excellent job helping the people of California meet the tough challenges we face together.”
Read Story & Comment In-home support program targeted for cuts by state
January 23, 2010. Desert Sun
Kristine Loomis was in her late 20s when she started experiencing intense joint pain, especially in her hip. Multiple doctor visits later, she was diagnosed with Ankylosing spondylitis, an extreme form of arthritis that over the years has essentially frozen her joints, made turning her neck or rolling over in bed impossible and disfigured her fingers and toes. Today, the 53-year-old resident uses a customized electric wheelchair to get around her small Sky Valley cabin but requires a full-time caregiver — who is funded by taxpayers — to complete even life's most mundane and routine tasks. “If you haven't been in an accident or had a catastrophic illness, you don't realize how much care is really involved,” said Loomis, one of the 17,600 people across Riverside County who benefit from the In-Home Supportive Services program.
Read Story & Comment Schwarzenegger Administration Proposes Deep Cuts,
Elimination of Medi-Cal Programs
January 22, 2010. Marty Omoto. California Report
The Schwarzenegger Administration has released a proposed budget special session legislative language that, if approved by the Legislature, would eliminate all Medi-Cal funding for Adult Day Health Care (about $104 million in State general fund money), and implement other permanent reductions – called “cost containment strategies” of over $750 million in State general fund spending to the Medi-Cal program, and reductions impacting family planning services, and Medi-Cal benefits to newly qualified legal immigrants and other legal immigrants legally residing in the State...Advocates, including those represented on a stakeholder advisory committee, have raised major concerns about the details and proposed implementation of the waiver to be submitted. See separate CDCAN Report on the CDCAN website at www.cdcan.us regarding this issue.
Read Story & Comment
In-Home Care Analysis Weighs Costs vs. Compassion
January 21, 2010. John Meyers. Capital Notes. KQED
Few government programs in California seem to be more often embroiled in budget fights than In-Home Supportive Services, the important but costly effort by state and local officials to provide help for hundreds of thousands who have trouble caring for themselves. It's unlikely that a new analysis by the Legislative Analyst's Offic e will settle the squabble — an analysis that concludes the program probably saves state government money… but may nonetheless need to be downsized in these tough budget times. The political fight over In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) has become so repetitive that it's possible the public has already tuned out. Republicans and conservative critics deride it as rife with fraud and an expense the state can't afford; Democrats and organized labor defend it as a vital life-saving program for California's most vulnerable.
Read Story & Comment In-Home Supportive Services Program:
Considering
the State Costs and Benefits
January 21, 2010. Legislative Analysts Office
"...By preventing—or at least delaying—the move to a nursing home, the program can save money for the state. In this report we look at the net fiscal impact of the IHSS program on the public sector and conclude that the state maximizes its net fiscal impact by targeting IHSS services to those recipients who are most likely to enter a nursing home in the absence of the program. Given the state's continuing fiscal problems, we offer additional options for the Legislature to consider that can achieve state savings through increased targeting..."
Read Report & watch video intro
IHSS providers say DSS not so supportive
January 21, 2010.
Malcolm Maclachlan. Capitol Weekly.
County representatives and the Assembly Budget Committee chair plan to take the Department of Social Services to task for its handling of new rules related to In Home Supportive Services. A hearing is scheduled for Jan. 27. DSS claims it has been working closely with the counties throughout the fall. However, at least 19 counties have sent letters to DSS complaining that the new rules have been put into place too quickly, and without proper guidelines and training for the counties. A bill to give counties more time to meet new requirements, SB 69, died in the Senate in November. Meanwhile, the Legislative Analyst's Office has announced it will issue a report on the “costs and benefits” of IHSS on Thursday — an event likely to add fire to a contentious back and forth between the agency and counties.
Read Story & Comment Penny-wise, dollar-foolish
January 21, 2010. Sacramento Bee
Letters to the Editor. Re "Proposed in-home care cutoff leaves few options" (Sacramento Bee, Jan. 14):
Cutting In-Home Supportive Services funding will create costly long-term consequences for all of us. Clients receiving in-home care would be moved to more costly skilled nursing facilities. Both programs are funded, in part, by Medi-Cal.
The nursing staff in most skilled nursing facilities are overworked with far too many patients under their wing already. This should be no surprise to those who have visited family members and observed unanswered calls for assistance, patients lying in their own urine and other travesties.
Read Letter & Comment
Home workers join court rally
January 21, 2010. Michelle Durand. San Mateo
Eighty-year old Olga Romo is paid by the county to care for her nephew, a 7-year-old with muscular dystrophy who can't walk and doesn't trust others to care for him.
Yet, when the clock ends, her job doesn't. Is she going to not help him just because she isn't getting paid?, she asked. And although Romo said she is happy to be a caregiver, she barely makes enough at her current wage to cover four prescriptions. If San Mateo County knocks it down to $9.50 an hour to match the expected state hit, Romo worries how she will get by. Romo shared her concerns with other county and court workers rallying yesterday against cuts and furloughs. While each cause was slightly different, they all came back to one issue — the budget. For In-Home Support Services workers like Romo, the state budget could mean $2 an hour and a world of difference in making ends meet.
Read Story & Comment California Counties Blast State for Roll Out of New IHSS Program Changes
January 21, 2010. California Healthline.
County officials and state legislative leaders are gearing up to confront the Department of Social Services over its role in implementing new regulations for the In-Home Supportive Services program, Capitol Weekly reports. Last summer, California lawmakers approved new rules limiting how counties could use IHSS grants from the state. The changes were intended to make the program more cost-effective and efficient. The state also allocated $21.8 million for counties to implement the new rules. Of those funds, DSS distributed only $5.8 million by Oct. 14, 2009, which was less than three weeks before the implementation deadline, according to Assembly Budget Committee Chair Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa). County officials say DSS' inefficient handling of the regulations put counties in a tight time crunch to carry out the changes.
Read Story & Comment
Fears mount for in-home caregivers
January 19, 2010. Kyle Magin. The Union
Kris Barletta is 26, but possesses the intellect of a two-year old. He's blind in his right eye, suffers from frequent, violent seizures and cannot speak. His mother must place a special double-lock on the gate of her Grass Valley home lest Kris wander into the street, as he has no fear and wouldn't think twice about stepping in front of a car.
For mom Quique (pronounced KEE-kee) Barletta, caring for Kris is a full-time job — one that may stop paying if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has his way.
Barletta gets paid to care for her son under the In-Home Supportive Services program, a state program Schwarzenegger said he would cut completely in his proposed budget for the 2010-11 fiscal year.
Read Story & Comment
IHSS is necessary
January 18, 2010. Lake County Record Bee
Without IHSS, many current clients would be forced to move to skilled nursing centers that accept Medi-Cal patients. At an average expense of $55,000 a year, nursing homes cost five times as much per IHSS client. The number of skilled nursing center beds has dwindled through the years as the success of IHSS has grown at helping the elderly continue living independently, and given jobs to the unemployed. Take $1.5 billion from the prisons which house folks who make mistakes or use drugs and put it forth to IHSS. Cut, instead of expanding, law enforcement which is riddled with corruption.
Read Post & Comment
Disability Rights Advocates Mobilizing Against
Governor’s Proposed Budget Cuts
January 18, 2010. Marty Omoto. California Progress Report
California Disability Community Action Network
In response to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's proclamation, issued January 8, of a state fiscal emergency, the State Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee, chaired by Sen. Denise Ducheny (Democrat – San Diego) released Thursday a series of public hearings through early February that will focus on the Governor's budget spending reduction proposals that need early action from the Legislature by March 1, 2010, in order to take effect June 1, 2010. Most of the other proposals by the Governor that would take effect during the next State budget year that begins July 1, 2010, will be heard later – likely March through April and early May, during what used to be the normal state budget subcommittee process.
Read Story & Comment
California's cut of in-home services threatens independence of low-income people with disabilities
January 17, 2010. Media Di&Dat w article from Sacramento Bee
Like his wife, Phyllis, Joe Saunders was born with cerebral palsy. But it took a car accident a couple of decades ago to leave Saunders, now 74, in a wheelchair, with limited use of his arms and legs, unable to continue working as a rehabilitation center counselor. (Both are pictured.) With the help of a caregiver from In-Home Supportive Services, the couple are able to remain in the small, fraying Woodlake home Saunders' parents bought in the mid-1950s. "This way, we maintain our dignity as citizens," said Saunders. "I like my dignity. We're in our own home. That's not degrading. That's what we call the golden years."
Read Story & Comment
Alameda County officials fear more state take-aways
January 15, 2010. Chris Metinko. Oakland Tribune
Alameda County officials to the long list of those in local government not impressed by the governor's newly proposed budget.
County Administrator Susan Muranishi, who along with county department heads and staff have been examining Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan since it was announced last Friday, said county leaders are gravely concerned about the nearly $7 billion the governor assumes will come from the federal government.
Muranishi said the state's over-reliance on federal money is something local governments will need to watch closely. If that money is not available, the state could come looking to the counties to fill in any gaps and take on the responsibility for funding some safety-net programs.
Read Story & Comment More jobs, really?
January 14, 2010. Letters to the Editor, Sacramento Bee
Re "Emergency declared" (Page A1, Jan. 9): In the twilight of his career in Sacramento, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has clearly shown again his lack of intellect and political courage. He claims that his emphasis this year is "jobs, jobs, jobs." But he wants to throw more than 350,000 low-wage home-care providers out of work. He complains that his budget cutting initiatives last year have been held up in court. Could that be because they clearly violate federal law? Yet he proposes more of the same this year.
Despite his action-hero persona, he refuses to make the tough choices. He refuses to stand up to corporate interests or the anti-tax zealots in his own party who want to destroy state government.
The theme for his seven years as governor? Big hat, no cattle.
– Doug Moore, Sacramento
Executive Director, UDW Homecare Providers
Read Letter & Comment
Advocates: Cuts Could Propel Elderly, Disabled Into
Nursing Home Care
January 14, 2010. California Helathline
Advocates: Cuts Could Propel Elderly, Disabled Into Nursing Home Care
Advocates say thousands of elderly and disabled Californians could lose access to services and equipment under cuts that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) outlined in his budget proposal if federal funding does not increase, Capital Public Radio's " KXJZ News " reports...The governor's budget plan would eliminate adult day health care services in an effort to reduce state spending by about $100 million. Adult day health centers currently serve about 45,000 Californians with disabilities. In addition, the governor's budget would end coverage for optional disability benefits such as physical therapy, prosthetics and wheelchairs. Officials say the move would lower state spending by about $40 million (Weiss, "KXJZ News," Capital Public Radio, 1/13).
Read Story & Comment
California's proposed in-home care cutoff leaves few options
January 14, 2010. Anita Creamer. Sacramento Bee
Like his wife, Phyllis, Joe Saunders was born with cerebral palsy. But it took a car accident a couple of decades ago to leave Saunders, now 74, in a wheelchair, with limited use of his arms and legs, unable to continue working as a rehabilitation center counselor.
With the help of a caregiver from In-Home Supportive Services, the couple are able to remain in the small, fraying Woodlake home Saunders' parents bought in the mid-1950s.
"This way, we maintain our dignity as citizens," said Saunders. "I like my dignity. We're in our own home. That's not degrading. That's what we call the golden years."
The golden years are threatened, though. About 22,000 low-income elderly and disabled Sacramento County residents are in the middle of a fight over state finances.
Read Story & Comment
Analyst: Budget overly optimistic on fed help
Senators take governor to task for asking for more money
January 13, 2010, Erica Felci. Desert Sun
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's chances of balancing the state's budget by securing an additional $6.9 billion in federal funding “are almost non-existent,” according to a nonpartisan analysis released Tuesday The report by the Legislative Analyst's Office is the latest challenge to the governor's $83 billion spending plan, which is drawing sharp criticism from some federal leaders. Without the national funding, Schwarzenegger said programs for some of the state's neediest residents — notably the Healthy Families Program, CalWORKs and In-Home Supportive Services — would be eliminated. The report concludes that the governor's plan relies on about $7.9 billion in federal money to close the estimated $20 billion budget deficit. And while it is “reasonable to assume the state will secure some new federal funding and flexibility,” the report concludes that “the state is very likely to fall several billion dollars short of the governor's goals.”
Read Story & Comment
EDITORIAL: Budget proposal just adds to state's obstacles
January 12, 2010. Fresno Bee
Given the state's budget history, you'd be terribly naive to expect a spending plan that didn't contain gimmicks. The budget that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger released Friday continues to rely on unrealistic revenue projections. It's clear that the governor and lawmakers will face a daunting challenge in reaching a budget agreement. But what else is new? Here's our take on the governor's plan: Risky assumptions. Both the governor and lawmakers think they will get billions of dollars from the federal government to close the budget hole. The governor has also floated a questionable plan for diverting transportation funds that would otherwise go to transit agencies. That plan could again fail in the courts, adding to the state's deficit problems.
Read Editorial & Comment
Budget desperation: Save a dollar today, spend six tomorrow
january 11, 2010. Chritina Jewett. California Watch, Health & Welfare.
The budget cut has evolved under the tenure of our action-hero governor. First Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger whacked through the budget with a machete. Then there was machine gun spray.
Friday’s budget suggests he's moving to the armored tank, as some programs face total elimination.
Only six months ago, the Los Angeles Times ran a story that is perhaps even more relevant today. It explains the notion that deep budget cuts could lead to higher costs in the future.
Michael Rothfield and Evan Halper led the article with a peek into the life of 85-year-old Irene Steinlege: “[She] has trouble walking, getting dressed, making her bed, taking a bath. She has stayed in her Folsom home with the help of a health aide, one that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says the state can no longer afford."
The program that benefits Steinlege was on the carving table then, possibly leaving Steinlege without the in-home aide who, for about $10 an hour, helped her with basic tasks. Under the budget plan released Friday, the In-Home Supportive Services program may end completely.
But cutting this program could lead to far greater costs down the line.
Read Story & Comment
Governor’s Budget Plan Like Watching 'Groundhog Day'
January 11, 2010. California State Association of Counties. Public CEO
The Governor's proposed 2010-11 state budget released today is based on unrealistic assumptions, significant risks and cost shifts to counties, according to the California State Association of Counties (CSAC). “This plan is a retread budget, not a reform budget,” said Tony Oliveira, CSAC President and Kings County Supervisor. “Unfortunately, it's based on a number of failed ideas taken from past years.” The budget proposal will blow a huge hole in an already frayed safety net, said Paul McIntosh, CSAC Executive Director. “There are recommendations to cut more than $2.9 billion from social service programs. This action alone will further push families into poverty, putting them in a dire situation from which they may never recover. That's not the California Dream.” Elimination of these programs will, in turn, impact other areas as well, including our criminal justice system, the homeless population and counties' general assistance roles, McIntosh said.
Read Story, & Comment
Homecare Advocates Urge the California Legislature:
Stand up to Governor
January 11, 2010. PR-Canada
Representatives of more than 450,000 seniors and people with disabilities and those who care for them today urged the State Legislature to fight Gov. Schwarzenegger's mean-spirited and hypocritical proposal to destroy the In Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program. In his 2010-2011 spending plan released today, the governor proposes to effectively dismantle IHSS, a nationally recognized program which helps 450,000 low-income disabled, senior and blind Californians stay safely at home and avoid unnecessary, expensive and unwanted institutionalization.
Read Story
California advocates urge fight against dismantling of In Home Supportive Services program
January 10, 2010. PR Newswire
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Representatives of more than 450,000 seniors and people with disabilities and those who care for them Jan. 8 urged the State Legislature to fight Gov. Schwarzenegger's mean-spirited and hypocritical proposal to destroy the In Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program.
In his 2010-2011 spending plan released today, the governor proposes to effectively dismantle IHSS, a nationally recognized program which helps 450,000 low-income disabled, senior and blind Californians stay safely at home and avoid unnecessary, expensive and unwanted institutionalization.
Eliminating IHSS would cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars to provide care for thousands of Californian IHSS consumers forced into hospitals and nursing homes, which cost at least five times more than home care. Worse, many will likely not be able to find such placement and end up without the assistance they need to live safely at home.
Read Story & Comment L.A. County face big budget shortfall
January 10, 2010. Los Angeles Dail News
Reeling from state budget cuts and plummeting tax revenues, Los Angeles County officials are expecting a "serious" budget shortfall in the fiscal year that begins July 1 and have ordered departments to plan for cuts of up to 9 percent. County Chief Executive Bill Fujioka, who made the announcement shortly after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger released his proposed budget Friday, said the combination of state budget cuts and falling tax revenues is straining the county's ability to provide public services...Nationwide, the first three quarters of 2009 marked the largest decline in states' tax revenues since at least 1963, according to a report released last week by the New York-based Rockefeller Institute of Government. In response, Schwarzenegger has asked the federal government for an additional $6.9 billion. If the federal government doesn't provide the money, the governor's budget calls for eliminating In-Home Supportive Services, CalWORKS welfare and Healthy Families programs, which provide services to millions of Californians.
Read Story & Comment Cutting deeper into the same battered programs
Januqry 10, 2010.Michael Rothfeld
. Los Angeles Times
The governor's proposed cuts sound familiar: healthcare, in-home services, transportation, college grants. Some say reducing or eliminating those programs will only shift the burden elsewhere.
Reporting from Sacramento - With a budget bleeding red, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger soberly announced that the state would have to slice painfully into services for children and the elderly, transportation and healthcare, social services and criminal justice. Democratic lawmakers responded with alarm, saying that gouging state programs so deeply would endanger the lives of vulnerable residents. That was last week. And last summer. And the winter before.
Read Story & Comment
Beall Urges the Governor to Reconsider Cuts to Human Services
January 9, 2010. Politicon Valley, Daily News for Silicon Valley
Sacramento - Assemblymember Jim Beall, Jr. assailed the Governor's budget proposal to drastically cut key human services that vulnerable Californians are relying on during this vicious recession. “These proposed cuts are inhumane and unconscionable at a time when people are struggling to survive,'' said Beall, chairman of the Assembly Committee on Human Services. “This economy has pushed hundreds of thousands of Californians to the brink. If these cuts are ever enacted, it can shove them over the edge.'' The Governor's proposed cuts in health and human services includes gutting the In-Home Support Services program by nearly $1 billion during this budget year and the next. The recommendation would eliminate 87 percent of the 400,000 IHSS recipients who are disabled or elderly but are able to still live in their homes with the help of IHSS workers.
Read Story & Comment
Group fights governor's plan to slash funds for disabled, needy
January 8 2010. Eyewitness News, Bakersfield
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- Cutting funds for the elderly, needy and disabled will not only hurt those people -- but actually cost the state jobs. That's the message from a group opposed to the budget proposal released by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday...The group of advocates said the cuts to the most-needy budget compound problems, they don't solve them. "These have all had a snow-balling effect," said Nancy Gomez, from Health Access. "They have never been able to balance the budget, they've in fact made the budget worse."
Read Story & Watch Video
Latest Comments on the State Budget
Jan 8, 2010. Assembly Member Noreen Evans. Noreen Evans Website
The governor's budget will have a body count. We are not talking about simple cuts. The Legislature's reaction to the governor's proposals will mean the difference between life or death for our seniors, working families, and children. This budget clearly shows the governor is not fighting for them.
Like a bad rerun we'd rather forget, the governor is making the same threats meant to shock and awe Californians. ..
The absence of shared sacrifice is what is most upsetting in this budget. The only thing the governor is asking of the rich is to risk waiting another year to break out the champagne when their taxes get cut.
Read Story & Comment Advocates Urge the Legislature: Stand up to Governor
Don't put Californians at Risk; Don't eliminate 375,000 Jobs
January 8, 2010. IHSS Coalition
SACRAMENTO - Representatives of more than 450,000 seniors and people with disabilities and those who care for them today urged the State Legislature to fight Gov. Schwarzenegger's mean-spirited and hypocritical proposal to destroy the In Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program....despite his call for "jobs, jobs, jobs," in his State of the State address earlier this week, the Governor's proposal would eliminate more than 375,000 home care jobs, raising California's unemployment rate to more than 14 percent...
Read Press Release California State Association of Counties Press Release
re 2010-11 Budget Proposal
January 8, 2010
"The Governor’s proposed 2010-11 state budget released today is based on unrealistic assumptions, significant risks and cost shifts to counties, according to the California State Association of Counties (CSAC)...“This plan is a retread budget, not a reform budget,” said Tony Oliveira, CSAC President and Kings County Supervisor. “Unfortunately, it’s based on a number of failed ideas taken from past years.”...The budget proposal will blow a huge hole in an already frayed safety net, said Paul McIntosh, CSAC Executive Director. “There are recommendations to cut more than $2.9 billion from social service programs. This action alone will further push families into poverty, putting them in a dire situation from which they may never recover. That’s not the California Dream.”
Elimination of these programs will, in turn, impact other areas as well, including our criminal justice system, the homeless population and counties’ general assistance roles, McIntosh said...
Read Full Report
GOVERNOR’S PROPOSED BUDGET:
MASSIVE SWEEPING CUTS PROPOSED FOR HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
January 8, 2010. Marty Omoto. CDCAN Report
•OVER $1 BILLION IN CUTS PROPOSED TO MEDI-CAL
•PROPOSED ELIMINATION OF ADULT DAY HEALTH CARE
•REVIVES PROPOSAL TO CUT 87% OF IHSS CASELOAD
•PROPOSES REDUCING STATE MONEY FOR IHSS WORKERS
•BIG CUT TO SSI/SSP GRANTS FOR INDIVIDUALS PROPOSED
•15.7% GRANT CUT PROPOSED FOR CALWORKS
•HUGE CUT PROPOSED TO MENTAL HEALTH ACT MONEY
NO NEW RATE REDUCTIONS FOR REGIONAL CENTERS
PROPOSES ELIMINATION PROGRAMS AND MAJOR REDUCTIONS IF FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DOES NOT INCREASE FEDERAL FUNDING – GOVERNOR CALLS FOR CONTINUATION OF EXISTING REGIONAL CENTER BUDGET CUTS BUT NO NEW PROPOSED RATE REDUCTIONS BUT ON-GOING CUTS WILL CONTINUE & POSSIBLY EXPAND
Read Full Report
Schwarzenegger declares budget emergency, proposes deep cuts
January 8, 2010. Steve
Wiegand
. Sacramento Bee
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger unveiled an $82.9 billion state spending plan today that calls for no tax hikes but envisions pay cuts for state workers, reductions in services to California's neediest residents - and relies on the benevolence of the federal government.
The governor also declared yet another fiscal emergency, and called for yet another special session of the Legislature, designed to keep a projected $19.9 billion budget deficit from growing by another $2.4 billion.
Read Story & Comment In-Home Care Program For Disabled At Risk
January 8, 2010. Amita Sharma. KPSB
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said today he plans terminate an in-home care program for the disabled to help close a budget shortfall unless the federal government gives the state $7 billion. The governor proposes eliminating the $5 billion In-Home Supportive Services program in his 2011 budget. More than 450,000 disabled people, seniors and the blind rely on IHSS for help in cleaning their homes, cleaning themselves , cooking and feeding. Kristine Loomis has a severe form of arthritis that has left her in a wheelchair. “Losing my home care workers would be completely catastrophic. I use home care providers to go to the bathroom, to bathe, eat. I can't even roll over in bed without their help,” Loomis said. Disabled advocates say they plan to lobby the legislature hard to keep the program.
Listed to Radio Broadcast & Comment Viewpoints: Welfare cuts threaten growth of jobs
January 6, 2010. Cathi Grams. Sacramento Bee
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says his New Year's resolution for California comes down to three words: "Jobs, jobs, jobs." In doing so, he tacitly acknowledges the recession's brutal impact on California's families and children. And yet continued deep budget cuts – with the governor threatening more of the same for next year – are making the recession's impacts much worse, shredding California's safety net and eliminating services that Californians desperately need to get back to work. Making the "jobs, jobs, jobs" goal a reality will require holding the line against further cuts that will plunge many more children and families into poverty and despair.
Read Story & Comment
Channeling State Budget Outrage into Action
January 6, 2010. Paul Hogarth. Beyond Chron.
Today, Governor Schwarzenegger will announce more budget cuts in his “State of the State” address – and we all know it will be worse than a Terminator sequel. Advocates for the poor and disabled are bracing for more IHSS cuts, and a coalition of 22 groups have called on Democrats to stand firm. But where we really need the energy right now is gathering signatures to repeal the “two-thirds” budget rule – which would bring some sanity to Sacramento. And with a new generation of college students galvanized by draconian cuts to the UC system, there is simply no excuse not to have a grassroots army to qualify a measure for the ballot. There are indeed proposition efforts in circulation, but we haven't seen enough money put down yet to make it serious. And progressives are getting bogged down in a distracting battle – on whether to just reform the budget process, or to also extend a majority rule to revenue as well. Just like the effort to repeal Prop 8 in 2010 or 2012 has been unproductive, so has this one.
Read Story & Comment Supes urge state to allow ex-felons to serve as health workers
January 5, 2010.
Joshua Sabatini. San Francisco Examiner
On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors voted 8-0 to adopt a resolution, which was introduced by Supervisor John Avalos, urging the state to strike a proposed new regulation that would prohibit those with felony or serious misdemeanor convictions from serving as homecare providers in the state's In-Home Supportive Services program . San Francisco currently has about 18,000 in-home support service workers
Read Story & Comment.
IHSS advocates urge Dems to stand against more cuts
January 5, 2010. Sacramento Bee
With just three days until Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger unveils his budget proposal, groups bracing for another round of deep cuts are already sounding off about the expected reductions.
A coalition of 22 organizations representing the disabled, the elderly and the IHSS workers' union have penned a letter urging Democrats to salvage some funding for the In Home Supportive Services program and avoid another year of "illegal, immoral, and penny-wise, pound-foolish cuts designed to weaken and destroy the IHSS program."
Read Story & Comment
Read Letter to Dems
Democrats as much to blame for fraud claims against IHSS
December 29, 2009. The Californian.
In response to Community Columnist Denika Boardman's Dec. 24 commentary "Comic book approach to IHSS fraud disingenuous -- Boardman is right on target. What is truly sad about this deplorable campaign to smear nearly a half-milllion elderly, blind and disabled Californians as fraud criminals is that it was the Democrats who allowed it to happen. By caving in to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger during the budget debate this summer, they provided him with tens of millions of dollars to launch his campaign. This is despite the fact that the governor has never proven that widespread fraud exists in IHSS.
Read Post & Comment Abel Maldonado not willing on tax hike --
Unlikely to repeat voting with Democrats on budget
December 28, 2009 Monterey County Herald
Republican state Sen. Abel Maldonado, who famously joined Democrats this year in their push to raise taxes, says next year he's unlikely to cross the aisle on a budget deal. "I'm willing to look at everything, but I think people in California don't have an appetite for taxes. They're maxed out," he said in an interview with MediaNews this week. Maldonado's rebuke of tax hikes comes as the governor and lawmakers next month prepare to tackle the state's $21 billion deficit. The exercise is reminiscent of last summer's daunting budget negotiations, as California's economy continues to sputter and the same talk of whether to raise taxes or cut public services has begun. "We are going to do it through reductions in government," Maldonado said of closing the budget gap. "As much as I hate to say it, there are going to be reductions for education, for transportation."
Read Story & Commen Give thanks to caregivers
December 28, 2009. Petoskey News.
During this holiday time let us count our blessings. Our blessings I speak of are those caregivers who take on the obligation to care for their family or loved one. It isn't an easy role to fulfill and it is challenging especially during these times. But it is what family is about, in being there for each other throughout life. We who have stood in that role of a caregiver realize when it is over with we live without regret and know how precious life and family are. I wish to honor those caregivers of the past, present and future. They are remarkable individuals who are selfless in their sacrifice in caring for others, giving those they care for honor, respect and the best inquality of life.
Read Story & Comment Courts play referee role in California budget cutting
December 28, 2009. Kevin Yamamura. Sacramento Bee During his first year in office, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger railed against state lawmakers, calling them "girlie men" and "obstructionists." As he enters his final year, Schwarzenegger is targeting a different branch of government: judges who "are going absolutely crazy." The Republican governor openly complains about the judiciary these days for blocking budget decisions and forcing California to find billions of dollars elsewhere. Recent judgments have contributed to the state's $20.7 billion projected deficit. Courts have ruled that California's attempts to divert transit and redevelopment money are illegal. They have found in some cases that the state cannot furlough workers. They have blocked rate cuts for in-home care workers and Medi-Cal providers. Beneficiaries of those rulings say courts serve a corrective purpose after lawmakers and Schwarzenegger have resorted to legally suspect methods of balancing the budget. Read Story & Comment The Buzz: A county spurns Schwarzenegger
December 28, 2009. Sacramento Bee
Count San Luis Obispo County among those saying "Thanks, but no thanks," to an offer of state money. Last week, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced $26.5 million in grants to fight fraud in the In-Home Health Services program. But the county's social services director, Lee Collins, told his local newspaper he wasn't going to apply. The county would have to put up $30,000 it can't afford, and there's no significant fraud in the county's program, he said.
Read Story & Comment
Governor Wasting Millions of Taxpayers' Dollars
December 27, 2009. News Blaze
How sad. We're in the middle of a budget crisis. But our governor spends tens of millions of dollars on a huge anti-fraud campaign for IHSS when no one-the governor, Republican politicians or even ambitious district attorneys like Sacramento County's Jan Scully-has been able to prove that there is widespread fraud in the program.
Read Story & Comment
Federal Court Accuses Administration and Attorney General’s Office of Lying in Medi-Cal Provider Rate Cut Case
December 26, 2009. Marty Omoto. California Progress Report
In a major victory for disability and senior advocates, a three judge panel of the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday (December 21) issued a stunning and strongly worded rebuke against the Schwarzenegger Administration and Attorney General Jerry Brown accusing their representatives of lying to the court in "clear violation" of California State Bar rules against misleading judges. All attorneys practicing law in the state must be licensed by the California State Bar. ..The 3 judge panel of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals said Schwarzenegger Administration officials in the Department of Health Care Services which oversees the state's Medicaid program (called Medi-Cal), through their lawyers in the Attorney General's office, lied and misled the court about why the reasons the State delayed for more than a year to make its current arguments in the Medi-Cal provider rate reduction case.
Read Story & Comment Advocates criticize Schwarzenegger's efforts to protect in-home supportive services from fraud
December 24, 2009. Donna Tam. Contra Costa Times
On the heels of an announcement awarding $26.5 million to California counties to protect In-Home Supportive Services programs from fraud, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is warning that the program may be eliminated altogether if the state's financial situation continues to decline. While Schwarzenegger is saying that the U.S. Congress has left the state with no other choice during these harsh economic times -- the state faces a more than $60 billion deficit last year and expects to face a $20 billion deficit this year -- IHSS advocates think the governor is just taking another jab at one of the state's most vulnerable populations...Glenn Reed, outreach and resource development coordinator for the Tri-County Independent Living, questions the governor's decision to fund fraud protection while also warning of complete elimination of the program.”Isn't that just $26 million straight down the tube? That could fix a few sidewalks,” Reed said...
Read Story & Comment
State money unnecessary, services chief says
December 24, 2009. Bob Cuddy. San Luis Obisbo Tribune
County Social Services Director Lee Collins says the governor's plan to fight fraud in In-Home Supportive Services has been “a mountain of bull---t from the get-go,” and he declined to apply for state money designed to fight fraud and abuse locally. “I did not apply for this funding because we can't afford it, we don't need it and I have no desire to play the governor's game that, in my view, is fraud on the highest order,” Collins wrote in an e-mail to The Tribune.
Read Story & Comment Comic book approach to IHSS fraud disingenuous
December 24, 2009. Denika Boardman. The Californian.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has announced $26.5 million in funding to counties to combat fraud in the In Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program. In his typical "Terminator" style, the governor praised the allocation of this money as yet another tool to root out "waste, fraud and abuse" in this statewide program which provides personal care and domestic services to approximately 460,000 senior citizens and people with disabilities. Conjuring images of the countless action heroes he has played on the silver screen, the governor has now joined forces with law enforcement officials to combat the evil in IHSS. Is anyone else out there having flashbacks to the Justice League or X-Men? Sorry governor, but the IHSS program doesn't need Aqua Man or the Green Lantern. It needs policymakers to stop demonizing recipients and providers and deliberately inflating fraud estimates in order to justify severe cuts to the program.
Read Story & Comment The impacts and the numbers...
December
23, 2009. Anthony Wright. California Progress Report
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger used to be the champion of health reform. He supported a reform model on the basis of "shared responsibility"--the state would do its part, but he'll ask contributions from individuals, employers, providers, and local, state and federal governments, etc. He proposed raising revenues--both legislatively and going to the ballot--to expand programs like Medi-Cal and Healthy Families, as a way to get more of the 50/50 federal matching funds that were available to use, but we were not taking advantage of because of our lack of investment.
Read Story & Comment
Using IHSS As A Cover to Attack The Poor
December 22, 2009.
Brian Leubitz Calitics
The Governor has spent a long time attacking in-home support services. He claims they are simply riddled with fraud, and that he should, nay, must, spend $26 million to root out that fraud: "I promised to fight fraud and abuse in California's In-Home Supportive Services, which assists some of California's most vulnerable citizens. Today, I am proud to announce $26.5 million in awards that will help root out fraud in this program..." Sure, fraud bad, savings good. In a perfect world, we would be able to root all fraud, and perfectly target the state's money. Yet, for some reason, the governor picks and chooses which fraud he goes after. Fraud at $8/hour? Yeah, that must be dealt with. Fraud by the millions? Not so much.
Read Story & Comment Funding for Fraud in Caregiver Program
December 22, 2009. Mina Kim. The California Report
Governor Schwarzenegger announced yesterday counties will get more than 26 million dollars in state and federal funds to crack down on fraud in the state's in-home care program for the elderly and disabled. But not everyone believes in the allegations of widespread fraud...
Read Story & Listen to Broadcast
Gov. Schwarzenegger Announces $26.5 Million in Awards
to Counties to Combat IHSS Fraud
December 21, 2009. Press Release. Office of the Governor.
Awards Help Counties Provide Greater Oversight to Root out Waste, Fraud and Abuse
Committed to combating fraud within the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today joined Sacramento County District Attorney Jan Scully and other state officials to announce $26.5 million in awards for up to 45 California counties to assist with investigating fraud, and to better coordinate and share data between the counties and the state.
Read Press Release SF Officials: New State Rule Locks Hardworking People Out Of Work
December 17, 2009.
R.M. Arrieta. In These Times
Some San Francisco lawmakers are calling for a reversal of California's new regulations placing stringent requirements on in-home workers who take care of the sick, elderly and disabled. The draconian regulation, which excludes a person with any felony conviction or serious misdemeanor from working as a caregiver in the state's In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS), is currently on hold due to a temporary restraining order. But it could go into effect as soon as January 29. That possibility has created confusion and panic among those depending on IHSS. It could cost many workers their jobs, or block many prospective workers from applying for those jobs as In-Home Supportive Services workers.
Read Story & Comment
Supes opposing new state support service regs
December 14, 2009. Joshua Sabatini. SF Examiner
New proposed state regulations would prohibit people with felony or serious misdemeanor convictions from serving as homecare provides in the state's In-Home Supportive Services program. But a court injunction is in place keeping the new rules from going into effect and Supervisor John Avalos has submitted a resolution urging the state's Department of Social Services to withdraw the new regulations... “Formerly incarcerated people, having paid their debt to society, should share employment rights guaranteed to all workers and need not encounter obstacles to obtaining gainful employment and positively contributing to society,” the resolution says...
Read Story & Comment State Steps Up Random Home Visits For In-Home Care Providers
December 11, 2009. Amita Sharma. KPBS, San Diego State University
State investigators are stepping up random home visits of the disabled and elderly who receive in-home care. But not everyone thinks the house calls are a good idea. KPBS Investigative Reporter Amita Sharma tells us about the visits.
Radio Broadcast & Photos
AFSCME Declares Support for Community First Choice Option in Health Reform
December 10, 2009. AFSCME Press Release.
Washington, D.C. – The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) threw its full support behind a federal provision to increase personal assistance services to seniors and people with disabilities. These services include personal care and homemaking, and are provided in community settings by direct support workers.
Read Press Release
Seniors protest changes to in-home program
December 9, 2009. Joshua Sebold. Plumas County News
The Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to authorize Chairwoman Sherrie Thrall to sign a letter protesting changes to the state In Home Support Services program at its Tuesday, Dec. 1, meeting. Plumas County Commission on Aging Chairwoman Nancy Lund and several other commission members appeared before the Board of Supervisors to voice their concerns about the changes passed as part of the 2009 state budget...Supervisor Robert Meacher commented it sounded like the state wanted to make a program go away, but didn't have the guts to eliminate it. Instead, it simply made it too hard for people to use the program, hoping that would lead to its eventual elimination.
Several members of the commission voiced their adamant agreement with that interpretation of events.
Read Story & Comment
Additional priorities for Senior Legislature
Dec. 6, 2009. Chuck Molnar. Santa Cruz Sentinel
Senior Corner - "In addition to the top 10 proposals created and supported by the California Senior Legislature CSL, written about previously, here are the next 10 top priorities for the CSL. The CSL will be working in 2010 to get these proposals enacted into state law...
SP-1 Senior Senator Young Sacramento. Expanded IHSS Services. Redefines IHSS to include support services for recipients involved in community activities within assigned hours."
Read Article & Comment
AAHSA applauds Senate decision for ensuring CLASS provisions in health reform bill
December 5, 2009. News Medical Net
The American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (AAHSA) applauds the Senate for ensuring that the Community Living and Supportive Services (CLASS) provisions remain in the final health reform legislation. The CLASS provisions are essential for providing support to elders, people with disabilities and their caregivers.
Read Post & Comment Viewpoints: Support services fraud is wrong target
December 5, 2009. Ashley Rodrick. Sacramento Bee
California counties have begun to implement the latest In-Home Supportive Services policy – anti-fraud measures to counter abuse of the system. It's true the IHSS program is ailing, but targeting fraud is not the cure. IHSS is suffering from a loss of its blood supply – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has cut more than $200 million from the program, leaving thousands of elderly and disabled Californians at risk of losing vital support...
rather than trying to find a remedy for this safety net, the governor chooses to target fraud. So far, $10 million has been earmarked to investigate and prosecute dishonest workers, along with $26 million for background checks and mandatory caregiver orientations. The governor claims these measures will save $160 million, but other sources estimate the savings at only $40 million.
Read More & Comment
The war at home
Why pick on the elderly, blind and disabled?
Steve Mehlman. NewsReview.com
Sacramento - Low-income elderly, blind and disabled people are much better off being cared for in their own homes than in nursing homes. Period. And that's the simple premise of California's In-Home Supportive Services home-care program. And since it costs around $13,000 a year to care for someone in IHSS, compared to a cost to taxpayers of $55,000 and up for nursing-home care, average citizens are better off for the home-care program, too. So why have Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his political allies, like Sacramento County District Attorney Jan Scully, declared war on the 460,000 vulnerable IHSS recipients and those who care for them?
All year, Schwarzenegger and his supporters have tried to destroy IHSS and discredit those who benefit from it. He first tried to throw 90 percent of all IHSS recipients—more than 410,000 people—out of the program.
Read More & Comment In-home care cuts dealt another blow
December 2, 2009. Bob Egelko. San Francisco Chronicle
An Alameda County judge has stopped the state from disqualifying people with felony records from being in-home care workers, the third judicial setback for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's attempt to scale back the program that provides domestic help for 462,000 low-income elderly and disabled Californians...Schwarzenegger had put the new rules into effect Nov. 1. They were challenged by seven in-home care providers who cited a state law that bans workers from the program if they had been convicted of a specific felony - involving fraud against a government program or child or elder abuse - in the previous 10 years. The governor's regulations go further, barring anyone who has been convicted of any felony, or of misdemeanors involving child abuse, from working in the program...
Read Story & Comment
In-home caregivers plead for Sacramento County support
December 2, 2009. Robert Lewis. Sacramento Bee
Workers caring for homebound disabled and elderly residents are protesting a move by Sacramento County officials that caregivers fear will lead to wage cuts. This year, the cash-strapped county government – currently in contract negotiations with the union representing In-Home Supportive Service workers – was able to replace a portion of its contribution to the entitlement program with federal stimulus funds. When those funds run out, however, the county doesn't want to go back to paying the higher amount. This could mean workers' wages would drop from the current $10.40 an hour to $8.40 an hour, starting in 2011.
Read Story & Comment
Order Temporarily Halts State Ban
Against Hiring Ex-Felons for IHSS Care
December 2, 2009. California Health Online
On Nov. 1, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) enacted new regulations that prohibited the IHSS program from employing caregivers that had prior felony convictions of any type or misdemeanor charges involving child abuse. The governor's rules were designed to improve program safety for IHSS participants. The regulations would not have reduced state spending on the program. Seven care providers challenged the new rules by arguing that state law only bars IHSS from employing caregivers that received a conviction for a specific felony involving child abuse, elder abuse or fraud within the previous 10 years.
Read Story & Comment
Judge: Calif. Not Following Order To Stop Home Care Cuts
November 30, 2009. Amita Sharma. KPBS
California — The State of California has still not followed a federal judge's order to stop cuts to an in-home care program for the elderly and disabled. Judge Claudia Wilken cited the state two weeks ago for contempt. Despite the contempt ruling and almost a week of daily hearings, the state had still not complied with her October order. That order instructed the state not to make cuts to In-Home Supportive Services affecting thousands of people until it was determined whether the reductions were legal. Melinda Bird is an attorney for the disabled.
Read More & Comment
The Real Important Issues Concerning IHSS
November 29, 2009. Examiner.com
IHSS is a great program for family and friends to help pay for the necessities that people like you and me have to deal with everyday, like gas, food, utilities, rent, etc.
That is why this program is very important to keep. It is always best to have friends and family members who the parents and elderly trust to take care of them and know how to take care of them. Instead of some institution that doesn't know your mom or dad like you do. They won't treat them with the same respect. The people that apply to these programs won't apply if they didn't really need the money to help fund to take of their families.
Read More & Comment
Will Schwarzenegger, on the road to failure, finally change course? November 25, 2009, Doug Moore. Capitol Weekly
Less than 60 days from now, Gov. Schwarzenegger will submit his state budget plan for the coming year, the last budget blueprint of his Governorship. Despite signing a budget in July this year that planned for a surplus and enacted massive cuts to vital services and programs, California is expected to face a shortfall of about $21 billion by the close of this fiscal year according to the Legislative Analyst's latest forecast. As he approaches his last year in office, the Governor must decide whether his plan will continue the destructive decline in public investment that he has championed over the last five years, or whether he will reverse course and introduce a budget that will build the foundation for California's economic recovery and future prosperity...
Read More & Comment Fight Conintues to Save IHSS
November 20, 2009.
Assemblymember Noreen Evans. Budget Blog
460,000 individuals across California rely on in-home supportive services (IHSS). Sadly, some of them will face real life or death situations because of the administration's ongoing assault on the program. . .
the governor demanded changes in law to address what he considered fraud in the IHSS system. As part of the final budget deal, he demanded substantial changes to the enrollment process for new IHSS providers and anti-fraud requirements, such as fingerprinting, for recipients of IHSS. At the governor's request, these changes were to be implemented on November 1, 2009. But the administration has severely botched implementation of these changes. Here is what we know...
Read More & Comment
Many IHSS Participants Must Shell Out More
To Keep Receiving Services
November 18, 2009. California Healthwatch
About 9,000 elderly and disabled Californians are facing higher bills to receive the same level of care in the state's In-Home Supportive Services program, the Sacramento Bee reports. The federal government contributes 50% of the funding for the IHSS program, which serves about 400,000 Californians. Since 2004, IHSS participants and the state have split the remaining "share-of-cost" payment for IHSS and Medi-Cal, California's Medicaid program. However, state lawmakers reduced that subsidy when they crafted this summer's budget revision package. In September, state officials sent letters informing affected IHSS participants that they would need to contribute a higher share to receive the same caregiver services
Read Story & Comment
California's caregiver wage cut 'cruel,' says disabled ex-teacher
November 18, 2009. Susan Ferriss. Sacramento Bee
Sylvia Zedlar's left leg was nearly severed when a car struck her in south Sacramento County in 2002. The 74-year-old has been struggling to recover ever since, using a wheelchair that she scoots with her feet and holding onto walls – and her caregiver – to gingerly walk. Now the former teacher has problems she fears will threaten her survival. Because state budget cuts reduced in-home care subsidies for those deemed able to pay, she is among about 9,000 frail and mostly elderly Californians who must pay, on average, between $200 and $250 more each month to get the same level of care.
Read Story & Comment Caregiving Felons Sue California
November 16, 2009.
By Maria Dinzeo. Courthouse News Service.
OAKLAND (CN) - California's Department of Social Services will no longer pay felons to care for disabled relatives, no matter how long ago they committed their crimes, seven caregivers say in a state court complaint. The new policy bars felons from the In-Home Support Services program, though the plaintiffs are caring for their own relatives, and some of their convictions are decades old. Gail Ellis was convicted of a felony in 1993, and has been caring for her son, "whose judgment is severely impaired" for 16 years. The state's new policy would exclude her from the In-Home Support Services program, which pays participants to care for the aged, severely disabled and homebound. According to a 2009 legislative study cited in the complaint, 44 percent of the 430,000 IHSS recipients are cared for by a relative. Alberta Bachman is an IHSS provider for her 90 year-old mother, and says she was denied a state license to take on additional clients because of a 1976 felony conviction for grand theft.
Read More...
Three AFSCME members make the case for quality
affordable coverage for all.
November issue AFSCME Works.
By Jon Melegrito
"...Amy Day and Rosemarie Nguyen are among California's 300,000 home care workers. They provide personal care assistance to 400,000 elderly and disabled clients who prefer to have greater control of their lives by living in their own homes—or sometimes, the homes of the providers themselves. Care-giving is often difficult and stressful and involves heavy lifting and other back-breaking chores. Many home care workers are low income. They have no health insurance and lack access to preventive care. As a result, they're often in poor health and have chronic medical conditions that go untreated. But Amy and Rosemarie consider themselves fortunate. They receive medical benefits from a county-paid health insurance plan negotiated into their contracts by their union—United Domestic Workers (UDW/AFSCME). Here are their stories..."
Read Story Cuts to In-Home Care
November 16, 2009. KQED Radio
How are state budget cuts and a recent federal lawsuit affecting California's In-Home Supportive Services Program? The program assists thousands of low-income seniors and disabled people. We examine the details.
Guests:
- Deborah Doctor, legislative advocate for Disability Rights California
- Eva Lopez, deputy director of the Adult Program Division within the California Department of Social Services
- Frank Mecca, executive director of the County Welfare Directors Association of California, a non-profit association representing the human service directors from each of the state's 58 counties
- Noreen Evans, California State assemblywoman (D) representing District 7 and chair of the California State Assembly Committee on Budget
Listen to above November 16 Broadcast New IHSS providers must wait on new rules
November 13, Chris Metinko. The Oakland Tribune
Alameda County finds itself and its in-home care services in the same boat as many other counties this month as it tries to implant new state rules on the In-Home Supportive Service program created by the state's budget problems. The new rules, which went into effect Nov. 1, make it mandatory for counties to run background checks and take fingerprints of all new and current providers in the In-Home Supportive Service program. The new rules are part of the state's new anti-fraud regulations for in-home care services that came out of the state budget debate. Lawmakers claim the new regulations will save the state millions of dollars and make up for cuts in the program.
Read Story & Comment Only in California! In-home care in peril
Novemer 11, 2009. Neil Ranta. Not Another Conspiracy
Beginning Nov. 1, until they are officially enrolled, new providers of In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) to low income seniors, the blind and the disabled will not be paid their wages, even if their client needs immediate attention and may be institutionalized without an IHSS provider's care. And why will these newly hired caregivers not be paid? Because effective Nov. 1, these workers are supposed to have completed a new process of enrollment before they receive their wages.
So what is the problem? Why have 18 counties sent letters of protest to Department of Social Services Director John Wagner, saying it is impossible for them to comply with the new procedures?
Read Story & Comment
Court bars new California standards for beneficiaries'
home health services
November 11, 2009. CCH Aspen Publishers MediRegs
A federal court in California ordered California Medicaid officials not to implement new standards that would terminate in-home supportive services (IHSS) for thousands of elderly and disabled individuals while litigation is pending. The ruling is the third to invalidate California laws and rules attempting to control Medicaid expenditures (see ¶302,772 and ¶302,920, affirmed at ¶302,951) this year....Legislative direction...Previously, the state legislature enacted a law directing the Medicaid agency to develop a tool to assess recipients' needs for personal assistance in order to provide services in a uniform way throughout the state. At that time, the agency's regulations provided that IHSS be available to beneficiaries who needed the assistance in order to remain at home safely.
Read More... Supervisors ready to move forward with new
IHSS program regulations
November 11, 2009. Elizabeth Larson. Lake County News
LAKEPORT – The Board of Supervisors said Tuesday they're ready to proceed with enacting new state rules for the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program – from fingerprinting to background checks for all service providers. While the new rules still aren't clear and there are concerns about charging providers and clients, board members agreed that they'd lobbied for such broad reforms over the last several years in order to protect seniors and other clients. “We are the county that initiated this, we are the county that asked for this,” said Supervisor Rob Brown. “They've created this legislation based on what Lake County has been pushing.” Ruth Valenzuela, field representative with Assemblyman Wes Chesbro's office, discussed the new regulations with the board on Tuesday... “The burden is on the counties to do all these things.” As of Nov. 1 the counties are supposed to begin implementing the changes, even though the rules aren't clear and the state hasn't given the counties the tools they'll need, said Valenzuela. “It's a real problem for a lot of counties, including Lake,” she said.
Read Story & Comment Governor: Budget Deficit Could Swell to $14 Billion by January
November 10, 2009. Marty Omoto CDCAN. California Progress Report
Saying that more spending cuts would be necessary with "very tough decisions still to be made", Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said Monday (November 9th) that the state's dire financial situation is growing worse, with a state budget deficit that could swell to over $14 billion when he submits his proposed state budget for 2010-2011 in early January...
The deficit – the difference between what the state brings in as revenues (including taxes) and what it actually spends and is projected to spend – is growing because of a combination of several factors, including a sharp drop in revenues that the current budget did not anticipate; lawsuits that have stopped several major cuts from going forward; and spending on some programs that have increased due to growing caseloads ..
Read Story & Comment County Supervisors blasted for spreading lies and misinformation about homecare recipients and providers
November 9, 2009. UDW, PR Newswire
In a statement today, the president of the UDW Homecare Providers Union was especially critical of remarks by Supervisor Dianne Jacob last week claiming that the program is "out of control." "The only thing that is out of control are the lies and misinformation coming from Ms. Jacob and her colleagues on the Board of Supervisors," said UDW president and homecare provider Laura Reyes. "IHSS serves 25,0000 low-income elderly and people with disabilities in San Diego County, " says Ms. Reyes, herself a caregiver for her son, who has Cerebral Palsy. "But without any proof whatsoever, Ms. Jacob declares that 20,000 of them fail to 'meet the criteria' for IHSS. Without any facts, she brands 20,000 of our county's most vulnerable citizens and those who care for them as fraud criminals for participating in this vital program.
Read Press Release
Confusion Remains Over IHSS Anti-Fraud Law
November 6, 2009.
Kelley Weiss. KBPS
Some California lawmakers are still scratching their heads over new state anti-fraud rules for in-home care services for the elderly and disabled. And counties say the new law that went into effect this week is causing service delays. The stakeholders met Thursday to discuss the changes. Assemblymember Noreen Evans led the budget oversight committee hearing to try and clear up confusion over the new rules for the in-home care program. She authored a bill to push back the changes that now requires criminal background checks for all new providers. It passed the Assembly but died in the Senate this week. She said counties don't have the final instructions to implement the law. And as a result she says services have been delayed for hundreds of people. “There's real pain, suffering, fear and even potential death as a consequence of this failure and we need to find a way to make this work or the state will be responsible for avoidable pain and suffering,” said Evans.
Read Story & Comment
New rules trip up caregivers - cost state more
November 6, 2009. Mariso Lagos. San Francisco Chronicle
California is paying six to seven times more per day to care for some elderly and disabled people in nursing homes because a state-funded in-home care program is turning them away, welfare advocates and lawmakers said Thursday. Advocates for the disabled and for counties told the Assembly Budget Committee that the public is incurring new costs because state officials refused to delay the Nov. 1 start of new rules governing In-Home Supportive Services. The welfare program pays about 300,000 caregivers to help about 460,000 elderly, blind and disabled people in their homes. The new rules, designed to prevent fraud, require caregivers who are either new to the program or have taken on a new client to complete an enrollment form, criminal background check and orientation session before they can get paid. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who pushed for the rules, said the state could save $500 million a year by reducing fraud.
Read Story & Comment Home services reinstated for hundreds of
Shasta County disabled people
November 6, 2009. Amanda Winters. The Record Searchlight
In August, Shasta County In-Home Support Services (IHSS) workers were scrambling to figure out what Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget cuts would mean for them and the 428 disabled Shasta County residents who would be left without help in their homes. Now, a last-minute court order reversing the cut has workers scrambling to undo the changes they were ordered to make by Nov. 1. Schwarzenegger had vetoed exemptions made by the Legislature at the end of July to protect IHSS clients and eliminated services completely to those able to function at certain levels. The eliminated services were expected to save the state $82.1 million through the end of the fiscal year.
Read Story & Comment
IHSS "Reform" Disaster
November 3, 2009. Assemblymember Noreen Evans. Budget Blog.
"... the Assembly Budget Committee convened an oversight hearing on the Schwarzenegger Administration's botched implementation of its own proposals to reduce fraud the governor claims is in the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) Program...IHSS provides medical, nursing, and day to day living assistance to 460,000 elderly and disabled in their own homes. It has proven itself a less expensive and more effective alternative to nursing home care while enabling individuals to live with dignity in their community. Please watch the video to see how this program is needlessly under threat. That's why I am pushing through emergency legislation to prevent the imminent collapse of the IHSS program."
Watch Evans' address on video Republican State Senators Vote for Administrative Chaos,
Backdoor Cuts in IHSS
Doug Moore. California Progress Report; November 5, 2009
" It is sad that the governor's Republican enablers in the State Senate have chosen to ignore the pleas of countless California counties as well as thousands of homecare consumers, providers and advocates by allowing the In Home Supportive Services (IHSS) implementation fiasco to continue... In most situations like this one—when new rules and regulations cannot be implemented by a deadline date—the previous rules and regulations continue in force. But in this case, the Administration has mandated that because the new rules and regulations weren't implemented by Nov. 1st, the previous regulations DON'T apply and no new IHSS consumers can receive homecare until the new regulations are implemented . This begs the question: Is the Administration trying to achieve deeper cuts in IHSS than the Legislature voted for by encouraging this administrative chaos?
Read Story & Comment
IHSS Delay Fails by Four Votes in Senate
November 4, 2009. Marty Omoto. California Progress Report
With the State's water crisis dominating attention at the State Capitol, the State Senate reconvened its floor session at 11:35 PM, over 8 hours since it recessed Tuesday afternoon, but failed to pass SB 69, a bill that would have delayed the November 1st implementation of several requirements for In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) workers (providers), with a final vote taken just after midnight. The final roll call was 23 votes in favor and 12 votes opposed, with 5 members not voting. No further action on the bill is expected at this point with the failure to win passage and it is not certain what the Legislature – or the counties and advocates will do next. The initial vote before going into recess was 23 to 10, but because the bill is an “urgency” or emergency bill, 27 votes are needed for passage in the 40 member State Senate. The final roll call vote fell strictly on party lines – with all 23 votes in favor Democrats – and all 12 votes in opposition Republicans. Democrats control the State Senate with 25 seats, and Republicans holding the remaining 15.
Read Story & Comment
Denika Boardman: Woes not over for in-home care
The Californian; November 4 2009
'...The state budget cuts to the In Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program bring back memories of the mess that Abbott and Costello created to make us laugh. Apparently, the governor thought that making cuts to this program was going to be a simple process; instead the cuts have created confusion and frustration for the state, the counties and most of all for recipients and providers who aren't sure which end is up. The situation is far from funny..."
Read Story & Comment Weekly Radio Address: Evans, De La Torre Discuss Action to Correct Administration’s Mishandling of IHSS Reforms
October 31, 2009. California Progress Reporta
In this Democratic weekly address, Assemblymember Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa), Chair of the Assembly Committee on Budget and Assemblymember Hector De La Torre (D-South Gate), Chair of the Assembly Committee on Accountability and Administrative Review, discuss the new threat to In-Home Supportive Services clients and providers. They discuss actions to correct the Schwarzenegger Administration's chaotic implementation of new IHSS requirements that threatens frail, elderly and disabled individuals with the loss of care beginning this Monday.
Read full Transcript & Comment
Is California creating chaos for care caregivers?
CBS 2, KCAL 9. October 29, 2009
Dave Bryon reports on contravers a new program aimed at cracking down on fraud with service care workers.
Play Video ("politics" section)
Administration Says It Will Go Forward With Nov 1st Implementation Date For IHSS Worker Requirements
October 29, 2009. Marty Omoto. California Progress Report
Despite testimony from counties who report “chaos and panic” from thousands of In-Home Supportive Services recipients, providers and county workers because counties aren't ready to implement new In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) worker (provider) requirements , Schwarzenegger Administration officials said today at a sometimes contentious legislative budget hearing that it intends to go forward with the scheduled November 1st implementation date. Those IHSS provider (worker) requirements – passed as part of the 2009-2010 revised State Budget in late July by the Legislature controlled by Democrats and signed by the Governor – included mandatory background checks and fingerprinting for new and existing IHSS workers. Counties have said that implementation of those requirements – required before a new IHSS worker can be paid if they are hired after November 1st – will cause major disruption, loss of services for people who need in-home supports and other problems.
Read Story & Comment
Home-care services at risk, counties warn
October 29, 2009. Marisa Lagos. San Francisco Chronicle
California counties warned Wednesday that thousands of disabled and elderly residents will lose their home care and could be forced into costly institutions unless state officials extend a Sunday deadline to make sweeping changes to a welfare program. The changes, ensconced in legislation passed earlier this year, are anti-fraud measures aimed at increasing oversight of the people who provide at-home care to 460,000 residents through the state's In-Home Supportive Services program. Sunday's deadline applies only to new providers, who will be required to complete a new enrollment form, criminal background check and orientation session before they can get paid. But in letters sent to state officials this month and testimony before a joint legislative committee Wednesday, county officials said implementing the changes by Sunday will be logistically impossible.
Read Story & Comment County Officials Protest Background Checks
for In-Home Care Workers
October 28, 2009. California Healthline
County officials are pushing back against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's (R) plan to require background checks and fingerprinting for workers in the state's In-Home Supportive Services program, the Los Angeles Times reports. Schwarzenegger pushed for the new IHSS requirements as part of an anti-fraud effort during this summer's budget negotiations. Under the new requirements, all applicants for IHSS positions would need to undergo background checks and fingerprinting starting Monday. The state's current care workers would need to undergo the checks by June. Lizelda Lopez -- spokesperson for the state Department of Social Services, which oversees IHSS -- said the Legislature set the Monday deadline as part of the budget deal.
Read Story & Comment Counties, state duel over in-home care changes
October 28, 2009. Susan Ferriss. Sacramento Bee
County social service directors said Wednesday that it is impossible for them to meet a Monday deadline to implement the state's new screening rules for in-home health caregivers. In an unprecedented rush, they say, the state has failed to give them promised instructions and new materials for screening caregivers, including a fingerprint requirement. Yet the state also says that if caregivers don't go through the new process, the computer system is set up to withhold their pay, leaving thousands of disabled and elderly Californians without care starting Monday unless caregivers work for free. "What are you going to do?" Assemblywoman Noreen Evans demanded to know from state officials.
Read Story & Comment Counties Warn Governor of “Chaos” If It Moves Forward
On New IHSS Worker Requirements
October 28, 2009. Marty Omoto. California Progress Report.
Several counties – representing both urban and rural areas of the state – have sent official letters to the Schwarzenegger Administration warning of “chaos” for county workers and dire consequences for hundreds of thousands of people who receive and work in the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program if new requirements passed in late July as part of the 2009-2010 revised State Budget, that included mandatory criminal background checks and fingerprinting of all IHSS workers (providers) that are scheduled to go into effect November 1st, are not delayed. The counties have responsibility to administer and implement the program locally under rules, guidelines and direction provided by the Department of Social Services. The Department of Health Care Services also plays a role in the IHSS program because it oversees the state's Medicaid program (called “Medi-Cal”) and nearly all of the IHSS program is Medicaid funded.
Read Story & Comment Planned background checks for in-home healthcare
workers are criticized
October 28, 2009. Eric Baily. Los Angeles Times
County social service chiefs in California protest the Schwarzenegger administration's plan for prospective health aides, saying they aren't ready to enact the new application process. Reporting from Sacramento - A storm of protest has erupted over the Schwarzenegger administration's push to require prospective home health aides for the elderly and disabled to begin undergoing criminal background and fingerprint checks next week. Social service chiefs in counties throughout the state have warned that they aren't ready to begin the time-consuming new application process -- and the delay could mean some elderly and frail patients would go without care.
Advocates for the elderly and disabled say the administration's rush to begin the checks, part of an anti-fraud effort Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger pushed during last summer's budget negotiations, seems to have an ulterior motive: dissuading new patients and providers from participating in the $5.5-billion government-funded home healthcare program. "This is just a disaster in the making," said Deborah Doctor, legislative advocate for Disability Rights California. "I don't want to overdramatize this, but it could have the same effect as cutting people off the program."
Read Story
Politics are crippling state-funded services to the disabled
October 25, 2009. Matt Smith. San Francisco Weekly
In July 1993, lifelong amateur sailor Herbert Meyer , then 62, was crewing on a Rhodes 50 sailboat berthed at Pier 39...
This week, Meyer's 16-year struggle for a productive life will become more difficult. Scheduled California budget cuts will increase the deductible some low-income disabled people must pay for workers from the In-Home Supportive Services program. The cost hike may leave him with as little as $600 a month to live on, pushing him closer to the point where he's forced to enter a nursing home. "I just want to be able to stay here, live a healthy life, and be a productive citizen," he says. During the past few weeks, news headlines have described a flurry of lawsuits and other actions aimed at halting or stalling cuts ordered by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to services for poor and disabled Californians. The cuts, lawsuits, and the dizzying maze of programs involved are enough to discourage any reader trying to track California's fiscal malaise.
Read Story & Comment
AFSCME Calls for Reform of California's Enterprise Zone Program
October 24, 2009. News Blaze.
Earlier this week, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction to block $82 million worth of cuts to California's In-Home Supportive Service (IHSS) program, which provides home-based care to seniors and the disabled. As local jurisdictions and the grassroots look to take measures to undo the most regressive elements of a succession of Faustian state budgets, the American Federation of State County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME) is taking a lead role in finding solutions to California's continuing budget woes and bringing tax dollars back into the general fund. To that end, AFSCME is calling for wholesale reform of California's enterprise zone program. At a recent hearing in San Diego convened by the Assembly Committee on Jobs, Economic Development, and the Economy, AFSCME Political & Legislative Advocate Michael Bolden cited a 2009 Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) report and a range of studies conducted between 1994 and 2003 which all conclude that the enterprise zone program, which relies on tax breaks and tax credits to businesses to spur job growth, fails to increase jobs.
Read Story & Comment Marin recipients of home support services
grateful for judge's reprieve
October 23, 2009. Richard Halstead. Marin Independent Journal
Marin residents who would have lost government funding for their In-Home Supportive Service workers under proposed state changes were relieved this week after a federal judge blocked the plan, at least temporarily. "I was very happy to hear that. I was going through a lot of stress. I was going to be cut off completely," said Tammy Lehman of Novato, who receives help cleaning her home, cooking and shopping for groceries three times a week. Lehman said she suffers from back problems, a seizure disorder and depression. U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken issued the preliminary injunction at the end of a two-hour hearing Monday. Wilken said the advocates for disabled and elderly Californians and labor unions who sued to stop the state will likely be able to prove at trial that the state was using inadequate standards to determine whose services would be cut. In-Home Supportive Service workers help people with tasks such as meal preparation, food shopping, cleaning and assistance to medical appointments so they can stay in their own homes rather than require costly institutionalization.
Read Story
& Comment UDW members rally at hearing
that results
in injunction
against cuts to IHSS
October 23, 2009. United Domestic Workers.
"...Scores of disabled, elderly, and their homecare providers rallied outside the Oakland court room chanting and waving placards to show their outrage at the legislature's decision to cut essential services. The courtroom was filled to the limit, and people were being turned away at the door...With huge budget deficits predicted again for California in the coming year (some are saying up to 10 billion), the fight to stop cuts will continue, and it will be tough. The next step in the legal action against cuts based on Function Index will be a trial or motion for judgment in the federal court in Oakland. The first hearing won't come until early 2010, meaning the cuts might not occur during the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, 2010..."
Read Story & take action
Judge Halts Disability Home Care Cuts
October 22, 2009.
Riya Bhattacharjee. The Berkeley Daily Planet
Disability rights advocates won part of a battle Monday when a federal district court judge issued a preliminary injunction against home care cuts that were scheduled to take place next month. Judge Claudia Wilkins ruled that the state could not move ahead with its plans to slash In-Home Supportive Services to an estimated 130,000 Californians on Nov. 1 because it would result in substantial harm, damage and injury.
She said that the cuts would likely violate federal law and cause “incredible human suffering” to seniors and the disabled community, who were in dire need of the services. Hundreds of seniors and disabled citizens, including a large group from Berkeley, protested cuts to social, elder and disability services at a “People's Day of Reckoning” rally outside Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's state office in San Francisco on June 23, urging the legislature to include revenues in California's budget solution.
Read Story
Federal judge saves in-home services for 240 in county
October 21, 2009. Dave Moller. The Union
"...
A federal judge has saved in-home services for 240 Nevada County residents who feared they would lose them to California's budget cuts starting Nov. 1.
Judge Claudia Wilken issued an injunction Monday against slashing more than $80 million in services for 90,000 disabled, elderly and infirm Californians, according to Melinda Bird of Disability Rights in California. Her organization is helping to handle a lawsuit filed by five people trying to block the cuts, one of whom is from Grass Valley ...The next step in the process is a trial or motion for judgment that would conclude the lawsuit, which is winding through the courts in Oakland, Bird said. The first hearing won't come until early 2010, meaning the cuts might not occur during the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, 2010."
Read Story
IHSS Cuts on Hold
October 21, 2009. Thadeus Greenson. Contra Costa Times
More than 800 Humboldt County clients will be spared a reduction in their in-home supportive services, at least for the time being. A federal judge imposed a preliminary injunction Monday against a state plan that would have carved $82 million from the program, reducing or eliminating services to some 130,000 disabled and dependent Californians, including 861 in Humboldt County. The state had planned on sending out notices of a reduction in services to the clients this week, but Judge Claudia Wilken's ruling puts those on hold pending future legal hearings. A number of groups representing seniors and the disabled, as well as caregivers' unions, filed suit challenging the state's plan for reducing services, arguing the state's method for deciding whose services would be cut was arbitrary and in violation of federal protections.
Read Story & Comment Californians feel the pain
October 20, 2009. Rob Reynolds. Aljazeera.net
Elderly Californians hit hard by healthcare cuts -- The issue of healthcare is the focus in the second part of Al Jazeera's special series on the once-flourishing state of California. It may not be the largest US state, but it has by far the most people and the numbers are growing fast.
By the year 2020, 14 per cent of the US population will be in California. That is one out of every seven Americans, many of whom will be elderly. Six million Californians are already over the age of 60, and that number is set to double in the next 10 years. But it is the elderly who have been some of the hardest hit by spending cuts, aimed at reducing a $26bn deficit. More than $260 million have been cut from a statewide programme, providing support for the elderly at home. Al Jazeera's Rob Reynolds reports on the situation that is becoming more acute with every passing day.
Watch Video, Comment
U.S. judge bars state from cutting in-home care
October 20, 2009. San Francisco Chronicle
(10-20) 12:46 PDT OAKLAND -- A federal judge blocked the state Monday from eliminating in-home care to 36,000 elderly or disabled Californians, saying the money-saving measure appears to violate federal law and would deprive people of help they need to stay in their homes.
U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken's preliminary injunction also prohibits the state from denying domestic services, such as help with meals and housework, to an additional 97,000 people who now receive it. The cuts, among the budget-balancing measures approved by the Legislature, were scheduled to take effect Nov. 1 and would save the state $66 million through June 30. "We're very relieved that 130,000 Californians are not going to lose critical services that will enable them to stay in their homes," said Stacey Leyton, a lawyer for unions representing the workers who provide in-home care. "These actions were not only inhumane, they were also unlawful."
Another attorney for the plaintiffs, Dara Schur of Disability Rights California, quoted Wilken as saying the reductions would cause "incredible human suffering and injury." :
Read Story & Comment
Judge halts cuts to in-home care services
October 19, 2009.
Cecilia Vega. ABC News channel KGO
OAKLAND, CA (KGO) -- Thousands of disabled California residents breathed a sigh of relief Monday after a federal judge ruled budget cuts slashing their in-home care will not stand. "If we lose this, we end up not getting the help and if we don't get the help, what do we do, we end up in nursing homes," El Sobrante resident Jean Stewart said. More than 130,000 elderly and disabled Californians faced reductions in their in-home care, but siding with disability rights activists who sued the state, U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken put a halt to the cuts less than two weeks before they would have taken effect.
Read Story & Watch Video Judge Halts IHSS Home Care Cuts; Says
They
Likely Violate Federal Law
October 19, 2009. Steve Mehlman. United Domestic Workers Press Release
Oakland, CA -- A Federal judge has stopped the state from making deep cuts in the In Home Supportive Services (IHSS) homecare program that would have affected some 130,000 low income elderly, blind and disabled Californians. In her ruling today, U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken declared that the state cannot go forward on November 1 with its planned cuts because they would result in substantial harm, damage and injury and likely violate federal law. Approximately 40,000 low-income seniors and people with disabilities would have lost all their IHSS services, including personal care; another 90,000 would have lost such services as meal preparation, food shopping and help with laundry and housecleaning. The Judge said that the state's Functional Index rankings--which it would use to determine who to cut from the program-- were clearly not based on need, that essential services could be withdrawn arbitrarily, and “people could lose something irreplaceable – the ability to remain safely in their homes.”
Read Full Press Release
Judge Halts Home Care Cuts: Says approach would likely violate federal law and cause “incredible human suffering” to seniors and people with disabilities who need these services
October 19, 2009. Disability Rights California
Oakland, October 19, 2009-- U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken ruled today that the state cannot go forward on November 1 with its planned cuts of In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) to an estimated 130,000 Californians because of the substantial harm, damage and injury which would result. The Judge said that the state's Functional Index rankings were clearly not based on need, that essential services could be withdrawn arbitrarily, and “people could lose something irreplaceable – the ability to remain safely in their homes.” Therefore, she enjoined all IHSS cuts as requested by people who use IHSS and local unions, in the class action lawsuit, V.L. v Wagner...
The lawsuit was brought by 5 people who use IHSS services, on behalf of a proposed class of IHSS consumers, represented by Disability Rights California, the Disability Rights Legal Center, the National Senior Citizens Law Center, the National Health Law Program and attorney Charles Wolfinger; and by 5 SEIU locals and United Domestic Workers – AFSCME, bringing the case on behalf of IHSS providers..
Read Full Press Release Homecare Providers to Rally against Cuts in IHSS Program; Hearing on Lawsuit in Oakland Federal Court Monday
Sunday October 18, 2009. Steve Mehlman. United Domestic Workers Press Release
Oakland -- Homecare providers and their clients from across the state will rally at the Federal Courthouse in Oakland (1301 Clay Street) tomorrow morning (Monday, Oct. 19) in advance of a court hearing on a lawsuit to prevent more than 100,000 low-income seniors and the disabled from losing critical in-home care services. Advocates for seniors and people with disabilities along with the UDW Homecare Providers Union (AFSCME Local 3930) and three Service Employees International Union (SEIU) locals will participate in the 9:15 a.m. rally. Four public interest law firms: Disability Rights California , Disability Rights Legal Center, National Health Law Program and National Senior Citizens Law Center, have joined the two unions in the lawsuit. The cuts in the In Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program are scheduled to take effect November 1. At least 40,000 people will lose homecare services entirely, and nearly 100,000 more will have their services cut deeply. IHSS services have helped keep frail seniors and those with disabilities at home rather than forcing them into far-more-costly nursing homes or other institutions.
Read Full Press Release California says in-home service cuts are ready,
can't be quickly changed
October 16, 2009. Susan Ferriss. Sacramento Bee
"California officials say computer programming changes make it impossible to stop budget cuts before Nov. 1 to the In-Home Supportive Services program – even if a federal judge orders it..."Even if we don't send the notices, the cuts will take place because they can't be stopped," said Lizelda Lopez, Department of Social Services spokeswoman. The judge's decision puts the state in an "impossible position" because it could violate a law that recipients get 10 days' notice of any cuts to services, Lopez said. She said that during a federal court hearing Monday the state's lawyers will submit a sworn statement from information technology contractors who say the programming changes would take more time to undo."
Read Story & Comment
Judge halts in-home health cutoff notices
October 15, 2009. Susan Ferriss. Sacramento Bee
A federal judge in Oakland has issued an order blocking state officials from mailing out notices Thursday to 130,000 seniors and disabled people whose state-supported caregiver services are to be cut or reduced on Nov. 1.
Judge Claudia Wilkin issued a temporary restraining order late Wednesday prohibiting the state from sending letters to targeted recipients of California's In-Home Supportive Services program.
Read Story & Comment
Social Security makes it official: No COLA
October 15, 2009. MSNBC
First year without a cost of living increase since 1975
WASHINGTON - Social Security recipients won't get a cost-of-living increase next year for the first time in more than a third of a century, and that could boost President Barack Obama's plan to send seniors another round of $250 payments before the congressional elections.
Democratic leaders in Congress have signed onto the plan, greatly improving its chances, even as some budget hawks say the payments are unwarranted and could add to the federal budget deficit. Republican leaders said they, too, favor the payments but don't want to increase the deficit to pay for them.
Read Story & Comment. Suit Seeks to Protect California In-Home Care Services
October 14, 2009. Seth Michaels. AFL-CIO Blog
California home care workers are under threat from potential devastating budget cuts. This is a report from AFSCME on how these workers are fighting back. United Domestic Workers/AFSCME ( UDW/AFSCME ) has gone to court, along with several other plaintiffs, to prevent more than 100,000 low-income seniors and the disabled from losing critical in-home care services. The group filed the class-action lawsuit Oct. 1 in the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, on behalf of in-home care recipients and caregivers. It seeks to block the state of California from imposing budget cuts that would “render tens of thousands” of individuals ineligible to participate in the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program. UDW President Laura Reyes, an AFSCME International vice president , says IHSS funding is critical to protect seniors and the disabled: By cutting IHSS, the governor and the Legislature are actually putting people's lives at risk. A person with Alzheimer's may be capable of cooking and cleaning for herself, but without assistance, she is likely to leave the stove on after she finishes cooking and burn her house down.
Read Story & Comment
Letter From IHSS?
October 13, 2009. Pushing Limits Radio
"If you received a notice like this,..
file an appeal today or tomorrow! You have the right to appeal regardless of what the notice says. If you cannot travel to the hearing office, you can request an in home hearing which is required by the judgment in the case of Tesluck vs. Swoap...I am appealing the 9/16/09 IHSS notice form that I received AID PAID PENDING. The notice is not understandable. I do not know if the notice applies to me because there is no particularized information. The notice says I do not have a right to a hearing. But that is not correct. I do have a right to a hearing, if the notice does not explain what action is being taken and how it applies to me. I am requesting that my IHSS aid be continued at the same level until my hearing, even if I requested this hearing after 10/1/09. This notice does not comply with the federal or state regulations and therefore my aid must continue."
See Sample Letters, Read full story Fraud Allegations Against State Program Don't Add Up
October 13, 2009. Multi-part series beginning Oct 1, 2009. KPBS San Diego.
MAUREEN CAVANAUGH (Host): I'm Maureen Cavanaugh, and you're listening to These Days on KPBS. When Governor Schwarzenegger approved legislation to cut the budget and added a few cuts of his own this summer, he talked about shared sacrifice. After all, California is struggling out of a deep financial hole. This summer, the state ran out of cash and there was even talk of bankruptcy, so not many people are not shocked to hear that state agencies have been hit hard by budget cuts. But quite a few of us are shocked when we hear about the human impact of those cuts. This week, KPBS investigative reporter Amita Sharma has a two-part report on cutbacks to the In-Home Supportive Services program. One report addresses allegations that the program was rife with fraud and the other examines the affects the cuts will have on the people who need help. Amita, good morning.
Read Story & listen to broadcast Coping with Californias's cust of disabled services
October 9, 2009. My Story In California Blogspot
New Requirements for Workers by IHSS:
California Says: Die Soon
Today a letter arrived announcing that the benefits people had cut my SSI by five bucks. This made me be afraid that my SSI disability check could be cut further at any time. That was very upsetting. Then I got a notice by In Home Support Services that people who work for me, (who are paid by IHSS,) will have to "qualify" to be paid minimum wage by taking courses sponsored by the county! They will need to be fingerprinted and get a criminal background check that disallows people who are felons and "serious misdemeanors," - whatever that means. The weird thing is IHSS is going to require fingerprints from both me and the person who is working for me on every report form. They want these fingerprints to be there on each time sheet! Are they paying for us to buy the equipment to do the fingerprinting? Probably not. Another expense; pretty soon they'll require us to buy "special" from them ink so it can be electronically checked.
Read Story & Comment Cuts to hit elderly, kids
October 5, 2009. Geoff Johnson. Red Bluff News
Children in life-threatening situations and the elderly and infirm will be among the services hardest hit by cuts to state social services, said Tehama County Social Services Director Charlene Reid, addressing the Board of Supervisors Tuesday morning.
It was a message Reid has delivered before and she conceded it may not be news to the supervisors. Unlike the cuts affecting the county's Health Services Agency, which used the governor's preliminary budget to prepare for the worst case scenario, Reid is still trying to fix the abrupt line-item vetoes from the governor's pen.
The same goes for Reid's state equivalent. As of Tuesday, she was still unclear how much her department will receive from California. Less investigation, more foster care What fiscal news is clear to Reid suggests a cloudy future. Local Child Protection Services have lost about $500,000, likely leading to a delay in investigations and leaving children in life-threatening situations.
Conversely, with family maintenance care cut, children in nonthreatening situations will be more likely to be taken into foster care, as fewer staff will be able to work to keep families together. Funding necessary to train foster parents will also be down, leaving children lingering in care.
Read Story & Comment
Study: California Budget Cuts To Adversely
Affect Disabled, Mentally Ill Seniors
October 2, 2009. AHN
Los Angeles, CA (AHN) - According to a new study by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research when budget cuts resulting from California's 2009 fiscal crisis go into effect this week hundreds of thousands of low-income seniors are likely to lose income. Additionally, the study says thousands more seniors will also lose some or all of the in-home and supportive care.
The study found that the most vulnerable will be seniors with Alzheimer's disease whose families rely on state-funded Alzheimer's centers that will soon lose all of their state funding. Also impacted are low-income seniors with disabilities, who often rely on a web of safety-net programs that both supplement their incomes and give them access to free or subsidized in-home care.
Read Story
Groups sue over California in-home aid withdrawal plan
October 2, 2009. Susan Ferriss. Sacramento Bee
Disabled and seniors-rights groups filed a lawsuit in San Francisco federal court Thursday, challenging how the state plans to eliminate or reduce aid to 130,000 people in the In-Home Supportive Services program. Alleging violations of federal disability rights, the groups want a hearing as soon as next week to seek an injunction to stop California officials from mailing notices this month to those who will lose services as of Nov. 1. "The way they've made these cuts is irrational and arbitrary," said Melinda Bird, an attorney for Disabled Rights California who filed the class-action lawsuit. Plaintiffs include an 81-year-old woman, two disabled children and an autistic man who could lose care. The National Senior Citizens Law Center, the National Health Law Program and four unions that represent in-home workers are also suing.
Read Story & Comment
Advocates Sue State Over Cuts to In-Home Supportive Services
October 2, 2009. California Healthline
"...Earlier this summer, lawmakers passed a budget revision package that reduced IHSS spending by $82.1 million. In response to the cuts, IHSS decided to drop some participants from the program and reduce services for others. Officials said they will use "functional index" rankings to determine which participants will lose services (Ferriss, Sacramento Bee , 10/1). Advocates claim the IHSS cuts will end services for 40,000 participants and significantly reduce services for 90,000 more. The state plans to send out notices about the service reductions on Oct. 19. The cuts are scheduled to take effect Nov.1...The lawsuit challenges the methods used to determine which IHSS participants would lose services. It also contends that the cuts would hinder the state's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act..."
Read Story Multiple Budget Cuts for Seniors
October 1, 2009. KathyWeiss. Capitol Public Radio KXJZ
California cut billions of dollars from human service programs in the last year. But advocates Thursday announced they'll challenge some of the reductions in court. And UCLA researchers have tallied up the impact of multiple cuts on seniors.
The federal lawsuit is to block the state's cuts to In-Home Supportive Services, or IHSS. Melinda Bird is an attorney with Disability Rights California and worked on the suit. She says the service cuts will affect about a quarter of all IHSS recipients, about 130,000 disabled Californians. She says that's in violation of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.
“Sixty percent of those on IHSS are seniors for whom the program provides independence, dignity and the ability to live their lives in familiar surroundings rather than in a nursing home or hospital.” Bird says the suit calls for the court to stop the cuts before they begin on November 1st. The associate director of UCLA's Center for Health Policy Research, Steven Wallace, says this isn't the only cut for the elderly. He was the co-author of a new study analyzing the impact of the budget deal on disabled, low-income seniors. Starting this month they'll see reductions in their disability checks. And, they'll have fewer resources for Alzheimer's care.
Read Story, & Listen to Broadcast
Lawsuit seeks to block cuts to in-home care for the
elderly and disabled
Los Angeles Times, October 1, 2009
"...The advocates are asking for an injunction before letters go out later this month to the 36,000 Californians whose aid would be eliminated and an additional estimated 97,000 who would lose some services. The cuts are set to go in effect on Nov. 1. Melinda Bird, senior counsel for Disability Rights California, accused the state of trying “to balance the budget on the backs of the poor and those with disabilities.” Officials plan to cut services to those with the lowest scores on a scale measuring recipients' needs. But Bird called the scoring method “arbitrary, irrational and unfair.” Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles), who helped craft the budget, appeared somewhat supportive of the lawsuit..."
Read Story Advocates for disabled sue to stop IHSS cuts
Oakland Tribune, October 1, 2009
"...Disability Rights California senior counsel Melinda Bird said Thursday that the cutbacks — part of the state budget cuts approved by the Legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger this summer — will be based on IHSS patients' "functional index rankings," which she described as a nonscientific number assigned to patients for each task for which they might need IHSS help. People with an overall functional index score below 2 will no longer qualify for IHSS services, and people with a functional index ranking below 4 for any domestic or related service will no longer receive that particular service..."
Read Full Story Federal Lawsuit to Stop Cuts in Homecare to
130,000 Californians Filed Today
October 1, 2009. California Chronicle
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit will ask the federal court to issue an injunction to stop the IHSS cuts and avert what Margaret Baran, executive director of the San Francisco IHSS Consortium, said will be a "humanitarian disaster." Other local officials predict that cutting services to this many people will flood emergency rooms and Adult Protective Service. Evie Goldberg, a Los Angeles social worker for 30 years, summarized her experience starkly: "People who are nourished by IHSS, particularly when frail and older, live longer. Those without it don´t live as long."
Read Story & Comment
Half-million low-income elderly affected by
sweeping cuts to state safety net
October 1, 2009.
Gwendolyn Driscoll. UCLA Center for Health Policy Research
"...
The research — based on recent data, published research and nearly two-dozen interviews with program and services experts — is the first comprehensive analysis of the likely impact of state budget cuts on California's disabled elderly. "Our research finds that the state cuts to long-term care services are driven primarily by a quest for saving dollars that disregards the human impact of the results," said Steven P. Wallace, associate director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and a co-author of the study. "These kinds of cuts hit our most vulnerable citizens: seniors with disabilities and low incomes who typically have no resources to fall back on and little in the way of additional family support."...
Read Full Report Caregiver Sick About IHSS Cuts
September 29, 2009. Anita Sharma. KPBS
SAN DIEGO — Next month, thousands of San Diegans suffering from an array of debilitating conditions -- from blindness to mental impairment -- will lose help in bathing themselves, cooking or taking their medication. Governor Schwarzenegger cut In Home Supportive Services to deal with the state's budget crisis. "Gin, Can you eat a little bit faster? She says opo, opo -- means yes, she doesn't want to be prodded." But if Nicanora Montengro (a UDW activist from San Diego) didn't prod her younger sister Gin, the day would never start. Gin is 40 and developmentally challenged. She has the mental capacity of a 4-year-old and needs help with just about everything.
Read Story & Comment State Cuts to IHSS Brutal; Clients Must Appeal to Save Benefits
September 28, 2009.
Paul Hogarth. BeyondChron
The human cost of the state budget cuts are about to be felt, and it isn't pretty. On November 1st, thousands of blind, elderly and disabled California adults and children who rely on in-home supportive services (IHSS) will lose their benefits – unless they appeal to argue their needs. Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients already took a $30-40/month cut in their incomes in May, but now they stand to lose the assistance that keeps them alive – simply because they are deemed “too functional” to need them. Clients can request a hearing to keep their IHSS benefits and argue their lack of functionality, but the window period is relatively short – and the most vulnerable will obviously need assistance filling out the right forms. Others who don't lose their IHSS benefits may get their Medi-Cal reimbursements slashed on October 1st, leaving them holding the bag to pay for the same service – while the state doesn't expect those at the top to “sacrifice” in these hard times.
Read Story & Comment In-Home Care Program Fraud Claims Don't Add Up
September 28, 2009.
Amita Sharma . KPBS News
Before Gov. Schwarzenegger eliminated more than a quarter billion dollars from In Home Supportive Services this summer, he met with a group of district attorneys to talk about fraud. "And there's no program than where there's more of that (sic) than with In Home Support Services. And just so you do know of how much money is being spent it's between $4 billion and $5 billion. Some people say there's 25 percent fraud and that will be a billion dollars right there." To Doug Moore sitting in his San Diego office, those were fighting words. "I was livid. I wanted to bring him in this room and take him on one on one," says Moore. Moore runs the union that represents people who work in In-Home Supportive Services also known as IHSS. "There's not massive fraud like the governor has said in this program. The statistics do not back these claims up."
Read Story, listen to broadcast, & comment Lauded by supporters, IHSS faces criticism and cuts
September 26, 2009.Anthony Bento. Sacramento Press
As a response to a $72 million shortfall, Sacramento County officials proposed on September 16 an over $1 million funding reduction to In Home Support Services (IHSS), a program that provides home care for the disabled and elderly. According to the county proposal, the reduction, "will leave [IHSS] with 52 case-carrying social workers for over 21,000 cases." The $1 million cut would only save the county roughly $490,000. The remainder of the lost funds would come from the elimination of $515,000 in attached federal monies. According to Laura McCasland, Communications Officer at the Sacramento County Deptartment of Health and Human Services, a last-minute infusion of state resources has restored the federal monies and likely saved IHSS from dramatic cuts, although reductions will leave the program with less than 63 positions to oversee 21,000 cases.
Read Story & Comment Over 136,000 People Will Be Impacted By IHSS Cuts
Targeted To Become Effective November 1
September 25, 2009. Marty Omoto. California Progress Report
The budget reductions impacting eligibility and services for over 136,000 people with disabilities, seniors, the blind in the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program – targeted to become effective on November 1 – will be the focus of the next CDCAN Townhall Telemeeting, scheduled for October 7, 1 to 2:45 PM featuring senior officials from the California Department of Social Services. People anywhere in the State can participate in the free townhall telemeeting by dialing a toll free number (see below) and hundreds are expected to participate given the high interest level and impact. A CDCAN Townhall Telemeeting held yesterday (September 23) focusing on cuts to the Early Start Program and a new “Prevention Program” for at-risk babies and toddlers who will no longer be eligible for services under Early Start beginning October 1, drew over 300 people (see separate report on that townhall later today).
Read Story Low-income seniors face in-home service cuts
September 25, 2009. Ventura County Star
Calling it a “humanitarian disaster,” senior care advocates and agencies are bracing for the impact from upcoming cuts to the state's In-Home Supportive Services program. As of Nov. 1, about 97,000 low-income California seniors will lose a portion of their in-home services and an additional 36,000 will lose those services entirely. “This is going to be a humanitarian disaster,” said Melinda Bird, senior counsel for the Los Angeles branch of Disability Rights California. “We will have tens of thousands of frail elders calling adult protective services, going into hospitals and nursing homes or dying in their homes. Families will be devastated by the impact on their loved one.” The County of Ventura Human Services Agency estimates that of the 3,700 in Ventura County who benefit from state in-home assistance, about 1,200 will have services reduced and about 450 will lose their in-home assistance completely
Read Story State to Reduce In-Home Services for Elderly and Disabled
September 23, 1009. Emma Anderson. The Daily Californian
An estimated 3,300 elderly, disabled or blind Alameda County residents could have their in-home services eliminated or downsized by the state starting Nov. 1. The cuts to Alameda County are part of a statewide reduction to In-Home Supportive Services announced Friday by the California Department of Social Services. The state-funded In-Home Supportive Services Program assists those who are disabled, blind or at least 65 years of age with tasks such as housecleaning, meal preparation, laundry and grocery shopping. About 130,000 people statewide will lose some or all assistance in November.
Read Story
Helping Elderly Leave Nursing Homes for a Home
September 19, 2009.
Jessica Kourkounis for
the New York Times
PHILADELPHIA — Walter Brown never wanted to live in a nursing home, but when he had a stroke two years ago, he saw little choice. Mr. Brown, 72, could not walk, use his left arm or transfer himself into his wheelchair. “It was like being in jail,” Mr. Brown said on a recent afternoon. “In the nursing home you've got to do what they say when they say it, go to bed when they tell you, eat what they want you to eat. The food was terrible.” But recently state workers helped Mr. Brown find a two-bedroom apartment in public housing here, which he shares with his daughter. “It just makes me more relaxed, more confident in myself,” he said, speaking with some difficulty, but with a broad smile. “More confident in the future.” A growing number of states are reaching out to people like Mr. Brown, who have been in nursing homes for more than six months, aiming to disprove the notion that once people have settled into a nursing home, they will be there forever. Since 2007, has teamed up with 29 states to finance such programs, enabling the low-income elderly and people with disabilities to receive many services in their own homes.
Read Story & Comment Disability Advocates Call-Out Governor Schwarzenegger for Honoring Mother-In-Law While Cutting Vital Services
September 18, 2009. PP Newswire
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Advocates for seniors and people with disabilities spoke out against the Governor on Friday in response to statements he made in an LA Times story that ran earlier that morning and further comments he made on Twitter. "As the Governor stepped in to stop eviction notices for the twenty disabled residents of Regency Court Apartments, his office was preparing to send out similar notices to an estimated 140,000 seniors and people with disabilities informing them of drastic cuts to their home care services," said Laphonza Butler, Co-Trustee of SEIU-ULTCW. "How can he explain that?"
Read Story
Woman killed by mom at Oakland nursing home had complained about treatment
Sept 18, 2009. Angela Woodhall. Oakland Tribune
Exactly what drove Diana Harden to walk into an Oakland nursing home and shoot her disabled daughter and then kill herself remains a mystery. But at least one factor behind her drastic decision may have been the treatment her brain-damaged daughter, Yvette Harden, received at the Oakland Springs Health Care Center on 10th Avenue, where she had been a patient for six years, according to a detailed letter the mother wrote before ending both their lives Sunday night. Yvette Harden was severely impaired by a near-fatal auto crash in 1994. The accident left her partially paralyzed and with little impulse control and essentially no inhibitions because of brain damage, the mother wrote in a letter sent to KGO-TV's ABC7 News before she fatally shot her daughter and then herself
Read Full Story
Cuts Hurt
September 8, 2009. Michael Woodward. Anderson Valley Post
Amid several budget cuts made by the state government to the Department of Health and Human Services throughout 2009, budget cuts to Mental Health, Child Welfare services, and In-Home Supportive Services top the concerns of the Director of Shasta County Department of Health and Human Services Marta McKenzie, she said last week. "I'm a 30-year county (employee), and this is the most unpredictable budget environment I've been asked to work in." Most drastically, McKenzie said the budget for managed care through the Department of Mental Health was cut in half, about $1.1 million. "We've been operating without a contract since June 30," McKenzie said, indicating the end of the department's 3-year agreement with the state Department of Mental Health.
Unhappy Labor Day
September 4, 2009.
By Matthew Rothschild. The Progressive
It's Labor Day and the American worker doesn't have a lot to celebrate. Unemployment stands at 9.7 percent—that's 15 million people out of work, officially, and millions more unofficially. “Nearly one in six workers are now unemployed or underemployed,” notes the Economic Policy Institute. Many of those who are lucky enough to still have work have seen their hours and benefits cut back, or have been forced to take unpaid furloughs. Twenty percent of companies have suspended their contributions to 401(k) plans or other pensions. And wages are stagnant, and have been for some time. Going all the way back to 2000, wages have grown less than 1 percent a year, adjusted for inflation, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Meantime, the richest Americans have seen their wealth skyrocket, so much so that now we have widest gap between the rich and the poor since 1929.
Read Story & Comment A Message for Labor Day
September 4, 2009. Gerald McEntee. Huffington Post
On Labor Day 2009, we honor the tremendous contributions and sacrifices of workers who built this great nation. We must never forget that workers organized, marched, went on strike, and even gave their lives in the struggles that resulted in the 40-hour workweek, safe working conditions, secure retirement benefits and the right to a voice on the job. Workers are the bedrock of this economy and we have been at the heart of every movement for social justice and civil rights in our country. This is the first Labor Day in decades that we celebrate without the voice and leadership of our beloved friend Sen. Ted Kennedy. On every issue that we care about, Senator Kennedy was at the forefront. From civil rights to health care, from education to national security, right to the end, Ted was our strongest advocate. On this Labor Day, we mourn the passing of a giant -- the Lion of the Senate.
Read Story & Comment County residents fear loss of in-home benefits
September 3, 2009. Jeremy Foster Valley Journal
"Karen Johnson is wheel-chair bound and needs help with many daily activities, but she still feels independent. She fears her independence will be taken from her if she becomes one of the 1,500 residents in the county who soon will see cuts from or lose their in-home support services... Joyce Lipman, director of Area Agency on Aging for Santa Barbara County, said as people age, their desire for independence remains intact. “If you ask a person using these services what's important to them, they're going to tell you it's staying at home,” she said. “I've never met someone who said ‘I want to go a nursing home." Lipman said the county does not have enough beds to accommodate a surge of requests for nursing homes from people who will be displaced from their residences because of the cuts...“It currently is a problem,” she said. “If there are no medical beds available in the area, seniors might be sent to another facility farther away, perhaps out of the county. And people who get their services cut will feel unsafe in their home, will not eat properly, and more of them will end up in the hospital because of injury.”
Read Story & Comment
Bill Morem: The human toll of state budget cuts
September 2, 2009. Bill Morem. The Tribune
Big ol' honkin' crocodile tears: Those are what our state legislators have been shedding with regard to passing their smoke-and-mirrors budget. “We've had to make the hard decisions,” they bemoan with grimly set mouths. I don't buy that for a second; it's simply not true. As education, health and human services are slashed this year because of poor stewardship in Sacramento, the Legislature gives a pass on levying a California oil extraction tax, the only oil-producing state in the nation not to have one. Streamlining government by consolidating — or eliminating — well-paid regulatory boards and commissions? Nope. Sewing shut corporate loopholes that allow offshore tax breaks? Uh-uh. Steps toward meaningful pension reform in the public sector? Not a chance.
Read Story & Comment In Home Supportive Services; Claims of massive fraud are bogus
August 21, 2009. Doug Moore. San Diego Union Tribune
In Home Supportive Services (IHSS) is a vital, cost-effective government program that cares for hundreds of thousands of elderly, blind and disabled Californians in their own homes rather than in far-more-costly nursing homes or other institutions. According to the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office, it costs taxpayers at least six times less to care for a person under IHSS than for institutional care.
In recent months, however, partisan ideologues, ambitious district attorneys and even some in the media have engaged in a campaign of misinformation aimed at weakening the program.
They claim that there is “massive” fraud in IHSS. They cite recent grand jury reports expressing concern about the lack of program safeguards. They breathlessly repeat details of individual cases of fraud. Some even imply that there must be fraud in the program because IHSS home care providers are represented by unions.
This smear campaign reached its low point on July 2, when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told a news conference in Sacramento that the IHSS program is “riddled” with fraud. He cited claims that the fraud rate in IHSS was an unbelievable 25 percent. He bragged that eliminating fraud from the program would save “hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars” and help solve the state's budget crisis.
Read Story & Comment
Rebuttal to above article: Home care concerns must be addressed
By John Wagner San Diego Union Tribune
"...Unfortunately, over the past few years, six independent county grand jury reports, as well as a report by the California Senate Office of Oversight and Outcomes, have raised serious concerns over the integrity of the IHSS program. Additionally, further concerns were raised by various district attorneys — including a representative from the District Attorney's Office in San Diego — in a roundtable discussion convened by Gov. Schwarzenegger in July. From both a taxpayer's and consumer's perspective, those concerns cannot go unaddressed..."
Read Story and make sure to also read comments on this rebuttal (same page, excerpts below)
Comment: "As the Director of the San Luis Obispo County Department of Social Services, I have asked Mr. Wagner--in writing--to stop misrepresenting the findings of our County's Grand Jury. In fact, the Grand Jury did review our IHSS program, and found that Mr. Wagner's own actions have harmed the integrity of the program. The Grand Jury did not find fraud. They did not find abuse of IHSS. What they DID find is that the State's cuts to the number of Social Workers who oversee these cases--and we're now up to about 300 cases per worker--creates a scenario in which oversight is difficult, and fraud and abuse now may be more likely to occur..."
Comment: "John Wagner misses the point. No one claims that there is no fraud in IHSS or any other government program...and, as Bernie Madoff has shown, the private sector isn't immune eitther. And no one should disagree that any fraud is wrong and should be punished. The issue Doug Moore raises is HOW MUCH fraud actually exists in IHSS. It is interesting that nowhere in his column does Mr. Wagner cite the number or percentage of actual fraud cases in IHSS... " |
California delays in-home care cuts
August 20, 2009. Ferriss. Sacramento Bee
The California Department of Social Services announced Wednesday that it cannot meet a Sept. 1 deadline requiring it drop or cut aid for more than 100,000 people enrolled in the state's In-Home Supportive Services program. The announcement – sent to counties that administer the program – was issued a few days after advocates requested that the state delay axing services. Some of the cuts were approved by the Legislature to solve the budget crisis. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger used his line-item veto to add more cuts. In a letter, advocates said the state still had not clearly instructed counties how to impose the cuts and had not informed any IHSS recipients they were on the list to be dropped or have care reduced. "Absent these essential services, many of the people subject to the cuts will be at risk of institutionalization – or worse, severe injury or death," said the letter from California Foundation for Independent Living Centers and other groups.
Read Story & Comment
Roast and Toast
Auust 17, 2009. Times Standard
" To the state of California for adding insult to injury. In-Home Supportive Services care providers, who make only minimum wage as it is, will now be required to foot the bill for their own fingerprinting and background checks. As hurdles mount and the pay continues to stagnate, let it be no surprise when there's no one left to do the work that helps keep many out of institutions and maintaining a decent quality of life."
Read Story & Comment
Home health care safety net unraveling
Aufust 15, 2009.
AnnMarie Cornejo. The Tribune
San Luis Obispo -- Cuts to the county’s In-Home Supportive Services funding could leave 457 residents — a quarter of the program’s total — with reduced or no assistance. Simple household tasks are the hardest: Doing the dishes, washing the laundry and putting the groceries away can exhaust Ovsanna Basmajian. Basmajian, 47, suffers from a central nervous system disorder that prevents her from standing for long periods. Chores such as mopping or vacuuming are impossible. A home health care provider spends about 20 hours a week at her San Luis Obispo residence helping with the mundane but necessary tasks. Basmajian is one of 1,664 clients of the county's In-Home Supportive Services Program, which is designed to help keep people safely in their homes and out of nursing facilities. The program stands to lose $2.3 million in San Luis Obispo County — fallout from the $226 million cut from social services in the recently passed state budget.
Read Story & Comment
IHSS care providers object to state-ordered expenses
August 13, 2009. Jessie Faulkner. Times-Standard
In Home-Supportive Services care providers, their clients and supporters are still reeling from the more than $200 million in cuts statewide to the program that provides help to low-income elderly and disabled.
Now, as pointed out in a street protest Wednesday, the minimum-wage care providers will have to foot the cost of fingerprinting and background checks. A small group of protesters gathered in front of state Sen. Patricia Wiggins and state Assemblyman Wesley Chesbro's Eureka office to share their outrage at the provisions and the lack of lawmakers' resistance.
Vivian Deniston of Eureka is the sole care provider for her 26-year-old autistic daughter, who is also an amputee.
In Humboldt County, IHSS care providers make minimum wage, Deniston said. ”It seems ridiculous and a waste of money,” she said.
Read Story & Comment
Lawsuits are the latest roadblock for California budget
August 10, 2009. Evan Halper. Los Angeles Times
Litigators go to court to undo cuts made by legislators and the governor. The state is spending billions of dollars fighting the lawsuits and dealing with increasingly unfavorable rulings.Reporting from Sacramento -- Well-connected lobbyists, political pressure and a good turnout at committee hearings used to be the special interest recipe for protecting turf in the state budget. Now, a potent new ingredient is being increasingly thrown into the mix: top-shelf litigators.
Lawyers are being drafted in droves to unravel spending plans passed by the Legislature and signed by the governor. The goal of these litigators is to get back money their clients lost in the budget process. They are havingconsiderable success, winning one lawsuit after another, costing the state billions of dollars and throwing California's budget process into further tumult.
Read Story & Comment
Evelyn Coke, Home Care Aide Who Fought Pay Rule, Is Dead at 74
August 9, 2009. Douglas Martin. The New York Times
Year in and year out, Evelyn Coke left her Queens house early to go to the homes of elderly, sick, often dying people. She bathed them, cooked for them, helped them dress and monitored their medications. She sometimes worked three consecutive 24-hour shifts.
She loved the work, but she earned only around $7 an hour and got no overtime pay. For years Ms. Coke, a single mother of five, quietly grumbled, and then, quite uncharacteristically, rebelled. In a case that reached the Supreme Court in 2007, Ms. Coke sued to reverse federal labor regulations that exempt home care agencies from having to pay overtime.
“I hope they try to help me because I need help bad,” she said in April 2007 after listening to oral arguments. She had stopped working after being hurt in a car accident six years earlier, and by then used a wheelchair.
The court unanimously rejected her claims, saying that Congress had given the Labor Department explicit authority to include home care workers in minimum wage and overtime protection and the agency had chosen to exclude them
Read Story & Comment
Steinberg to take Schwarzenegger to court over budget cuts
August 8, 2009. Patrick McGreevy . Los Angeles Times
The state Senate leader says he will file suit challenging the constitutionality of the governor's line-item vetoes to trim $500 million in spending.
Reporting from Sacramento -- State Senate leader Darrell Steinberg said Friday that he will sue Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, challenging his use of line-item vetoes last month to make nearly $500 million in spending cuts to the budget.
The Sacramento Democrat said he will file the lawsuit as an individual in San Francisco County Superior Court early next week and will tap political funds to pay for the legal action. "We elected a governor, not an emperor," Steinberg said at a Capitol news conference. "In making these line-item vetoes, the governor forced punishing cuts on children, the disabled and patients that he couldn't win fairly at the bargaining table. And in doing so, he overstepped his constitutional authority." On Wednesday, the Legislature's legal counsel issued an opinion that Schwarzenegger exceeded his constitutional powers by imposing the cuts on health, welfare and other programs.
Read Story & Comment A thousand cuts;
IHSS clients, providers prepare
August 6, 2009. Ginger McGuire. NewsReview.com
Chico -- "...No one knows yet exactly who will be losing benefits, or to what extent, said Evan LeVang, director of Independent Living Services of Northern California. All people know is that it will be happening soon, or by Oct. 1.
“People are just going to get a letter in the mail saying they will lose these services,” he said. Currently IHSS offers assistance with such activities of daily living as housecleaning, meal preparation, personal-care services (such as bowel and bladder care, bathing, grooming and paramedical services), laundry, grocery shopping, accompaniment to medical appointments and protective supervision for the mentally impaired.
LeVang says these services are often what allow an individual to live independently at home rather than in a nursing home. There are 430,000 recipients of IHSS in the state, with roughly 2,500 in Butte County alone. The governor has proposed $211 million in cuts..."
Read Story & Comment
Governor Exceeded Authority Under State Constitution
With Most Of His Line Item Vetoes
August 6, 2009. Marty Omoto. California Progress Report
The California Legislature’s legal counsel in an opinion requested by Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (Democrat – Los Angeles) said that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger exceeded his authority under the State Constitution with most of the line item vetoes he made to ABx4 1 – the revised budget bill passed by the Legislature on July 24, because the revised budget simply reduced an already previously approved appropriation. However the opinion of the Legislative Counsel Bureau – as it is formally known – is not binding on anyone.
Diane F. Boyer-Vine, the Legislative Counsel wrote that “…it is our opinion that the Governor’s vetoes in items and sections of Assembly Bill No. 1 of the 2009-10 Fourth Extraordinary Session that only reduced the amount of an existing appropriation previously authorized by the statute enacted as the Budget Act of 2009 did not constitute a valid exercise of his “line-item” authority granted by subdivision (e) of Section 10 of Article IV of the California Constitution.”
Read Story & Comment
Just what are we waitin for?
August 5, 2009. John Shelter. Times-Standard.
August already. Cities and the county are working on their housing elements to submit with general plans. They all look good and I am sure have been created with the best intentions. However, I am afraid that most will be shelved after the requirements are fulfilled for future funding. For one reason or another, we tend to do nothing about our affordable housing shortage, year after year.
Last year was a far colder winter than the previous winter. There are indications this next will be as cold, or maybe even colder. However, not a word has yet been heard about winter shelters. We all know we are not going to be constructing any emergency shelters by December. Last winter, it was not until the first frost that it occurred to most in this community to be concerned at all for those without adequate and reliable shelter available. We then demanded that our city governments jump into action. We asked them to ignore their liability issues. It's not that easy. Those liability issues are real and should be a concern to everyone.
Read Story & Comment
SAD DAY
August 5, 2009. Laura Reyes. Valejo Times Herald.
Despite a campaign by Gov. Schwarzenegger, partisan ideologues and ambitious district attorneys, there has been no real proof of substantial fraud in the In Home Supportive Services (IHSS) homecare program. The estimates you cite of fraud as high as 25 percent were, in the words of one columnist, "taken out of thin air." Indeed, recent figures from Sacramento and San Bernardino counties show the percentage of fraud at two-tenths of one percent and three-tenths of one percent respectively. Even the governor's own "Quality Assurance" survey in 2007 found the incidence of fraud to be minimal - one percent at most.
Yet, the Times-Herald takes these unproven, wildly exaggerated fraud estimates as gospel and supports punitive action against hundreds of thousands of homecare consumers and providers.
It's a sad day for California when we treat our elderly, blind and disabled citizens and those who care for them like common criminals and call it "reform."
Read Story & Comment More disabled Shasta County residents will lose home helpers
August 2, 2009. Amanda Winters. Redding.com
One of the governor's blue-line vetoes will leave 519 disabled Shasta County residents without help in their homes.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed exemptions made by the Legislature to protect In Home Support Services (IHSS) clients and eliminated services completely to those able to function at certain levels.
The cutoff is based on evaluation of a client's ability to perform daily tasks such as cooking, cleaning, dressing, eating, bathing, grooming and personal care - even breathing. People who are not able to complete the tasks themselves or have difficulty doing so, are rated according to the severity of their impairment.
That evaluation governs the number of hours of in-home help each client receives through IHSS, a service paid for by the county.
Read Story & Comment Budget Cuts Send Concern To Families With Disabled Children
July 31, 2009. KHSL TV
Earlier this week, the governor approved an additional $37.5 million in cuts to In-Home Supportive Services or IHSS. Chico resident Marilyn Friedman and her husband rely on more than 750 dollars every month from IHSS to provide for her two mentally disabled children. Now she's just waiting to see how the cuts will affect her family. She says she's already done all she can, even making several trips to protest in Sacramento along with her children, including 17-year-old Michael.
Read Story, Watch Video & Comment Deep cuts to services expected
July 31, 2009. Geoff Johnson. Red Bluff Daily News
A staggering array of social services cuts in Tehama County will affect everyone from children to the elderly.
As of Tuesday, county Social Services Director Charlene Reid had her staff working in overdrive to understand just how bad a hit her department will take.
Less than 24 hours after the governor's pen reduced funding to social services by 26 percent, the extent of the damage was becoming clear.
CalWORKS, designed to move the unemployed off of welfare and into work, will lose $528 million and see its child care program severely impacted if it survives at all an issue for parents working for minimum wage, whose daycare costs alone may exceed their paychecks, Reid said.
Read Story & Comment
Calif. budget cuts hammer Kern's young, old
July 30, 2009. Carol Feruson. Bakersfield News.
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- State programs that help vulnerable children and senior citizens have been slashed after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger took his red pencil to the budget with last-minute cuts. Local experts predict thousands of Kern County elderly residents and children will be severely impacted. Rosetta Brown is one of thousands of senior citizens getting help with what's called "in home supportive services," and state funds for that have been cut. "It has helped me so much," Brown said.
She's 90, and she wants to stay in the small southeast Bakersfield home where she's lived for 60 years. For the past four years, that's been possible in part because of services she gets through the Linkages program. It helps pay for workers who come in and do light house work.
Read Story & Comment Governor's cuts could be challenged in court
July 30, 2009. Bob Egelko. San Francisco Chronicle
"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's cuts of hundreds of millions of dollars from state health and welfare programs are probably headed for the courts, which will decide whether he has the power to reduce spending that lawmakers have already lowered from previously approved levels...Democratic leaders now question whether their reductions in such services as in-home care and AIDS prevention were "items of appropriation" that the Republican governor could legally cut further. "Reductions to amounts in the various budget schedules do not actually constitute appropriations and thus are not subject to line-item veto," Shannon Murphy, spokeswoman for Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Baldwin Vista (Los Angeles County), said Wednesday..."
Read Story & Comment Caucus Chairs Calls Immediate Restoration of $487.2 million in Cuts Made Illegally by Schwarzenegger
July 30, 209.
Assemblymember John A. Perez. California Progress Report
The Constitution gives the governor considerable power over the budget, but it doesn't give him the power to make it up as he goes along. While I consider these cuts criminal morally, they are in fact illegal in the eyes of the law. It is wrong for ordinary Californians to suffer so the Governor can spare oil, alcohol and tobacco companies from paying their fair share. We need to immediately restore the funds that were cut. $487.2 million in cuts made illegally by the governor through line-item vetoes. According to the California State Constitution, the governor can only use his line-item veto power on original budget appropriations, not previously approved spending.
Read Story & Comment Legislative leaders condemn governor's budget cuts
July 28, 2009. Los Angeles Times
The Democratic leaders of California's Legislature today protested Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's line-item veto of nearly $500 million in budget cuts beyond what the Legislature passed last week. Here are their statements. Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D- Los Angeles): "It's a shame Gov. Schwarzenegger is so eager to tear down the safety net that he appears willing to break the law to do it. I am asking legislative counsel for a definitive opinion on the legality of the governor's actions. The cuts the governor made today will have catastrophic effects on children, domestic abuse victims and seniors. The cuts the governor made today have broken the lifeline to the state's most vulnerable and under-served..."
Reaf Story & Comment
Swanson explains his budget votes
July 27, 2009. Josh Richman. Contra Costa Times
I went through the state Legislature's database today to see how all of our Bay Area lawmakers voted on each of the more than two dozen budget bills passed late last week. It turns out that Assemblyman Sandre Swanson, D-Alameda, voted against at least 14 of the bills, more than anyone else in the region. It's not the first time he has bucked his party's leadership: Swanson was stripped of his Assembly Labor and Employment Committee chairmanship in March after defying Assembly Speaker Karen Bass by voting against parts of the budget-and-special-election package the Big Five had pounded out in February.
Read Story
What happens if you cut waste that isn't there?
July 26, 2009. Andrew S. Ross. San Franciso Chronicle
Cuts are invariably cruel, no matter how necessary they are deemed. But there's one that stands out as much for the way it was sold as the pain it will bring to those least able to absorb it. The victims, at last count, are the 427,000 of California's most vulnerable citizens who rely on the In-Home Supportive Services program to help them with cooking, cleaning, laundry, running errands and taking their medicine. "Activities of daily living" in social service parlance, which would otherwise be provided - in many cases much more poorly and in every case much more expensively - by nursing homes.
Read Story
UDW Urges 'No' Vote On State Budget; Demands 'Shared Sacrifice' From All Californians
July 23, 2009 PR Newswire
SACRAMENTO, Calif.-- In a last minute plea to state legislators, the UDW Homecare Providers Union tonight urged a "No" vote on the state budget agreement reached earlier this week by Gov. Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders. Branding the budget agreement "morally bankrupt," the 65,000-member UDW specifically targeted proposed cuts and other actions aimed at the In-Home Supportive Services homecare program:..."It is outrageous that our state's so-called leaders would force these and other cuts on the poor, sick and disadvantaged, while allowing the oil companies corporations and the wealthiest Californians to avoid any responsibility," UDW Executive Director Doug Moore said. "It is inconceivable that our great state has fallen so low that the concept of shared sacrifice is just a cruel joke. Surely we can and we must do better."
Read full Press Release
Editorial: Schwarzenegger must act like a statesman
July 15, 2009. Sacramento Bee
In his latest television ad, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger dusts off his old shtick of portraying himself as an outsider battling evil.
Speaking directly into the camera, Schwarzenegger blames "Sacramento" for the budget mess, leaving the impression that he hasn't set foot in the Capitol after nearly six years as governor.
It makes for great television. But it's a lousy display of statesmanship.
Now more than ever, Schwarzenegger must show he can work with lawmakers and strike the tough bargains that will close a $26 billion hole. Fingering lawmakers as the sole source of California's budget troubles not only insults them, it risks torpedoing a deal that is essential if California is to avoid insolvency.
Read Story & Comment
Gov. Schwarzenegger, show us the fraud
July 14, 2009. Deborah Doctor, LA Times Op-Ed
Is state money really being wasted by the In-Home Supportive Services program?
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has made fraud in California's In-Home Supportive Services program a budget issue as the state tries to deal with its financial crisis.
The in-home program provides critical care to 430,000 low-income Californians in their homes so they are not forced to move into institutions or onto the streets. It is often cited -- including by Schwarzenegger -- as a key to keeping Californians out of nursing homes that would cost the state much more.
Everyone is against fraud, but what exactly is Schwarzenegger talking about? How much of the program's money is wasted on fraud? The governor can't seem to make up his mind. A couple of years ago, he estimated it at 10%, so the state spent thousands and thousands of dollars retraining county social workers, who assess the program's consumers. After home visits, the social workers discovered that the vast majority of Californians receiving aid were eligible and in need of the services
Read Story & Comment Schwarzenegger and the crisis
July 11, 2009. LA Opinión
The governor has had several years to pursue his agenda of reform and change, but he never wanted to touch the fundamental problem in the budget process: the need to eliminate the requirement for a two-thirds majority in the legislature to pass a budget and tax hike. California is the only state in the union with such a requirement. Two other states require this supermajority, either for tax hikes or for passing a budget, but not for both, as in our state. Schwarzenegger has defended this aberration tooth and nail, thus inhibiting any chance for true fundamental change. This obstinacy is the same as he is now showing with his idea of saving hundreds of millions of dollars by eliminating fraud in social programs like In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS). Nobody is in favor of fraud, but the figures the governor is bandying about belong more to the realm of fiction than reality.
Read Story Governor’s Fig Leaf IHSS “Reform”
July 10, 2009. Assemblymember Noreen Evans. Budget Blog
The governor claims his in-home supportive services (IHSS) “reform” proposal to combat fraud will reap 25% in program savings. While he brought forward several county District Attorneys to talk about anecdotal evidence of fraud, his assertions contradict the findings of a recent state audit of IHSS fraud overseen by his own administration. This audit released just last year, found only 1% of IHSS cases involved fraud. This is just another sham proposal from the governor to gut the IHSS program using fraud as a fig leaf. Contrary to the governor's unsupported assertions, the recent audit is an unbiased analysis of fraud in IHSS and provides the best projection for any potential budget savings through reforms geared to reduce fraud.
Read Story & Comment CA Sen. Gil Cedillo Joins Panel on Human Cost of Severe Budget Cuts
July 10, 2009. Christie Wolf, OBS News
Joe Mathews moderates a panel discussion on “Armageddon budget cuts” and the long-term impact they will have on California's youth and vulnerable populations
LOS ANGELES (OBSNews.com) - Senator Gilbert Cedillo (D-Los Angeles) joined Joe Mathews, Irvine Senior Fellow, at the New America Foundation and public policy forum Zocalo Public Square for a panel discussion on the human cost of severe budget cuts. The event was hosted at the California Endowment on Thursday evening. Panel speakers included journalist Marta Russell, Mike Herald of the Western Center on Law & Poverty, Michelle Wolf, a parent of disabled child, Gloria Rodriguez, president and CEO of the Community Clinic Association of Los Angeles County, and State Senator Cedillo. “We're not literally talking about the end of the world,” joked Mathews in opening remarks. But each of the panelists outlined a bleak portrait of California should health and education program funding be severely slashed or eliminated. Cuts to CalWorks, which provides benefits for the children of unemployed Californians, may put over one million children at risk of homelessness or condemn them to a life of poverty.
Read Story
Full forum on Video; What Does Armageddon Look Like?
Home care program target in budget battle
July 10, 2009. Jim Miller, Press Enterprise
Sacramento Bureau - California's fast-growing home-care program for the blind, elderly and disabled has become a flash point in the Capitol fight over how to close a $26 billion hole in the state budget. The In-Home Supportive Services program covers more than 36,000 residents in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, nearly double from earlier in the decade. Statewide, about 440,000 people receive help, a number predicted to climb to 660,000 by 2014. But Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has demanded changes. Contending that the program is riddled with fraud, such as participants turning in false time cards, the governor has promised to veto any budget fix that doesn't require fingerprinting for caregivers and recipients and other changes to the program. .Republican Assemblyman Paul Cook, though, is carrying a bill backed by United Domestic Workers, the union that represents Riverside County's almost 16,000 home-care providers. The measure would create new training standards. Cook, whose district includes many senior citizens, said he has no doubt there is fraud in the home-care program but said he thinks it provides a valuable service...
Read Story & Comment
15 protesters arrested at Schwarzenegger's office
July 8, 2009. Sacramento Bee
California Highway Patrol officers cited 15 demonstrators, most of them in wheelchairs, for blocking the hallway outside Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Capitol office Tuesday in protest of proposed cuts to health and social service programs. The demonstrators were cited for trespassing and failure to disperse after they refused to leave when the building closed about 6:45 p.m. They were allowed to leave the Capitol without being taken to jail. The protest began about 1 p.m. Organizers said the event drew about 120 people at its height but had dwindled to about 30 people before the citations were issued.
Read Story, Watch Video, Comment
Governor in contempt of court over IHSS cuts?
July 7, 2009.
By Josh Richman, Political Blotter
A federal judge today told attorneys for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and various state and Fresno County officials to file a brief by 5 p.m. Thursday on why she shouldn't hold them in contempt of court for violating her order to leave In-Home Supportive Services' workers wages as they are. U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken of Oakland had granted a preliminary injunction verbally June 25 and issued her written ruling the next day, after hearing arguments...
Read Story & Comment Wheelchair Warriors Take Up Positions in the Capitol
July 7, 2009.
by: Robert Cruickshank. Calitics
And so it begins. As Anthony Wright is tweeting , a group of disabled activists have taken up positions in the Capitol building and are refusing to leave until the health and human services cuts are reconsidered: Wheelchairs blocking the Governor's office for the last two hours over the budget cuts.. CHP threatens arrest, they say they are prepared... Over 100 folks protesting cuts in the hall outside Governor Schwarzenegger's office. Gov is at Mason's having lunch... maybe Jacuzzi later? CHP threatens not just arrest-and-release, but taking disabled protestors to county jail. They say they rather be in jail than nursing home. Outside Gov's office... Several Dem legislators came down to talk to/cheer on the disabled protestors: Cedillo, Perez, Beall, Skinner, etc
Read Story & Comment
No Sign Of Progress On Calif's $26B Shortfall
July 7, 2009 CBS 13
SACRAMENTO (AP) ? Click to enlarge1 of 1
Speaker Karen Bass
Close
numSlides of totalImages Related Slideshows Prop. 8 Decision Draws Protests In S.F. The High-Profile Life Of Governor Schwarzenegger Celebs Who Lean To The Right Stars In Stripes: Patriotic Celebrities Before They Were Famous: Celebrities' Jobs Celebrities And Their Causes Famous People Pigging Out Big Fame, Fake Name Celebrities Celebrities At The Inauguration Celebrity Mug Shots Negotiations aimed at closing California's $26.3 billion deficit remained frozen Tuesday, a day after a top Democratic lawmaker walked away from the talks.
The stalemate had no immediate effect on the state's solvency, aside from a lower credit rating that adds to its borrowing costs.
IOUs being sent to state vendors and contractors buy lawmakers time to reach a compromise before California risks not being able to pay for its core functions, which could be sometime in September.
The lack of urgency permeated the Capitol on Tuesday, a day after Assembly Speaker Karen Bass boycotted negotiations in a protest against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's demands to reform welfare, in-home supportive services and state pensions.
Read Story & Comment
Caregivers, Disabled Block Schwarzenegger's Office
July 7, 2009.
KSBW Action News.
Protesters Furious With Proposed Cuts To California Services
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Caregivers and people with disabilities are furious that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is asking for more cuts to California's in-home support services. About 100 protesters said they successfully blocked the entrance to the governor's office Tuesday. The People's Day of Reckoning Coalition organized the protest. The coalition sent a letter to Schwarzenegger in June, asking him to come up with a budget solution that includes new sources of income and not just cuts to services.
Read Story & Comment Myths and Facts: In-Home Support Services Scrutinized by Governor
July 6, 2009 Central Coast News KION 46
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger targeted one of the state's social programs for reform and budget savings. The In-Home Support Services (IHSS) program helps senior citizens and disabled people. The governor says it's mired in fraud and inefficiency. The County Welfare Directors Association of California and the California State Association of Counties took the Governor's op-ed piece in the LA Times on July 3rd, 2009 and dissected it. They found some myths and busted them. Monterey County Director of Social and Employment Services says there are a lot of contradictions in the request for reform, saying money was cut from the IHSS budget this year, but now more is being spent on trying to investigate fraud cases. Robinson says that money should be put to prevent fraud in the first place, like allowing case managers to spend more time with patients in person.
Read Story Comment, & watch video
If Governor Schwarzenegger Had Taken Yes for an Answer - No IOUs
July 2, 2009. Assemblymember Karen Bass, Huffington Post
Today Governor Schwarzenegger becomes only the second governor since the Depression to have IOUs issued on his watch. Today he has abdicated his fiscal responsibilities and effectively turns California's finances over to Treasurer Bill Lockyer and Controller John Chiang. Small businesses, students, seniors, and taxpayers will all start receiving IOUS. This shameful day didn't have to arrive. In fact, Governor Schwarzenegger had several opportunities to prevent it. On June 12 Governor Schwarzenegger unilaterally blocked the Controller's authority to secure short-term loans to avoid the cash crisis. He said, "let them have a taste of what it is like when the state comes to a shutdown -- grinding halt." On June 25 after the governor called Senate Republicans to his office for private meetings, $4 billion in immediate cash solutions that had been passed on an overwhelming bipartisan majority in the Assembly were killed in the Senate.
Read Story & Comment
Governor Scapegoats Dedicated Homecare Providers
July 2, 2009. Doug Moore, California Progress Report
Doug Moore, executive director, UDW Homecare Providers Union issued the following statement in response to the Governor's Budget proposals: It is unfortunate that the governor continues to use thousands of dedicated homecare providers and the people they serve as scapegoats in his effort to slash safety net programs. Contrary to what he claims, there is no real proof of “massive” fraud in the In Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program. Furthermore, it is outrageous to suggest that people making little more than minimum wage should have to pay for their own background checks and fingerprinting when no other government employees are required to do so. UDW believes that any fraud in IHSS should be eliminated. We have sponsored and endorsed a number of bills to curb fraud and abuse; currently we are sponsoring AB 378 by Assembly Member Paul Cook which would create training standards in the program. Yet despite their talk about curbing fraud, the governor and Republican legislators oppose our bill. Apparently, they're more interested in scoring political points than in really doing something to improve the program.
Read Story & Comment
Community column: Budget cuts spoil celebration of
hallmark court decision
July 2, 2009. The Californian
President Barack Obama celebrated the 10th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's Olmstead decision by launching what he called, "The Year of Community Living" for people with disabilities. He directed the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to make $30 million in voucher assistance available for non-elderly families of people with disabilities. HUD is making 1,000 of those vouchers available specifically for individuals transitioning out of nursing homes and other institutions Unfortunately, despite this positive development, many people with disabilities have little to celebrate on this anniversary. The Olmstead decision was important because the Supreme Court held that the unjustified institutionalization of people with disabilities is unlawful discrimination under the Americans With Disabilities Act. It was confirmation that people with disabilities have the right to live independently in their communities.
Read Story & Comment
Schwarzenegger delivers digit-driven budget blast
July 2, 2009 Sacramento Bee
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger used the finger Thursday for his latest attack on the Legislature.
The governor said he can't understand why the Democrat-controlled Legislature opposes his budget-related proposal to require fingerprinting of recipients of in-home support services, which help elderly, blind and disabled Californians live independently. "That's why I don't understand the Legislature. " he said in a Los Angeles press conference. Schwarzenegger's fingerprinting proposal, part of a package of governmental changes he seeks in budget negotiations, is meant to help detect fraud committed by people receiving aid under numerous identities. "(Legislators) say this is an insult," Schwarzenegger said. "I say why is it an insult when you get fingerprinted?" "I've just been fingerprinted, with my notary public coming to me with a book and saying, 'Governor, let me take your thumb,' and then fingerprinted me, put it next to the signature. I didn't feel insulted. I'm the governor of the state of California, I didn't feel insulted.
Read Story & Comment Disrespecting our Elders
June 30, 2009. Clint Reilly
John F. Kennedy once said that the strength and durability of a society can be judged by how it treats its elderly...Proving his point more than four decades later, the careening state of California is considering cutting off vital in-home services to thousands of dependent seniors. Of course, with the Golden State staring down the barrel of a $24 billion deficit that swells with each passing nanosecond, we must expect our elected officials to make difficult spending decisions. But the proposal to dramatically slash In-Home Supportive Services is best described with one word: “stupid.” Or perhaps two: “astonishingly stupid.” IHSS is one of a select breed of programs that serve thousands and actually save the state money. The program helps pay for in-home caregivers for more than 400,000 elderly and disabled Californians.
Read Story & Comment
Study: Cost of care too much for the L.A. County elderly
June 27, 2009. Melissa Evans, Contra Costa Times
Costs for routine care - including meal preparation, housework and personal hygiene - exceed the annual income for Los Angeles County seniors who live alone, a new UCLA report finds.The news comes as the state is considering drastic cuts to its In-Home Supportive Service program. Under the governor's proposal, 175,000 of the 180,000 low-income seniors in the county who receive financial help from the state would be forced into nursing homes or have to pay for their own in-home care. "The vast majority of these people could not afford care themselves," said Philip Browning, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services. "We're talking about people who are very low income." Even seniors who aren't considered low income fall short of the cost of paying nonmedical caretakers, who make $8 to $12 an hour. The estimated annual cost of in-home services is $319 more per year than the median income for all seniors who live by themselves, the UCLA data shows. That doesn't include food, rent and other basic living expenses, researchers say.
Read Story & Comment
Caregivers plead with supervisors
Proposed budget cuts threaten the pay of workers who assist
the disabled and elderly
June 27, 2009. Bob Cuddy, The Tribune
San Luis Obispo -- County leaders got a first-hand look at who could be affected by proposed state and local budget cuts as a dozen providers and recipients of In Home Supportive Services — some in wheelchairs — asked the Board of Supervisors last week not to reduce caregivers' pay. With that program — commonly called IHSS — elderly people and many disabled persons of all ages can keep living in their own homes rather than in institutions. That helps them physically and psychologically, according to a recent civil grand jury report.
The program also enables parents of disabled children to be paid as caregivers rather than working outside the home and having to hire strangers to help care for their kids. Eligible IHSS recipients hire caregivers to help with cooking, cleaning, working through the medical bureaucracy to make appointments and doing other chores they are unable to handle on their own.
Read Story & Comment
State vows to pursue home care workers' wage cut
June 26, 2009, Josh Richman, Oakland Tribune
OAKLAND — State officials vow to appeal a federal judge's injunction halting a July 1 salary cut for many of California's 400,000 In-Home Supportive Services workers. U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken of Oakland issued a preliminary injunction late Thursday, shortly after hearing arguments from the Service Employees International Union — which along with IHSS clients from around the state had sued to stop the cut — and from the state. The injunction says the state can't make the cut without first analyzing its impact on the efficiency, economy, quality and accessibility of care. "I'm very happy that the Court has ruled in favor of the thousands of elderly and disabled persons who depend on home care workers like myself," Jimi Williams, a Contra Costa County home care worker, said in the union's news release.
Read Story & Comment
Hundreds Protest budget cuts impact on poor, sick & disabled at governor's San Diego office
June 23, 2009. By Miriam Rattery, East Coast Magazine
(San Diego)-- An estimated 200 to 300 people turned out to protest state budget cuts in San Diego, outside Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's office downtown. Some carried coffins and a skeleton sign—grim symbols of the consequences they believe will result from severe cuts to health and social services programs. Ann Menasche, a lawyer with San Diego Disability Action Coalition, said the cuts will be “devastating” to disabled individuals. “People already don't have enough to live on,” she said the predicted, “With cuts to SSI and Medicare, we are going to see more homeless people and more hunger.”...Carlos Pelayo, organizer with United Domestic Workers (UDW) Union, said over 20,000 in-home caregivers in San Diego County could be impacted. “They are devoted to keeping their clients out of long-term care facilities,” he said.
“It costs 1/6 as much to care for someone at home than to put them in a facility…and it's a healthy environment that allows people to heal better.”
Read Story & Comment
Home Care Advocates Urge Schwarzenegger to Spare Their Programs
June 23, 2009. By Steve Shadley. KPBS News
California — People who depend on home care services are demanding Governor Schwarzenegger find funding to save their programs. About 100 home care workers, patients and advocates for the disabled staged a rally outside the governor's office. They're upset because Schwarzenegger has proposed to make deep cuts to home care services. They say home care is less expensive than placing people in nursing homes where the state would have to pick up the tab. Evan LeVang is with Independent Living Services of Northern California in Chico. "It'll put us at the level of a third world nation if we turn back 40 years of progress," says LeVang. "This is the safety net people need. If they become disabled, when they grow old in our society and they're not wealthy."
Read Story
& Comment
Capitol Protesters Demand to See Governor
June 22, 2009. Kevin Riggs, KCRA 3 News
Anger boiled over in the state Capitol as the disabled and their advocates temporarily blocked the main corridor.
Watch Video Coverage One Crisis, Two Plans
June 22, 2009. By Dan Smith. American Chronicle
"Two plans have emerged to close the budget deficit, one proposed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and another passed by the Democratic-controlled conference committee. Here's how some provisions in the two plans compare and contrast...
Read Article (includes IHSS)
Home care workers get a break
County reaches tentative deal to maintain pay levels
June 22, 2009. By xxx Napa Valley Register
In an apparent resolution of one of the most high-profile struggles related to state budget problems, in-home care workers have reached a tentative agreement with Napa County over proposed pay cuts.
Read Story & Comment
Get in line --
Opponents of state budget cuts crowd Blakeslee's office
June 19, 2009.
BY Colin Rigley, New Times
San Luis Obispo - Feel like protesting in front of Sam Blakeslee's office? Take a number. In his new position as Assembly Republican leader, Blakeslee, whether he wants it or not, is becoming a direct link between an outraged public and the Capitol.
Picketers marched frequently in front of his office as legislative leaders, often called the “Big Five,” met in Sacramento to decide what to cut. If the latest budget fix is anything like the last round in Sacramento, it will be a nearly impossible fight to get enough Republicans on board for tax hikes. In its current state, the budget will likely be balanced through massive cuts to social and welfare services.
Read Story
Chanel 6 Action News Video coverae of this story Senator Cedillo Remarks on California Budget
Conference Committee Proposal
June 18, 2009 OBSNews.com
SACRAMENTO (OBSNews.com) - Senator Gilbert Cedillo (D-Los Angeles) issued the following statement on the Budget Conference Committee proposal outlined by legislative leaders yesterday: "The proposal closes the state's $19.5 billion shortfall and adds a $3.8 billion reserve. It also preserves the state's public safety net by rejecting the Governor's proposed elimination of Healthy Families, CalWORKs, Cal Grants, and the effective elimination of IHSS. “The Budget Conference Committee has produced a unified budget proposal with input from both houses. They did a thorough review of all program areas, considered public input, heard testimony from the State Controller, State Treasurer, Department of Finance (DOF) and Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) on our state's fiscal issues, and produced a proposal reflective of the extreme financial and political impasse we are in. And they did it in a timely manner.
Read Story
Schwarzenegger says he'll veto Democrats' plan for balancing budget
The governor says he won't accept the proposal because it includes tax increases. But Assembly Speaker Karen Bass contends that's not what he told Democrats.
June 18, 2009. By Michael Rothfeld and Shane Goldmacher, Los Angeles Times
Reporting from Sacramento -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told the leaders of the Assembly and Senate on Wednesday to scrap their plan to raise taxes to help close the state's budget deficit, but the two Democrats insisted they would move ahead next week with a vote of the full Legislature.
With less than six weeks until the state faces insolvency, the governor appeared outside his Capitol office after a meeting with the lawmakers, promising to veto the plan completed Tuesday by a joint legislative committee if it reaches his desk.
Read Story
Protesters in front of Blakeslee's office bring attention to proposed home caregiver cuts
June 16, 2009. Dawn White, The Tribune, San Luis Obispo
About 30 people protested proposed cuts to home caregiver services today outside of Assembly Sam Blakeslee's office in downtown San Luis Obispo. The group held signs, chanted and marched to raise awareness about the importance of in-home care services, which may be cut due to the state's budget woes. The services are primarily used by the elderly, disabled and veterans. “Without in-home car services, those people would have to live in nursing homes,” said San Luis Obispo caregiver Julian Havandjian. “If you cut these programs, it'll actually cost the state more by placing all these people in nursing homes.”
Read Story & Comment Also see television coverage Home care workers rally in San Luis Obispo against state budget cuts
June 16, 2009. Bethany Tucker, Chanel 6 Action News KSBY
Central Coast home care providers hope to get their voices heard at a community rally. Members of the United Domestic Workers union plan to hold a rally and informational picket line at the office of Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee in San Luis Obispo Tuesday. The UDW is a union made up entirely of home care workers who care for low-income patients under a state-supported program. They are calling for an end to what they call "catastrophic cuts" to California's home care programs.
Read Story & Comment
Barack Giveth, But Arnold Taketh Away
June 15, 2009. Paul Hogarth, Beyond Chron
President Obama's stimulus bill provides long overdue federal funds to communities facing hard times, but San Francisco will lose virtually all its money from Washington to Sacramento. The City will receive an extra $92 million in federal money this year, but the state has already cut $62 million from what it gave last year. And with Governor Schwarzenegger pushing a “cuts-only” budget to address the state's shortfall, things are only likely to get worse. Mayor Newsom's proposed budget set aside $25 million to plan for future state cuts, but the total damage could be more like $200 million.
Read Story & Comment
California's budget cuts: Deep to the bone, shallow to the roots
June 14, 2009. By Kate Scannell, Media News Columnist. Inside Bay Area.com
ON THE surface, a machete does a fine job of cutting a path through thickset woods — at least for a short while. But the problematic roots remaining firm in the soil merely tend to encourage regrowth of the same old obstacles in due time. Many of California's proposed state budget cuts appear to have been made by machete-wielding accountants. But their blunt cutting provides only a surface budget fix, ignoring more deeply rooted concerns that will only generate greater taxpayer costs. These are difficult recessionary times, and I do not envy our state's legislators who must somehow resolve California's $24 billion deficit. But Gov. Schwarzenegger's proposal to eliminate in-home support services (IHSS) for more than 400,000 disabled recipients in hopes of saving $600 million is false economic hope. His plan to eliminate adult day health care programs in hopes of saving $117 million is a short cut through a deeper problem that is bound to leave taxpayers in worse financial straits.
Read Story & Comment
‘Too much doom and gloom’ --
County memo outlines ‘drastic changes' state budget cuts would cause
June 11, 2009. By Robert Spear. Chico News & Review
If all of the cuts in state spending and other budget measures Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed in the wake of the May 19 election actually occur, Butte County will see a reduction in its total annual budget—now pegged at $391,134,918—estimated at more than $59 million, or 15 percent. Numbers can seem cold, but the lives that will be affected—of both those who receive the services the $59 million pays for and those county employees who will lose their jobs when the services are stopped—are anything but.
Read Story
Governor’s Budget Proposals Mirror Third World Structural Adjustment Policies
June 11, 2009. By William L. Pelote Sr. California Progress Report
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposal to bridge the state's $24 billion budget deficit by shredding the state's social safety net through far ranging cuts to such areas as education, health care, social services, and public transportation is both disingenuous and fiscally irresponsible, especially since polls show that a majority of California voters oppose these cuts. Worse, Schwarzenegger's proposals will actually cost the state more than $24 billion down the road by exacerbating poverty, creating mass unemployment, breeding ignorance and illiteracy, and producing a public health crisis throughout the state.
Read Story & Comment Legislature wants to use reserves to save programs
June 9, 2009. By Timm Herdt. Ventura County Star
SACRAMENTO — The leader of the state Senate said Tuesday that Democrats in the Legislature stand ready to cut nearly as much from the state budget as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed, but believe the governor’s most draconian proposals can be averted by shrinking the $4.5 billion reserve that he’s asking for...“The purpose of a rainy-day fund is to build reserves for a rainy day. It is thunder and lightning in California right now,” said Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento...“We will not eliminate CalGrants, will not eliminate CalWORKS, will not eliminate health insurance for children, will not virtually eliminate In Home Supportive Services,” Steinberg said. “We're not going to decimate programs that save people's lives in the HIV/AIDS area.”
Read Story & Comment
Nightmares come true for the neediest
There is more pain ahead for elderly, disabled and poor Californians.
June 8, 2009, George Skelton, Los Angeles Times
From Sacramento -- Jean called the other day from her desert condo near Palm Springs. She'd been notified that the state was cutting back again on aid for the disabled and she was worried...
The Legislature already has approved a $20 monthly cut beginning July 1, lowering the grant for single people to $850. That's it: No food stamps, and that includes any Social Security. This was the cut Jean had read about. But the governor also is seeking another $20 trim starting in September, reducing the benefit to $830.
The rent for her one-bedroom condo is $850...
Read Full Story & Comment Riverside woman fears state cuts will force son into nursing home
June 3, 2009. By Laurie Lucas, The Press Enterprise
Come July 1, Andrade, 55, and other caregivers around the state and the Inland area might see their in-home support services check shrink from $10.85 an hour to $10.10 an hour for the maximum of 298 hours a month. The consequences so alarm Andrade, she became physically ill during a recent interview in the home she bought two years ago for Baltazar, now 34. "His life is my life," she said of her son, who was diagnosed at 3 with Duchene muscular dystrophy. "This is stressing me out. I'm afraid of losing him." Slashing caregivers' pay is part of a state budget plan that would save the government almost $325 million over the next two years, said Lizelda Lopez, deputy director of the Department of Public Social Services in Sacramento. Ironically, this reduction would cost the state more money, $5,000 to $8,000 a month...
Read Story, watch video, & comment
California Budget Cuts Jeopardize Family Caregivers
GOVERNOR PROPOSES ELIMINATION OF FAMILY CAREGIVER ALLIANCE AND OTHER CAREGIVER SUPPORTS Budget Item 4440
June 3, 2009. California Chronicle
SAN FRANCISCO - Governor Schwarzenegger's proposed revisions to the California State Budget will dramatically affect family caregivers. Families rely on critical support services to help keep loved ones with debilitating health conditions at home, out of expensive nursing homes. Those services will be eliminated. Particularly devastated will be families dealing with brain-damaging disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, traumatic brain injury, stroke, and other disabling conditions requiring long-term care not covered by Medicare or private health insurance.
Eighty percent of long-term care is provided at home, not in facilities. If families are unable to serve as the volunteer healthcare workforce, nursing homes will be flooded with patients unable to remain at home, and Medi-Cal, already under attack, will be pushed beyond capacity...
Read Story & Comment
Viewers Respond to Governor's Budget Appeal
June 2, 2009. News 10, ABC
SACRAMENTO , CA - As Californians listened to Gov. Schwarzenegger's special budget address to the state Legislature Tuesday, News10 viewers had a lot to say. The governor's speech was less than 12 minutes. Schwarzenegger said we must make cuts and live within our means. "The wallet is empty, the bank is closed and credit is tapped out," he said. News10 streamed the address Live_Online , and our political bloggers Robin Swanson and Duf Sundheim joined the chat. Viewers had plenty to say about the speech. Here's a sampling:...Eileen: " I know this much, if they cut IHSS, I will not be able to care for my special needs son and will have to have him institutionalized. Besides the insane pain of loosing my son, it will be millions more for the state to care for him."
Read All
Governor Targets Only Low-Income Californians
June 1, 2009. By Doug Moore, California Progress Report
For years, we have argued that Gov. Schwarzenegger and his Republican allies have targeted low-income, working Californians to help solve the state's budget problems. The latest example came Friday, when the governor proposed to kick 90 percent of the low-income elderly, blind and disabled clients out of the In Home Supportive Services Program. This is despite the fact that IHSS saves California taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars a year by keeping these vulnerable citizens out of nursing homes, which cost six-to-eight times more than home care. It is hard to imagine a more shortsighted and unconscionable scheme. When asked about the impact that this and other cuts are having on families and individuals, the governor's director of finance, Mike Genest admitted that what we have been saying about low-income families being targeted is essentially correct. The reason cuts are disproportionately targeting the poor, he said, is that "the government doesn't provide services to rich people."
Read Story & Comment
Schwarzennegr wants to eliminate homecare for 4000,000 elderly, blind and disabled californians. "Outrageous" Proposal Would All But Destroy the IHSS Program
May 29, 2009. By Steve Mehlman. UDW Press Release
SACRAMENTO (May 29) -- Gov. Schwarzengger today proposed catastrophic cuts in the In Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program that would all but destroy the program, which provides home care for more than 420,000 low-income elderly, blind and disabled Californians. Under the latest Schwarzenegger plan, some 380,000 individuals--nearly 90 percent of all IHSS consumers--would be thrown out of the program. This comes on top of an earlier proposal from the governor that would cut the pay for the state's home care providers back to minimum wage.
Read Story
California spells out further cuts
May 29, 2009 Central Valley Business Times
In all, Mr. Schwarzenegger is calling for about $15 billion in spending cuts. The largest single cut would slash state workers' pay. One of the most visible would be the closing of more than 200 state parks. Here are other proposed cuts...
Read Story Governor Proposes New massive 5.5 Billion in Cuts
May 26, 2009. Marty Omoto, CDCAN e-news alert.
SACRAMENTO, CALIF (CDCAN) [Updated 05/26/09 04:30 PM (Pacific Time) - With California's budget situation growing worse, and a budget shortfall now projected at over $24 billion, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed today (May 26) over $5.5 billion in new massive permanent spending cuts on top of what he proposed on May 14 th. The Governor will be proposing by Friday details on over $3 billion in additional reductions on top of today's proposals to reflect the growth of the budget shortfall. And the news gets grim for next year: the Legislative Analyst last week told the Budget Conference Committee that California will face – even if it adopted every one of the Governor's spending cut proposals, a budget shortfall for the 2010-2011 State Budget year of over $15 billion.
Read Article
Thousands Gather in Downtown Los Angeles to Protest Drastic Cuts to State's Homecare Program
May 22, 2009/PRNewswire
Los Angeles -- Crowd sends a clear message to the Governor and Legislators that these cuts must be stopped as they will put lives at risk!
More than 5,000 homecare providers, care recipients, disability and senior advocates joined other concerned Californians today in a rally in front of the California State building in Downtown Los Angeles to speak out against the Governor's proposed cuts to the state's homecare program as laid out in his May Revise budget. Closing down streets, rally participants sent a clear message to Governor Schwarzenegger and Sacramento legislators that cuts to the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program, which delivers care to more than 400,000 seniors and people with disabilities, will not be tolerated.
Read Story & comment
California shouldn't hope for U.S. loan guarantees, lawmakers told
May 23, 2009 By Eric Bailey and Patrick McGreevy Los Angeles Times
As the governor's plan for drastic budget cuts begins stirring revolt, state legislators are told that California might not be able to borrow more than $10 billion as it faces a $24-billion deficit.
Reporting from Sacramento -- As Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's mammoth budget-cut proposal hardened partisan battle lines and stirred revolt, California officials scrambled Friday to scrape together a plan to keep the state solvent after the White House informed them that federal backing for emergency short-term loans is unlikely.
Read Story & Comment Budget Process Laid Forth
May 21, 2009. Marty Omoto, California Progress Report
Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (Democrat – Los Angeles) and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (Democrat – Sacramento) laid out today a fast paced process to address the state's worsening budget crisis - including for the first time (for a budget conference committee) a period of at least one week where they will hear public comment on the Governor's new proposed spending cuts. Both leaders said that the budget conference committee would hear and take action on the Governor's proposed budget revisions instead of the budget subcommittees.
Read Story & comment Feds give state OK to cut home healthcare workers' pay
May 20, 2009. Anthony York. Capitol Weekly
The state of California has received permission from the federal government to cut wages of home healthcare workers without fear of losing federal stimulus dollars. The ruling comes as a victory for the Schwarzenegger administration, and a defeat for the Service Employees International Union which had sought federal intervention to stop the cuts.Cuts in home healthcare worker pay were part of the budget solution passed by Gov. Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders in February. As part of his May budget revision, Schwarzenegger has proposed further cuts for in-home support workers. The Legislature cut IHSS worker pay by $2 per hour, lowering wages from $12.10 to $10.10 per hour. The cuts saved the state an estimated $74 million.
Read Story & comment
Proposed wage cuts causing stir
May 18, 2009. By Michelle Durand, The San Mateo Daily Journal
County officials still plan to OK a two-dollar wage decrease for in-home health care workers to meet state reimbursement rates even though the Obama administration recently said California violated federal stimulus act terms by approving the pay reduction. The Board of Supervisors was expected at its last meeting to sign off on plans to reduce the hourly local wage from $11.50 to $9.50 but tabled the matter until Tuesday morning. In between the two, the federal government confirmed it may withhold approximately $6.8 billion in stimulus funds because the state's wage cut forces counties to make up the difference. In return, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger fired off a letter saying the withholding undercuts a main purpose of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
Read Story and Comment
White House officials say no decision has been made to rescind state's stimulus payment
May 11, 2009. By Peter Nicholas and Evan Halper, LA Times
Reporting from Sacramento and Washington -- The Obama administration said Monday that it has made no decision about whether to rescind $6.8 billion in stimulus money allotted to California in a dispute over the legality of a wage cut for home healthcare workers who belong to a politically powerful union. The announcement is at odds with what state officials said they had explicitly been told. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration said they were notified by senior Obama staff on May 3 that California's plan to cut wages for unionized home healthcare workers violated the law that authorized the stimulus package.
Read Story and Comment
President Obama threatens to withold billions from state
May 08, 2009. Channel 17 News KGET.com
Federal funds rarely come without strings attached.
Now, President Barack Obama is threatening to withhold billions of dollars in federal stimulus money if Gov. Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers don't restore wage cuts to unionized home healthcare workers.
The state pays Teresa Swick $9.50 an hour to provide in-home health care for her daughter, who has Cerebral Palsy. As part of last winter's state budget deal, Swick's pay is capped. Her higher-paid colleagues in urban areas saw their pay cut by $2 an hour.
Teresa and her husband say whether you're making nine or twelve bucks an hour, every penny counts...
Read Story, watch video, and Comment
Wage cuts for state homecare workers may be
vetoed by Obama administation
May 7, 2009. Press Release, United Domestic Workers
The UDW Homecare Providers Union reported today that major wage cuts for thousands of homecare workers approved by the California Legislature earlier this year may be overturned by the Obama Administration. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services has ruled that the proposed cuts to the In Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program, scheduled to take effect July 1, violate the terms of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). According to CMS, states that receive ARRA funding are blocked from reducing funding for existing services. California has already received close to $2 billion in ARRA funds, which are designed to provide needed financial assistance for counties struggling with massive budget deficits.
Read Press Release
Moore: Home providers support efforts to stop fraud
Two views on caregiver scams
May 7, 2009. Modesto Bee
"...Yet, rather than being praised for their dedication and thanked for their efforts, home care providers are now branded as "scam artists" and worse. They and those who represent them have become the target of a clearly ideological statewide campaign designed to convince the public of "widespread" fraud in the program. County supervisors and state legislators, ambitious district attorneys and even some in the media have piled on.
Rather than accepting these breathless reports of pervasive fraud without question, we need to put the issue in its proper perspective. For example, we're pleased that Stanislaus Community Services Agency Director Christine Applegate recognizes that fraud is not rampant in the IHSS program in her county..."
Read Story and Comment
NUHW homecare providers and advocates call on state to restore In-Home Supportive Services after Obama Administration says cuts would violate federal Recovery Act requirements
May 7, 2009. Press Release, NUHW. Earth Times News
Failure to reverse cuts could cost California billions in enhanced Medicaid funding
Fresno, Calif.—Homecare providers in the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) joined disability advocates in calling for the state to roll back dangerous cuts to homecare services in light of a federal government opinion that the cuts would violate requirements of the recently passed federal Recovery Act.
Read Story
In-home care program is worth saving
April 26, 2009. By Bonnie Lowenthal, Lori Saldaña and Mariko Yamada.
Union Tribune, Sign-on San Diego.com
"The only thing more disturbing than allegations of fraud in the state's in-home care system is the tendency to use that fraud as an excuse for gutting the program.
While fraud is intolerable and must be rooted out, scapegoating is its twin evil. Those who cheat and those who blame the victims pose an equal threat to the hundreds of thousands of elderly and disabled Californians who rely on a little government help with their daily lives... We need to be targeted and surgical in our response, because the fact is, every dollar we spend hunting down cheaters is a dollar we can't spend on folks in need. We believe the response to fraud is to measure it, and then to stop it. We don't respond by gutting the program, any more than we respond to insurance fraud by canceling our insurance policies. We know there are crime rings that specialize in rigged accidents, but we don't spend less on auto coverage because of that..."
Read Story and Comment
Over 2,000 March and Protest at State Capitol Against Cuts To Disabled, Mental Health, Seniors
April 24, 2009, Marty Omoto, California Progress Report
Sacramento, CA -- Over 2,000 marched from the Sacramento Convention Center to the State Capitol protesting against budget cuts to persons with disabilities, mental health needs, seniors, community organizations and workers who provide services Wednesday late morning in a loud demonstration that later filled the Capitol hearing rooms and hallways. Some estimates of the crowd exceeded well over 2,500 at its height around 12 noon, with the entire L street sidewalk and parts of the State Capitol grounds filled with people protesting and chanting “No More Cuts” for two solid city blocks.
Read Story and Comment
Arbitrator Calls Fresno Board of Supervisors' Planned Cuts to Homecare Workers 'Perverse'; Orders Cuts Reduced
April 24, 2009. Earth Times /PRNewswire-USNewswire/
SEIU - UHW press release
FRESNO, Calif. -- Ten thousand homecare workers won a partial victory today as an independent Arbitrator called the Board's financial reasoning behind proposed wage cuts "perverse" and ordered the board to lessen the severity of the cuts from an immediate $1.10 an hour over six months to a smaller cut over a period not shorter than 12 months. The Board of Supervisors passed a new proposal last week to cut healthcare for the workers in addition to their wages.
Read Story
IHSS: A vital program that protects our most vulnerable
April 23, 2009. By Bonnie Lowenthal, Lori Saldaña. Capitol Weekly
Suppose you were running a bread line and someone ran off with a loaf. You might yell for the cops, but you wouldn’t shut down your operation and tell hungry people to go home.
However, that’s what some people want to do with the state’s in-home care system, known as In-Home Supportive Services, or IHSS.
And they want to do it for the very same reason. They are convinced that some people are stealing.
We don’t know how many people are stealing. We’ve heard anecdotes and random estimates. We don’t know exactly what’s being lost.
But we’re talking about a big program here. About $5 billion – nearly half of which is federal money. About 440,000 recipients. Hundreds of thousands of providers.
Read Story and Comment Doug Moore: Home care workers
are targets of smear
April 12, 2009. Sacramento Bee
Throughout California, thousands of unsung heroes provide loving care to our state's most vulnerable people: low-income elderly, blind and disabled citizens. Many of them have given up jobs and even careers to give needed support to their own family members and others through the In Home Support Services program. All of them allow their clients to remain safe and secure in their own homes rather than having to move to nursing homes or other institutions. This saves California's taxpayers millions of dollars each year. Despite its growth, IHSS is one of the most costeffective programs in state government. Unfortunately, IHSS has now become the target of a statewide campaign designed to convince the public of widespread fraud in the program. County supervisors and state legislators as well the media – including The Bee – have tried to unfairly discredit home care providers.
Read Story & Comment
Homecare workers, a bargain, are vital to California
April 9, 2009. Capitol Weekly. Doug Moore
"It is bad enough that our governor and legislative leaders have been playing Russian roulette with the lives of nearly a half million low-income elderly, blind and disabled Californians, and those who care for them at home. It appears likely that there will be significant cuts in the In Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program. That is because the state finance director and the state treasurer have made public statements saying they believe that not enough federal stimulus money has come into California to offset $10 billion in general fund expenditures...To make matters worse, political ideologues at the state and county levels now have launched a campaign to discredit homecare providers by claiming that there is “widespread” fraud in IHSS. It seems that everyone from county supervisors and state legislators to the media have jumped on the “fraud” bandwagon. Before we break out the tar and feathers, however, we need to take a deep breath and put the fraud issue in its proper perspective..."
Read Story & Comment
In California, Advocates for Disabled Adults Brace for Cuts
March 30, 2009 The Women's International Perspective (WIP)
"...after learning how to live with Freidreich's Ataxia - a rare muscular dystrophy disease - Michelle is more optimistic. She lives with her service dog Lyndll in an apartment complex built specifically for disabled adults by the Burbank Housing Development Corporation. Her monthly living expenses are covered by the check she receives from Social Security that includes Social Security Supplemental Income (SSI), and she relies on two very close friends as caregivers who assist with cooking, cleaning and Michelle's personal hygiene, paid for by In Home Support Services (IHSS). Prior to being in her wheelchair, Michelle was a professional horsewoman, showing Shetlands. Now she gives back by volunteering with Canine Companions for Independence (CCI), promoting their program and helping others. But Michelle's situation is precarious. On February 20th, Governor Schwarzenegger signed a spending plan that might lead to significant service reductions, including proposed cuts to IHSS and SSI, if California doesn't receive $11 billion in federal funds to bridge the state's budget gap..."
Read Story
Federal stimulus funds won't save state from tax hikes, spending cuts
March 28, 2009. The Los Angeles Times
Sacramento -- As the state's budget continued swirling into the red, top finance officials said Friday that California won't get enough federal stimulus money to avoid all of the tax hikes and service cuts lawmakers approved last month. The announcement by state Treasurer Bill Lockyer and Finance Director Mike Genest reaffirms that California residents will be hit with a $1.8- billion personal income tax boost and nearly $1 billion in slashed spending... "This is a shameful day for California," said Doug Moore, executive director of the 65,000- member United Domestic Workers Homecare Providers Union. "Our governor and our legislative leaders have played a game of Russian roulette with the lives of nearly a half- million of California's most vulnerable citizens and the people who care for them."
Lockyer expressed regret about Friday's announcement in a letter to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders, saying he was 'deeply concerned about all these consequences, both fiscal and human.'
He also recommended that the Legislature reconsider two spending cuts -- the decision to slice $200 million in optional Medi- Cal dental benefits and pay increases for in- home care providers. Lockyer said the harmful consequences of those cuts "greatly outweigh any savings."
Read full story
Advocates: Find Stimulus Money To Stop Cuts
Calif. Leaders Implored To Halt Cuts To Seniors, Disabled, College Students
March 19, 2009. KCRA3
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Advocates for seniors, the disabled and college students urged the Schwarzenegger administration and California treasurer Tuesday to find enough money in the federal stimulus package to prevent $1 billion in cuts.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's finance director, Mike Genest, and Treasurer Bill Lockyer have until April 1 to determine whether California will get at least $10 billion to help the state's general fund. Also at stake is the size of the increase in California's personal income tax rate. Genest and Lockyer made no decision Tuesday but said they would keep an open mind after hearing more than three hours of public testimony at the Capitol. Earlier in the morning, protesters marched outside the building urging state officials to avoid further cuts to social services, health care and universities.
Read Story and Watch Video Coverage
Californians Might Face More Cuts
March 19, 2009. News 10 KXTV and The Associated Press
SACRAMENTO, CA - Schwarzenegger administration officials and state Treasurer Bill Lockyer are trying to determine whether California will receive enough federal stimulus money to avoid more cuts. At issue is whether California will receive at least $10 billion to help its general fund. A preliminary review by the governor's office and the Legislature's budget analyst has determined the state will fall short by about $2 billion.
Read Story & see Video
Fiscal leaders doubt California can avoid triggering
higher taxes and service cuts
March 17, 2009. The Sacramento Bee
Two state fiscal leaders sounded skeptical Tuesday that California will receive at least $10 billion in direct budget relief, the amount necessary to reduce state income taxes and social service cuts under the spending plan enacted last month. As part of a $40 billion deficit solution, state lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asked state Treasurer Bill Lockyer and Department of Finance Director Mike Genest to determine by April 1 whether California will receive $10 billion in federal budgetary aid through June 2010. If the two leaders determine the state will not receive that amount, California will experience $948 million of cuts in Medi-Cal services, welfare grants and state university funds, as well as a full 0.25 percent income tax hike.
Read Story
IHSS, SSI/SSP & CALWORKS gants face big cuts
many Medi-Cal benefits face elimination
Cuts poised to take effect July 1, 2009
March 16, 2009. CDCAN Report #098-2009
SACRAMENTO, CA (CDCAN) - Major permanent cuts to several health and human service programs including Medi-Cal optional benefits, In-Home Supportive Services, SSI/SSP and CalWORKS, thought to be “safe” last month when the State budget was first passed, are now poised to take effect July 1, 2009, unless State Treasurer Bill Lockyer and the Governor's Department of Finance Director Mike Genest tell the Legislature on April 1, that at least $10 billion in federal funds from “enacted federal legislation” that will “make available” by June 30, 2010 additional federal funds that “may be used” to replace (off-set) the spending of State general fund money. If that goal is reached, then the cuts will not take place. But if the threshold falls short of the $10 billion, then all those cuts take effect. ...
Read Story
Required Reading;
Trigger Intrigue
March 10, 2009. By David Dayen. Calitics.
Mac Taylor at the Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) has made his preliminary assessment of the impact of the federal stimulus on California's bottom line. This is important, recall, because if the state can get over $10 billion in such a way that reduces the budget deficit, they would hit a "trigger" that would allow the state to eliminate $1.8 billion in tax increases and restore about $1 billion in really painful cuts to social services, particularly health care for the needy. Taylor doesn't think we can get there: A significant portion of the $31 billion in aid to California will be available to address the state's budgetary problems. We estimate that, based on the enacted state 2009-10 budget, California can use $10.4 billion in new federal dollars for this purpose over the life of ARRA. Of that amount, $8 billion would be available in 2008-09 and 2009-10. The Director of Finance and State Treasurer will determine their own estimate of the latter amount by April 1 of this year. If the amount is less than $10 billion, then annual state program reductions of nearly $1 billion and revenue increases of about $1.8 billion adopted as part of the 2009-10 budget package will go into effect...
Read Story
Analyst agrees federal funds likely to fall short
March 10, 2009. The Sacramento Bee
The state's nonpartisan fiscal analyst said today that California likely will not receive enough federal stimulus money to avoid higher taxes and deeper spending cuts triggered by the new state budget deal. The Legislative Analyst's Office agreed with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Department of Finance in predicting California government will receive only $8 billion in stimulus funds over the next 16 months. The budget state lawmakers passed called for a doubling of the state income tax hike -- a .25 percentage point boost to the brackets instead of .0125 point -- and about $1 billion in additional cuts if the state did not receive at least $10 billion in direct state aid from federal funds...
Read Story
Senator Benoit would force background checks
on all home care providers
March 09, 2009. United Domestic Workers of America Website
SACRAMENTO - Riverside County Senator John Benoit is introducing statewide legislation (Senate Bill 246) that would force all Independent Homecare Providers working through the In-Home Support Services (IHSS) program to undergo background checks and pay for the process out of their own pockets. Supposedly he wants to reduce fraud in the system. However, the elderly and disabled that require an assistant in their home to survive need the ability to control the hiring process due to the highly sensitive nature of the work. For that reason existing law provides that IHSS recipients have the right to hire, fire and supervise anyone they want...
Read Story Schwarzenegger Disputed on Stimulus Trigger
March 09, 2009. The Sacramento Bee
WASHINGTON - California will get more than $50 billion in federal stimulus money, more than enough to avoid a trigger that would force higher personal income taxes and deeper cuts in social services, according to a new study released today. The study by the California Budget Project disputes the administration of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, which last week said those cuts and increased taxes will be likely. The dispute revolves around part of the budget deal signed into law by Schwarzenegger last month. The deal requires the state to meet a $10 billion threshold in federal stimulus money to eliminate $1.8 billion in additional income tax increases and $948 million in further spending cuts mostly to health and social services."
Read Story Stimulus likely won't avoid extra tax hike
March 05, 2009. The Sacramento Bee
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Department of Finance estimated Wednesday that California will not receive enough federal stimulus money to avoid higher personal income taxes and deeper cuts in social services...
"Some of the cuts that would occur are deeply troubling," said Jean Ross, executive director of the California Budget Project, which advocates for the working poor. "It would reduce the state share of pay for in-home supportive service workers. And I think there's a long record of evidence regarding the need for optional (Medi-Cal) benefits. Particularly adult dental care, because dental health is integrally linked to physical health."
Read Story
State budget cuts disability aid
March 03, 2009. The Californian.com
"...
People with disabilities still have to resort to any means necessary to pay for the services they need. Funding for programs seems to be diminishing while needs grow faster than the governor's deficit clock. The good news is, the state budget passed, but people with disabilities took a big hit that could get even bigger. Here is how things look in the final version:..."
Read Story
State's Alzheimer's cases to nearly double by 2030
Study says surge to test health care and policymakers
February 26, 2009.
Keith Darcé, The San Diego Union Tribune
"The number of Californians with Alzheimer's disease will nearly double to 1.1 million over the next two decades because of aging baby boomers, public health officials and the state Alzheimer's Association said in a report yesterday...
The coming wave will challenge policymakers, strain government budgets and test the limits of the health care system, the report said. It also will subject hundreds of thousands of families to the financial and emotional pressures of caring for someone with the disease..."
Read Story
State lawmakers pass long-awaited budget
February 19, 2009. By Judy Lin, The Associated Press
SACRAMENTO — California lawmakers passed a long-awaited budget early Thursday morning after an epic battle that involved several all-night sessions and political concessions, sending the package to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was expected to sign it...The budget deal flew through the Assembly less than an hour after it won approval by a single vote in the Senate after late-night horse trading to win over a final Republican.
Read Story
Supervisors boost budget, approve airport plan
February 18, 2009. By Tim Moran, The Modesto Bee
Stanislaus County - Despite all the gloomy economic news, the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors adjusted the county budget upward by almost $13 million Tuesday night and approved a plan to develop an airport on the West Side. Both votes were 5-0. But most of the budget increase comes from state and federal sources. The bulk of the money, about $9.8 million, is for the state-mandated In Home Supportive Services program that provides household help to elderly and disabled people..
Read Story
Governor to Hollingsworth: 'Take Math 101'
February 18, 2009. Sacramento Bee
In his press conference this afternoon, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger took issue with new GOP Senate leader Dennis Hollingsworth's stance that the budget could be balanced without new or higher taxes. "Anyone that runs around, I think, and says that this can be done without raising taxes, I think has not really looked at it carefully to understand this budget or has a math problem and has to get back, as I said, and take Math 101," Schwarzenegger said... Hollingsworth told Capitol Alert this morning that he opposed new taxes to balance the budget.
Read Story
Senate GOP dumps leader as budget standoff goes on
February 18, 2009. By
Kevin Yamamura and Jim Sanders, Sacramento Bee
"...In a contentious meeting that lasted through the midnight hour, Senate Republicans removed Sen. Dave Cogdill as leader and replaced him with Sen. Dennis Hollingsworth, who opposes the budget deal Cogdill negotiated for his caucus because it contains new taxes. The move sparked confusion in the upper house, but Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg insisted it would not change the budget dynamic. He said Cogdill, R-Modesto, and Sen. Roy Ashburn, R-Bakersfield, remain committed to the pending budget package of cuts, taxes and borrowing. ..."
Read Story
Dozens Rally in Fresno Against Proposed State Budget
February 13, 2009. By
Ashley Ritchie and Winston Whitehurst
, KMPH Fox 26
"...for health care workers, there was some good news when it comes to in-home supportive services, or IHSS. There's this glimmer of hope because we're hearing they are going to fund the IHSS program. So we're very encouraged by that. But as I said, at the same time, there are still some cuts being made like the SSI that we're deeply concerned about," Draper said. Though lawmakers are scheduled to vote on a budget in just hours, some say this is one last attempt to reach the Governor's ear..."
Read Story
Legislative leaders, Schwarzenegger reach tentative budget deal
February 11, 2009. By Dan Smith, Sacramento Bee
"Legislative leaders and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger have reached a tentative deal on closing the state's projected $40 billion budget gap, according to sources close to the negotiations. Staff members are still working out some drafting issues, one source said, but a vote is scheduled for Friday..."
Read Story
In-home care program thrust into budget debate
February 10, 2009. By Susan Ferriss, Sacramento Bee
"Leona Heydenryk, 92, is already imagining how she will manage, hauling one grocery bag out of her car, pushing it to her home on her rolling walker and then inhaling from her oxygen tank before going back for the second bag. If the budget cuts that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed go through, the Grass Valley senior will have to make other contingency plans. Social workers say she will score too well on a "functional index" to merit the part-time services of Consuelo Lopez, who helps her shop, clean house, do laundry and prepare meals to keep on hand..."
Read Story
Another View: Don't make scapegoats of care workers
February 01, 2009. Sacramento Bee
"Dan Walters could not be more wrong when he blames home care workers for the state's fiscal meltdown and attacks hard-working people for trying to provide for their families.
First, let's set the record straight: The legislation that paved the way for home care workers to organize for a living wage and health care benefits was the result of a hard and openly fought effort over 20 years and was motivated by a need to improve the availability and quality of in-home care and to reduce dependence on expensive institutions. Even a cursory glance at the record shows that IHSS has been enacted through literally dozens of pieces of legislation. It has been fully and frequently vetted and debated, far from the dark-of-night conspiracy that Walters paints..."
Read Story
Mercury News Editorial: Outrageous budget fiasco
has shamed California
January 31, 2009. Mercury Newsl
"...Californians should be furious. We are. That's why the Mercury News is taking this rare step of placing the editorial board's opinion on the front page. Others must raise their voices until the political cost of inaction in Sacramento becomes higher than the perceived value to lawmakers of clinging to principles that grim economic reality has rendered meaningless..."
Read Story
Death-and-taxes connection
January 30, 2009. Marin Independent Journal
"BENJAMIN FRANKLIN noted in 1789 that "everything appears to promise that our constitution will last, but in this world nothing is certain but death and taxes." Nowadays, due to the economic crisis and the financial ineptness of California's governor and many state legislators, that old inevitable connection has taken on new meaning. The failure to pass a state budget, primarily because a super-majority of legislators are required to approve any new tax proposal, may soon result in the deaths of some of the most vulnerable of our fellow citizens..."
Read Story
Daniel Weintraub: Proposed cuts show depth of state crisis
January 28, 2009. Sacramento Bee
"...cuts would affect hundreds of thousands of the most vulnerable people in California when few of them have other places to turn for assistance. Poor families, the disabled, the elderly and kids would lose either income or services or both....And it's not as if these programs have been expanding wildly in recent years. My feedback from readers suggests that many Californians think assistance to the poor is a big cause of the state's fiscal crisis. But the state's major social service programs have grown at an average rate of just 3 percent per year in this decade, less than the rate of inflation and far less than inflation and population growth combined. Some of the programs are growing faster than others and could use closer oversight and perhaps reform, but taken together they are hardly bankrupting the state..."
Read Story
Putting a face on the figures
The numbers of California's budget crisis can blur into one long string of zeros until you see how they'll affect lives in S.J. County
January 26, 2009. Recordnet.com
STOCKTON - Three years ago, Kimberly Camello started a business taking care of developmentally disabled adults. Her residential facility gives around-the-clock care to five residents. Some of them also need additional mental health services...
If payments from the state expected for February do not come because of California's financial crisis, Camello said she's considering skipping a mortgage payment to cover expenses for her clients...
Read Story
Retain services that keep elders and disabled in their homes
January 23, 2009. San Francisco Chronicle
"...Schwarzenegger has repeatedly singled out a 50-year-old home care program for low-income residents as a candidate for the chopping block. But before he redlines California's In-Home Supportive Services, the governor needs to think twice. Decimating assistance to those least able to fend for themselves is not only unconscionable, it's unwise. Any money saved in the short term will end up costing the state many times over in the long run.
...What will happen to the terminally ill veteran - disabled while serving his country - when he's deprived of help that now allows him to live out his last few days in his own place? What about the elderly wife, in poor health herself, who is caring for her 80-year-old paralyzed husband? Or the mother keeping at home her 30-year-old son in a wheelchair who does not speak, has limited comprehension and is like a baby. And who suffers from daily epileptic convulsions and needs 24-hour care?..."
Read Story
Governor, Republicans, Are Making the Budget Crisis Worse
by Targeting Home Care
January 22, 2009. Doug Moore, Black Voice News
"Except for the anti-tax zealots who have tied our Legislature in knots, everyone recognizes by now the gravity of our state's budget situation. Every rational person in Sacramento now understands that we have a serious revenue problem that cannot be solved just by cutting government programs. Things like closed state offices and IOUs instead of tax refunds have a tendency to refocus the mind...For example, the governor—with the support of San Bernardino Assemblymember Anthony Adams—has targeted the In Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program, one of the
most humane, cost-effective programs in state government. "
Read Story Sacramento County walks social services legal tightrope
January 22, 2009. Sacramento Bee
"How much can we cut without getting sued? 'You can be sure somebody is going to object as soon as (social services) get cut and there's going to be litigation,' said Daniel Mitchell, a UCLA professor of public policy and management...In the past, state moves that took money from social services led to lawsuits against counties, said Karen Keeslar, a consultant and lobbyist for the In-Home Support Services Coalition and the United Domestic Workers. In 1992 the state began taking a portion of local governments' property tax revenue to fund education. That ultimately led to several lawsuits when counties weren't able to maintain service levels, Keeslar said. The current economic crisis could lead to similar litigation, she said..."
Read Story
Home Healthcare Workers Against Budget Cuts
January 21, 2009. KMPH FOX 26
Fresno, Ca. -More than 20 members of the United Healthcare Workers union gathered in Downtown Fresno on Wednesday, to draw attention to the cuts Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is proposing to the budget of the in home supportive services program...Fresno District 3 Councilmember Cynthia Sterling was also on hand to show support for the workers. Sterling publicly called on Schwarzenegger not to chop the budget of IHSS. "These proposed cuts will only serve to make healthcare unaffordable for the seniors, and disabled that rely on these services," Sterling said. "
Read Story
State of the People is Grim: More Budget Cuts Are
Exactly the Wrong Prescription
January 14, 2009. California Progress Report
"As Governor Schwarzenegger prepares to report on the State of the State tomorrow, California's families today declared that “the State of the People” is increasingly grim with a record number of Californians having lost their jobs and health care and their homes. California educators, students, health care workers, seniors and people with disabilities said more state budget cuts are exactly the wrong prescription after they've suffered the consequences of more than $16 billion in state budget cuts to critical services over the last 3 years..."
Read Story
Budget Cuts Bring Out Protestors
January 14, 2009. Channel 10 news
"SACRAMENTO, CA - Upset over proposed budget cuts to state programs, people from all walks of life have decended on the State Capitol to protest...Saying they've already borne $10 million in cuts, demonstrators like Herb Meyer of Marin County say additional reductions are unacceptable. Relying on state-paid in-home help since an accident 16 years ago, Meyer said cuts have already reduced the hours of his in-home helper. "I need in-home services. They get me out of bed. They dress me. They prepare my meals," Meyer said. "With more cuts happening, there will be no alternative for people like myself to live independently. We'll be forced to go into a skilled nursing home and that will cost the government three to four times as much as it does now..."
Read Story and Watch Video
Steinberg talks budget, 'God's work' and ghosts
January 8, 2009. The Sacramento Bee
"Two of the key areas that kept Democrats and Schwarzenegger apart were easing of the environmental review process and cuts to in-home-support services (IHSS) for the disabled, he said. "In my view, the people who do IHSS work, they're doing God's work," Steinberg said. He called the governor's environment plan "the pure politicization of environmental review." As for Schwarzenegger's decision to veto the Democrats' budget, Steinberg continued, "He believes that he can convince the Republicans to vote for revenue increases given that we're now pretty much at the brink. If that's the case, great, then we'll resume a different kind of negotiation. If it's not true, I suspect we'll be right back to our $17 billion-plus proposal to try to close that out."
Read Story
Governor's Veto Leaves Uncertainty in Growing Budget Crisis
January 7, 2009. California Progress Report; Marty Omoto CDCAN
"Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed Tuesday (January 6th), as he promised in December unless certain demands were met, all 15 of the budget deficit reduction bills passed by Assembly and State Senate Democrats in mid-December, after talks broke down with Democratic leaders.
The Democratic budget deficit reduction plan called for over $7.3 billion in spending cuts and $9.3 billion in new revenues, but the Governor wanted more spending reductions including those impacting In-Home Supportive Services, and changes in state regulations that would help businesses and improve the State's economy. The Democratic plan sent to the Governor in December – while containing significant cuts to regional centers, CalWORKS and SSI/SSP, contained no mid-year budget cuts to In-Home Supportive Services, mental health services and Medi-Cal that the Governor and Legislative Republicans wanted..."
Read Story
Republicans and Dems poised to unveil new budget plans
December 12, 2008. Capitol Weekly
"Senate Republican Leader Dave Cogdill declared legislative negotiations with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger essentially dead after an apparently hostile meeting Thursday in the governor's office. The Republican governor and legislative leaders publicly blamed one another this week for their failure to resolve a $14.8 billion gap in the current $100 billion state general fund budget. Cogdill, of Modesto, said leaks from "Big 5" meetings between four legislative leaders and the governor have undermined future talks. ..."
Read Story
Budget meeting blows up
December 11, 2008. The Sacramento Bee
"Capitol Republicans are putting together a plan to ease the state's deepening cash crunch that cuts state services while tapping into voter-approved money intended for the mentally ill and early childhood development. Democrats, meanwhile, are crafting a series of proposals that would require simple-majority votes in each house and raise an estimated $5 billion for state coffers, according to some estimates. ..."
Read Story
Cuts would devastate the disabled
November 24, 2008. The Modesto Bee
"... While in nursing homes, Wright says, she "only existed" and felt as if she were among people who "were just waiting to die." Now, she says, she feels alive. "I finally have my freedom and independence," she told me in a written message. When Wright and other disabled people speak of independence, they mean it in the sense of personal freedom, and especially a kind of psychological and emotional liberty. As Wright notes, life in an institution, for many, is really no life at all, only existence. The irony is that many people who are disabled are still utterly dependent on the rest of us for the independence they cherish. Without the support we give them through government, they would have to be institutionalized..."
Read Story
Re: Should the state cut benefits and services for disabled people? If not, what are the best alternatives?
Posted November 23, 2008. The Sacramento Bee
"... So Arnold's table is set, and we're having beans and rice on Thursday. Might as well get used to the diet, as my son's dental care will disappear. He's already got bleeding gums, and the dentist will only clean his teeth every two years (the only dentist that takes Medi-Cal in San Diego and has hospital privileges). Four or five years, and he will have no teeth. But I'll be thankful I still have a job with IHSS. A pay cut is coming, and probably we will lose health insurance, because San Diego is particularly parsimonious with their funding.
So my solution, how about across the board cuts, EVERYONE takes a cut -- 5% looks real good from our table. Start taxing big oil for the oil they take out of our state -- just like other states do: tax the corporations that profit (and very well) from California's natural resources. Cut some of the rather strange "boards" that Arnold proposed to cut in the beginning..."
Read Opinion
The Conversation: Proposed cuts would help disabled too hard
November 23, 2008.
Daniel Weintraub,
Sacramento Bee
"... I don't know what the best mix of cuts and taxes might be, if there is such a thing. All the choices seem bad to me. But after spending parts of two days last week with more than a dozen disabled people who depend on state aid to live on their own, outside of nursing homes, I do know this: They are the last ones whose services and support should be cut..."
Read Story
Budget cuts hit vulnerable elders
November 23, 2008. Oakland Tribune
"... Tens of thousands of elders in the Bay Area rely on Supplemental Security Income (SSI/SSP), cash assistance for legal immigrants, Medi-Cal and In-Home Supportive Services to pay for housing, food, utilities and basic health care and medications. Many can lose up to $500 per month in income as well as access to dental, eye, foot and other care. More than 53,000 seniors and others with disabilities in Alameda County survive on SSI/SSP income. 'IHSS recipients, by definition, cannot just 'get by' without help. Reducing services, cutting worker wages and increasing out-of-pocket costs will put them at increased risk of hospitalization or institutionalization at tremendous cost to taxpayers,' said Wendy Peterson of the Senior Services Coalition of Alameda County..."
Read Story
California Budget Crisis: Sunday Floor Sessions Cancelled--Both Houses to Meet Tuesday
Governor & Legislative Leaders Continue Meetings – But No Agreement On How To Bridge Huge Budget Shortfall
November 21, 2008. California Progress Report / CDCAN
"The State Senate and the Assembly have scheduled floor sessions for Tuesday, November 25th, to deal with the State budget crisis, though no agreement or deal has been reached and this point – no action seems likely. Floor sessions previously scheduled for Sunday (November 23) have been cancelled. The Assembly is scheduled to meet at 12 noon on Tuesday and the time for the State Senate will be announced later today..."
Read Story
Governor's budget proposal hits seniors hard
November 16, 2008. Santa Cruz Sentinal
"...
Previously, the governor eliminated all state funding for California's long-term care ombudsman program. A cut of $3.8 million, 100 percent of state funds, which represented about one-half of all funding for ombudsman services. Since its founding three decades ago, the ombudsman program has investigated elder abuse and other complaints on behalf of residents of California's 1,300 nursing homes and more than 8,000 assisted living facilities..."
Read Story
The California Budget: Assembly Hearing This Morning—No Senate Hearings Scheduled—No Agreement From Leaders
November 14, 2008. California Progress Report
Marty Omoto - California Disability Action Network
"...The State Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee, chaired by Sen. Denise Ducheny (Democrat – San Diego) has not scheduled any hearings yet – and it is not certain if they will. There is no agreement yet on any action steps to respond to the budget crisis or specifically to the Governor's proposals among the “Big Five” (the Governor, Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, out-going Senate President Pro tem Don Perata, Senate Republican Leader Dave Cogdill and Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines, plus in-coming Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg), though meetings continue..."
Read Story
Veterans fight cuts in home care
November 11, 2008. Sacramento Bee
"Home care advocates demanded Tuesday in a Capitol rally that lawmakers reject Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed reductions in care-worker wages and access to services...
The biggest component of Schwarzenegger's plan would reduce contributions to IHSS worker wages to the state minimum wage, plus 60 cents per hour toward health benefits. It also would require lower-need IHSS recipients to pay more for Medi-Cal and lose service benefits such as meal preparation and domestic chores..."
Read Story
California Veterans Celebrate National Holiday by Joining Seniors and Disabled in Protesting Schwarzenegger Budget Cuts
November 11, 2008. California Progress Report
Jovan Agee - United Domestic Workers Legislative Director
Today is Veterans Day and disabled veterans and the workers who provide their home care will rally to demand Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers protect efficient programs that provide proven results to taxpayers—like the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program.
Read Story Photos of Rally
California Budget Deficit Through June of 2010 Projected Now At $28 Billion--Legislative Budget Analyst Issues Warning--Assembly Budget Committee Will Meet Friday
November 11, 2008. California Progress Report
Marty Omoto - CDCAN
"...The Governor proposed about half permanent spending cuts to take effect this budget year – and just over half of proposed revenue increases, including a temporary three year 1.5% increase to the state sales tax. The combination of both spending cuts – that include major cuts to education (K-12), health and human services focused on Medi-Cal, In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS), CalWORKS, SSI/SSP and regional centers and increased revenues would close the current year budget gap currently estimated to be $11 billion...."
Read Story
The American People Say "Yes We Can"
November 5, 2008. The Huffington Post
Throughout this extraordinary campaign, Barack Obama challenged us to believe that we have the power to change America, and to change the world. On Election Day, America responded to his challenge with a resounding "Yes We Can." As a result, we can now begin the urgent work of rebuilding the middle class at home; restoring America's reputation in the world; and transforming our government into a vibrant force that solves problems, stands with American families and empowers people and communities to improve their lives.
Read Post
Governor will propose major cuts toHealth and Human Services– Will also propose revenue increases -no details yet
October 30, 2008. California Disability Action Network
SACRAMENTO (CDCAN) [Updated 10/30/08 5:00 PM] - Saying the budget situation is “unprecedented”, high level Schwarzenegger Administration officials said today (October 30) in a conference call to health and human services advocates that the Governor will propose major cuts to health and human services as part of a package of proposals to address the growing State budget crisis that he wants the Legislature to approve when they meet in special session next week. Administration officials also said that the Governor will also propose ways to increase the State's revenues, including proposals to help Californians who have lost jobs or face foreclosure but that every budget area will face reductions to control growth in spending. No details on the spending cuts or revenue increases were provided.
Read Story
40,000 AFSCME Members Mobilizing for Final Get Out the Vote Effort
Oct 27, 2008 AFSCME.org
Washington, D.C. — Gerald W. McEntee, International President of the 1.6-million-member American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), AFL-CIO, today announced that 40,000 AFSCME members across the country are mobilizing for the final days of the historic 2008 campaign. “We've been beaten, battered and bruised for eight years now,” McEntee said. “Enough is enough. We're going to fight like hell to win this election.” United Domestic Workers of America...
Read Press Release
"On the Move" New Communications Director for UDW
Oct 20, 2008 Union Tribune
Steve Mehlman, APR, was named communications director for the 60,000-member United Domestic Workers of America...
Link to listing
Nonsense on Health Care from The Wall Street Journal
Oct 8, 2008. Gerald McEntee AFSCME.org
"I'm not sure what debate the editors of The Wall Street Journal were watching last night, but it sure wasn't the one I viewed. There is something out of whack when they write this morning that "Barack Obama showed again in last night's debate that he sure is comfortable with the status quo on health care
...
That's absurd, as any fair-minded viewer would attest. Senator Obama spoke passionately about the need to change our health care system. He clearly summarized the plans he has set out to provide access to health care for all Americans. He effortlessly explained the choices he would give to the American people..."
Read Story
Eleventh in a Series of Essays by Sheila Kuehl on the 2008 California State Budget: The "Trailer" Bills
Oct 8, 2008. California Progress Report
"...
The state budget is really a statement values for the state, as it sets out funding priorities and discards everything that is less favored. In this essay, I set out the provisions of the transportation, human services and general government trailer bills.
...
Generally, we were able to keep down the worst bleeding of funds from the poor and disabled but they are still receiving the same amounts as in previous years, even as the cost of food and all other basic necessities continue to rise..."
Read Story
State budget raises more concerns
Sept 30, 2008. The Californian.com
"It's difficult to describe the feelings I had when the state budget was finally signed. It was a combination of relief and anxiety. It was as if my happiness was almost instantly replaced with apprehension and confusion. What went on behind closed doors? What did all the threats, and negotiations of the longest budget stalemate in California history finally leave us with? Here's what we know so far about its impact on people with disabilities...""
Read Story
Need for caregivers is exceeding supply
Sept 28, 2008. Modesto Bee
"...In-home health care is one of the fastest- growing jobs in the United States. Demand for compassionate caregivers like Aguirre is on the rise, but a capable supply of such workers isn't keeping up...If working in difficult situations with difficult people doesn't turn off potential workers, the low wages and poor benefits do, in-home care workers' unions and recipients say."
Read Story
Home Care Workers Rally for Higher Wages
Sept 17, 2008. 10News.com
SAN DIEGO -- Home care workers employed by San Diego County rallied Tuesday for higher pay
"...UDW President Laura Reyes said that the county's final offer was a raise of 44 cents -- total, not hourly -- over three years. "There's state and federal funds set aside for these moneys," said Reyes, who cares for her 17-year-old son, a victim of cerebral palsy. "(The county is) reimbursed for every penny they pay out."
...Holding the line on pay raises to home health care workers was "a false economy for the county," because many of their clients would otherwise become institutionalized at much higher cost, said John Stevenson, a former chairman of the UDW's advisory committee. Stevenson said he cared for his mother for 13 years, and now has four clients who found him through a county registry of home health care workers. Reyes said the county is also trying to impose a new benefits package that includes a $1,000 deductible for the workers own medical care, which someone making as little as they do can't afford."
Read Story and view video
REGION: In-home caregivers protest for higher pay
Sept 16, 2008. North County Times
SAN DIEGO ---- Larry Spiler of Rancho Penasquitos suffers from epilepsy and relies on an in-home care provider to help him eat, visit the doctor and administer his medicine. He was one of more than 500 people taking part in a rally Tuesday outside the San Diego County Administration Center asking the supervisors to increase pay for those who help provide health care for the elderly and disabled. For more than nine months, union leaders and county administrators have been at odds over the workers' pay.
Read Story
Home Care Providers Demand Pay Hike.
Sept 16, 2008. NBCSandiego.com
SAN DIEGO -- Home care workers employed by San Diego County rallied Tuesday for higher pay
Members of the United Domestic Workers of America gathered outside the County Administration Building at 1600 Pacific Highway.
The union is in contract talks with county officials. The county has offered workers a pay increase of 44 cents an hour over three years, union president Laura Reyes said. Workers are demanding an increase of $1.50 an hour over three years, she said. "We've been in negotiations with them for nine months. We met with a mediator yesterday and unfortunately they're not budging," Reyes said. "You make $9.25 (an hour) here in San Diego County. That's poverty wages. We're asking for $1.50, which still is not much."
Read Story See Slide Show California Budget Passes Assembly and Goes to Governor
Sept 16, 2008. California Progress Report / California Disability Action News (Marty Omoto)
Sacramento - "...
The Legislature passed, after a record breaking 78 days, a State budget and a package of budget related bills, that stretched into the early morning hours of Tuesday, September 16th. The State Senate passed the State budget just after 12:30 AM Tuesday morning by a vote of 29 to 11. The Assembly later, just before 2:10 AM Tuesday morning (September 16th), passed the State budget bill by a vote of 61 to 1. That margin of approval was one of the largest in recent State history. The Assembly adjourned its long session at 2:30 AM (September 16th). The Senate had adjourned an hour earlier.
."
Read Story
This One Takes the Cake on the California Budget—But There is a Serious Story Behind the Cuts
Sept 15, 2008. California Progress Report
Bakersfield, Kern County - "...
On Thursday September 11th, day 73 of the budget impasse, concerned local residents and advocates came together at the Kern Independent Living Center in Bakersfield to hold a special “Budget Bake Sale” event to raise awareness for the proposed cuts to health and human service programs. The organizers staged the event in order to ask GOP State Senator Roy Ashburn to oppose the devastating cuts that would impose serious hardships on disabled persons, seniors, seriously ill children, and low-income working families. At the end of the day organizers raised over $100, and were able to get more than 30 individuals to sign letters addressed to Sen. Ashburn asking him to support a fair and sensible budget
The center-piece of the bake sale event was a special half-sheet cake with none other than Senator Roy Ashburn's picture on it, reminding him to “Please cut responsibly."
Read Story
Be Fair to Those Who Care: The Plight of In Home Supportive Services in San Diego
Sept 14, 2008. California Progress Report
San Diego - "...Institutional care costs taxpayers six to eight times more than home care. So you would assume that our “fiscally prudent” Board of Supervisors would do all it could to support a successful home care program. But you would be wrong.
Home care providers in San Diego County earn just $9.25 per hour in wages, plus 43 cents an hour for health benefits. According to the Center on Policy Initiatives, a single person with no dependents needs a full-time job paying at least $13.71 an hour to cover basic living costs in San Diego County..."
Read Story
A Day Where Republican Actions Didn’t Quite Mesh With Their Words:
Real Life Testimony on California Republican Budget Cuts and Families With Special Needs Don’t Match Sarah Palin’s Rhetoric on the Convention Floor
Sept 09, 2008. California Progress Report
Sacramento - "Yesterday was a surreal one, listening in the afternoon to family members, often choking back tears, while telling the Assembly Budget Committee what proposed Republican cuts to the California budget mean to them in their daily struggle to tend for disabled children and parents, and then tuning in to Sarah Palin’s address to the Republican National Convention that excoriated Democrats and where she told those families of special needs children that she would be an advocate for them as Vice-President."
Read Story
Some Good News
Sept 09, 2008. Voice of San Diego
San Diego - "Some good news came for Sana Hanna, the El Cajon woman whose electric wheelchair was stolen last week. Two local companies -- Handi Habitats and The Ability Center -- have joined forces to provide a new chair and custom fit it to Hanna, said Steve Mehlman, communications director for the United Domestic Workers of America. Mehlman was the one who let me know about Hanna's situation last week."
Read Story
California Will Comply With Medi-Cal Court Order -
Will Restore Medi-Cal Provider Rates This Month
But Some Medi-Cal Providers Struggling to Keep Their Doors Open Can't Be Paid at All Until Budget Is Passed as State Budget Crisis Continues With No End in Sight
Sept 05, 2008. California Progress Report
Sacramento - "With the California budget crisis continuing with no end in sight, the Department of Health Care Services, which oversees the State's federal Medicaid program (called "Medi-Cal") filed papers yesterday (September 4) with US District Court Judge Christina S. Snyder saying it will comply with her court order to restore the 10% Medi-Cal provider rate cut for most fee for service providers by today (September 5) and dental providers by September 9th. ..That means that from those dates, Medi-Cal providers covered by Judge Synder's August 18th temporary court order (injunction) will be paid the full Medi-Cal reimbursement rate as it was before the 10% reduction took effect on July 1, 20"
Read Story
"It's Like My Legs"
September 4, 2008. voiceofsandiego.org
"...A few nights ago, Hanna and some friends and her care workers took her to Ali Baba restaurant in El Cajon to celebrate her birthday. They came back to her apartment for birthday cake, and her guests left about 9:30 p.m. Hanna and her son went to sleep. In the morning, she realized her power chair, the motorized scooter she uses to get from place to place, from home to school to the grocery store to church, had been stolen. She called her friend Brooks Ashby, one of the seven people who'd been out for dinner the night before. 'I was crying a lot, because it's like my legs,' Hanna said...
The chairs run more than $2,000, a replacement cost too astronomical for Hanna, who receives $870 a month in a disability allowance."
Read Story
Assembly Gives Final Approval to AB 2139
(IHSS Workers and Auto Insurance)
Wins Support from Republicans and Democrats
Aug 28, 2008. California Disability Community Action Network
SACRAMENTO (CDCAN) August 28 2008 - The California Assembly gave final approval to important legislation that would prevent car liability insurance policies from excluding coverage of a car owned by a person who is an In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) worker and who uses it to transport a person who receives IHSS, for IHSS related work including medical appointments.
Read Story
AB 1674 IHSS Pilot Bill Passes Senate 25 to 12 Would
Allow 5 Counties To Participate
Aug 27, 2008. California Disability Community Action Network
Sacramento. The State Senate this afternoon (August 27) passed by a vote of 25 to 12, AB 1674 by Assemblymember Dave Jones (Democrat - Sacramento) that would authorize up to five consenting counties a pilot program that would allow persons receiving In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) to select their IHSS workers from a "qualified" organization. The bill, which was approved on a strictly party-line vote, now heads back to the Assembly for approval of amendments made in the State Senate.
Read Story
Grand Jury Request Denied;
Supervisors say support services do not need investigation
Aug 27, 2008. Visalia Times Delta, Tulare Advance Register
"...The Grand Jury reported that agency management has minimal communication with its clients or staff, and that financial issues dominated decision-making within the organization. In its strongly worded rebuke, the Grand Jury said supervision is minimal, placing clients at risk of financial abuse and neglect.... "
Read Story Cash-strapped social services struggle to help residents
August 7, 2008. The Mercury News
Bay Area News Group.
"... A slow squeeze on state funding for county-provided social services over recent years has left California's children, families and seniors with a badly tattered safety net, the California Budget Project concludes in a new report....The survey of 13 counties - representing two-thirds of the state's population, and including Alameda, Contra Costa and Santa Clara - gauged the effect of funding cuts on adoption programs, Adult Protective Services, California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs), Child Welfare Services, the food stamp program, foster care, In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) and Medi-Cal.... "
Read Story
D.A. charges 21 with defrauding in-home care agency of $2 million
July 25, 2008. Los Angeles Times
"...
A growing number of fake identities are being used to scam the $1.6-billion program, called In-Home Supportive Services, which is administered by the county, Cooley said. The fraud is committed both by people posing as recipients and by those posing as providers... "
Read Story
Democrats Denounce Governor's Cuts to the Elderly and Needy
July 12, 2008. American Chronicle, California Political Desk
"..."It simply makes no sense to cut a program that lets people live at home with dignity and independence," said Senator Elaine Alquist (D-San Jose), and chair of Budget Subcommittee No. 3 on Health and Human Services. "Do the math: Last time I checked, it was far more expensive to live in a nursing home than at home with the aid of a home care worker who makes a living wage... "
Read Story
California's fiscal woes largely of its own making
The state faces a crisis, but many others are doing well. Much of the fault lies with . . . well, us.
July 7, 2008. Los Angeles Times
SACRAMENTO -- As Californians brace for big reductions in government services, the possibility of tax hikes and a long summer of budget bickering, they may be under the impression that everyone else is slogging through the same financial misery...Not So...Although the nation's sluggish economy and mortgage crisis have put the squeeze on a number of states, many are humming along fine, without dramatic measures to keep them in the black. Some even have multibillion-dollar surpluses. And almost none of the states that do have fiscal difficulties face shortfalls on the scale of California's.
Read Story
Disabled protest budget cuts
Many fear lost services
June 27, 2008. The Sun
Riverside ..."More than 100 protesters gathered in front of the 9-foot bronze statue of Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi in downtown Riverside.
Disabled men and women, many representatives for local disability advocacy groups, toted signs and shouted slogans in protest of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed budget, which includes cuts to Medi-Cal and in-home support services as part of the effort to close a $17 billion state budget shortfall.
"The governor's budget is simply a big threat to my ability to live independently," said protester Christie Rudder, 46, who lost use of her legs in a 2002 car wreck and now works at a disabled advocacy center. "The only thing between living free and working at my job and living in a nursing home is my in-home care, which the governor wants to cut." "
Read Story
ENCINITAS: Caregivers discuss proposed service cuts
In-home help could be sliced from state budget
June 25, 2008. North County Times
ENCINITAS ---- Caregivers and advocates for the elderly and disabled met Wednesday to get the word out about possible budget cuts to In-Home Supportive Services, services meant to keep the elderly and disabled independent and out of nursing homes.
The meeting was organized by United Domestic Workers of America, a union representing in-home care providers for the elderly or disabled. It was intended to publicize the possible budget cuts to the In-Home Supportive Services and to encourage those who would be affected to contact their representatives before the budget is passed.
Read Story
"Some Will Die," Claims Opponent of Budget Cuts
June 19, 2008. KEYT.com Santa Barbara
"...In a town hall meeting Wednesday, hosted by the Quality Home Care Coalition, others who spoke said services for children's health care could also be cut.
One study shows more than 3000 low income children could lose coverage.
A letter from Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to a concerned Lompoc residents says, 'we will continue to provide funding for children's health care through the healthy families program which will receive $1.1 billion dollars in the 2008-2009 budget.' On the issue of housing, budget cuts could reduce subsidized payments for those living on a limited income who get rental housing assistance. 'We'll have lines out the door with those who are newly homeless looking for Section 8 housing, or applicants for some kind of housing that most likely isn't going to be there for them,' said Michael Just, a housing advocate."
Read Story and SEE VIDEO
Democrats, Seniors Citizens and Health Care Workers
Denounce Governor's Cuts
June 14, 2008. Los Angeles Chronicle, California Political Desk
(PLEASANT HILL) – "The Governor´s budget cuts to In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) would devastate thousands of families and hurt the economy by reducing hours and jobs for many health care workers employed by the valuable safety net program, Democratic legislators said today...
The Governor´s budget plan would eliminate $266 million from the IHSS program, which provides care to low-income, disabled and aged Californians in their homes and allowing them to avoid more expensive out-of-home care. The program serves 396,000 Californians. "
Read Story
Care for the elderly could face cuts under new budget
June 13, 2008. KCOY.com Central Coast News
SANTA MARIA- The disabled, elderly and ill may be taking a major hit if a proposed plan by Governor Schwarzenegger takes affect. In his revised budget, the Governor would like to cut hundreds of millions of dollars used to supplement the salary of in-home caregivers.
Read Story WATCH VIDEO
Today, Concerned Californians Kick-off Statewide Forums to Address the Governor’s Direct Assualt on Care for Seniors and People with Disabilities
June 12, 2008. Sacramento Business Wire
(Sacramento, California) – " Today, seniors, people with disabilities, their families and caregivers joined with concerned and activist Californians to kick-off statewide forums denouncing Governor Schwarzenegger ' s proposed cuts to programs that serve the elderly and disabled. In the community forums scheduled to take place in Counties throughout the state over the next few weeks, residents will speak out against the cuts to Supplemental Security Income/State Supplemental Payment (SSI/SSP) grants and In-Home Supportive Services (homecare). A few of the participating counties include Kern, Tulare, Butte, Orange, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Luis Obispo, Merced, and Santa Barbara. "
Read Story
Editorial: An Electric Wheelchair Too Late
May 24, 2008. Los Angeles Cityzine
Bob Rose passed away last week. I know you don’t know who he is and that’s the tragedy of his short life. But Bob was only 17 years old when he died of complications due to Duschennes Muscular Dystrophy and what’s most heartbreaking is he died alone.
Bob had
lived in a group home from the age of eight years old when his parents were unable to care for him any longer and made him a ward of the state. Unlike the title character in the film Rory O’Shea Was Here, played by James McAvoy, he didn’t have an electric wheelchair nor did he ever get a chance to live out of the group home.
Read Story
State budget revision could negatively impact half of local IHSS recipients
May 22, 2008. Eureka Reporter
"...The May Revision to the 2008-09 state budget proposed by the governor eliminates meal preparation and clean-up, housekeeping, laundry and food shopping for clients with a functional index score below 4.
Social workers rank low-income adults over age 65, blind or disabled and children who are blind and disabled on a scale of 1 to 5 in their ability to perform 26 basic tasks essential to remaining safely in their homes.
“Most recipients don’t even know what their score is. They may not know they are the No. 1 targets,” said Cindy Calderon, systems change advocate for Tri-County Independent Living. “They need to call their social worker and ask for the SOC 293. It’s a copy of their scores.” ..."
Read Story
IHSS Coalition Letter to Oppose Cuts
May 19, 2008. Protection and Advocacy Inc
RE: May Revision proposals for In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) - STRONG OPPOSITION:
The undersigned organizations emphatically and totally oppose the Governor's May Revision for the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program which would slash program funding by $395.8 million ($274.1 million from the State General Fund).This is the most dangerous IHSS budget proposal suggested by any Administration since the IHSS program was established under Governor Reagan in 1973. While we recognize the dire fiscal situation of the California state budget, it is inexcusable for the Governor to sacrifice the health and welfare of seniors and people with disabilities and their caregivers with these devastating budget proposals.
Read Letter - has complete detail on cuts being proposed
Budget cuts impact on poor must be weighed
April 22, 2008. Paradise Post Editorial Board
Another example of shortsighted thinking is not paying a decent wage to people who provide in-home healthcare for the severely disabled, such as stroke victims. They are usually treated as second-class workers who are often paid only slightly more than minimum wage with few benefits. It's true that some IHSS workers have other incomes -- but many do not. It seems the state needs to look at offering improved pay to those whose only income is via IHSS. . . the central reason these social programs are so-often targeted is that they don't have any well-financed group, such as the California Teachers Association or the Prison Guards' Union, supporting them. In today's world if a group with deep pockets isn't fighting for you, you're toast.
Read Story
CDCAN Disability Rights News Report
March 26, 2008.
California State Budget Crises:
* Governor says it would be "Big Misake" to blame budget deficit on illegal immigration.
* New Poll Shows More Californians Favor Tax Increases
* 56% of Californians "Very Concerned" About Spending Cuts
* Major Budget Subcommittee Hearings In April
* IHSS, SSI/SSP Set for April 16th - Regional Centers 4/23
* Most Actions Will Wait Until Governor's May Budget Revisions
Read Newsletter
An exodus from Medi-Cal
March 24, 2008. Los Angeles Times
Further cuts in reimbursement rates are forcing doctors to reject new patients.
After San Diego ear, nose and throat physician Ted Mazer recently billed the state's medical insurance program for the poor for a tonsillectomy, he got a check for $168, too little to cover surgical costs. The balance came out of his pocket. Now legislators have cut the rates even further, leaving Mazer resolved to shut his doors to new Medi-Cal patients. Almost every other specialist in his field countywide has already done the same, he said. "I am the last guy I know of still taking [Medi-Cal] on a regular basis," he said. "I am seeing patients from the Riverside and Orange County lines all the way down to the border." Statewide, many other doctors report that they too are abandoning Medi-Cal, even those who had stuck with it for years out of a sense of professional responsibility.
Read Story
Medi-Cal faces delay in treatment approvals
March 23, 2008. Sacramento Bee
Pharmacists, medical equipment suppliers and senior-care providers say delays in Medi-Cal treatment approvals are causing hardships for them and their patients. Treatment approval requests that used to take a few days can now take weeks to be authorized by the state department that manages Medi-Cal. The result: Providers are sometimes tending to patients and doling out drugs and equipment for free – hoping they will be reimbursed later, but with no guarantees. Compounding the problem is a 10 percent cut in Medi-Cal reimbursement that takes effect July 1. There is also an expected one-month delay in reimbursements this summer.
Read Story
Latest Schwarzenegger Budget Plan Slashes
In-Home Supportive Services
May 15, 2008. California Progress Report
Governor Schwarzenegger has proposed ravaging cuts to the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS), which provides personal care and domestic services enabling 408,000 California seniors and people with disabilities to remain at home safely and avoid unnecessary, expensive and unwanted institutionalization. "Governor Schwarzenegger has failed to protect the needy, blind, disabled and aged in our communities, and has shown a total disregard for what should be a top priority of California lawmakers overseeing state spending," said Bill Young, an IHSS consumer in Sacramento County and a member of the California Senior Legislature. "To deny those in need in the name of fiscal restraint is shameful for any leader, but especially desperate for Governor Schwarzenegger, who continues to disregard the plight of low-income families across the Golden State."
Read
Story
Budget cuts impact on poor must be weighed
April 22, 2008. Paradise Post Editorial Board
Another example of shortsighted thinking is not paying a decent wage to people
who provide in-home healthcare for the severely disabled, such as stroke victims.
They are usually treated as second-class workers who are often paid only slightly
more than minimum wage with few benefits. It's true that some IHSS workers have
other incomes -- but many do not. It seems the state needs to look at offering
improved pay to those whose only income is via IHSS. . .
the central reason these social programs are so-often targeted is that they
don't have any well-financed group, such as the California Teachers Association
or the Prison Guards' Union, supporting them. In today's world if a group with
deep pockets isn't fighting for you, you're toast.
Read
Story
CDCAN Disability Rights News Report
March 26, 2008.
California State Budget Crises:
* Governor says it would be "Big Misake" to blame budget deficit
on illegal immigration.
* New Poll Shows More Californians Favor Tax Increases
* 56% of Californians "Very Concerned" About Spending Cuts
* Major Budget Subcommittee Hearings In April
* IHSS, SSI/SSP Set for April 16th - Regional Centers 4/23
* Most Actions Will Wait Until Governor's May Budget Revisions
Read Newsletter
An exodus from Medi-Cal
March 24, 2008. Los Angeles Times
Further cuts in reimbursement rates are forcing doctors to reject
new patients.
After San Diego ear, nose and throat physician Ted Mazer recently
billed the state's medical insurance program for the poor for a
tonsillectomy, he got a check for $168, too little to cover surgical
costs. The balance came out of his pocket. Now legislators have cut the rates even further, leaving Mazer
resolved to shut his doors to new Medi-Cal patients. Almost every other specialist
in his field countywide has already done the same, he said.
"I am the last guy I know of still taking [Medi-Cal] on a regular basis," he
said. "I am seeing patients from the Riverside and Orange County lines all the
way down to the border." Statewide, many other doctors report that they too are
abandoning Medi-Cal, even those who had stuck with it for years out of a sense
of professional responsibility.
Read
Story
Medi-Cal faces delay in treatment approvals
March 23, 2008. Sacramento Bee
Pharmacists, medical equipment suppliers and senior-care providers say delays
in Medi-Cal treatment approvals are causing hardships for them and their patients.
Treatment approval requests that used to take a few days can now take weeks to
be authorized by the state department that manages Medi-Cal. The result: Providers
are sometimes tending to patients and doling out drugs and equipment for free – hoping
they will be reimbursed later, but with no guarantees. Compounding the problem
is a 10 percent cut in Medi-Cal reimbursement that takes effect July 1. There
is also an expected one-month delay in reimbursements this summer.
Read
Story
Economic justice for the unfortunate
March 8, 2008. Southern California In Focus
Orange County
, Calif. "...There are 12,000
In Home Service Providers (IHSS) in Orange County who give "to kith
and kin" by providing necessary care for the elderly, blind
and disabled in the home. Orange County is the lowest paying county in the
state at $8.40 an hour. The county can access state and federal funds
to raise this wage to $11.50 an hour, but those in charge would have
to take action. Fortunately, an interfaith organization called Clergy
and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE) is addressing this issue
with the Orange County Board of Supervisors..."
Read
Story
Candidate Experiences Life in Homecare Worker's Shoes
March 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/
FRESNO, Calif. Nathan Magsig, a
candidate for the Fresno County Board of Supervisors, "walked a day" in the
shoes of a county homecare worker on Wednesday, as part of SEIU's program
to ensure that candidates running for office understand what life is like
for working people in America.
Magsig spent the morning with Norma Raya, who cares for Veleta Coker
under the county's In-Home Supportive Services program. IHSS workers like
Raya take care of seniors and people with disabilities in their homes,
allowing them to remain independent and avoid having to move into nursing
homes at a higher cost to taxpayers.
Read
Story
Budget cuts could keep kids in abusive situations
February 28, 2008. North County Times
San Diego - "...But another group seeking more state
funding administered by the county said county officials'
comments about looming cuts to child welfare services seemed
to have a less noble cause than alerting the public.
Karen Keeslar, a consultant with the United Domestic Workers -- the union that
is representing 22,700 San Diego County in-home caregivers in their demands
for wage increases -- said it appeared the county was using
the child welfare issue as a negotiating tool.
In-home support workers earning up to $9.25 an hour are trying to negotiate a
contract that would pay them up to $12.15 an hour.
At the last supervisors' meeting two weeks ago, County Chief Administrative Officer
Walt Ekard said the pot of money the county uses to pay for child protective
services -- known as realignment money -- is the same pot the county uses to
spend $38 million for the caregivers' program..."
Read Story
Disabled Community Feels The Brunt of Budget
Woes
February 26, 2008. San Leandro Times
San Leandro - The Disability Action Network hosted a forum at the Marina Community
Center last week to oppose the governor's proposed budget cuts to social service
programs. Other non-profit groups — as well as San Leandro residents that depend
on services like Medi-Cal and In Home Support Services (IHSS) — joined the forum
to give a personal face to the programs that are in danger of being cut. “We
need more involvement from the community,” said moderator Vicki Plaugher of the
Disability Action Network. “Sacramento must be reminded that they can't act for
their own interests. They work for us and we need to send a strong message that
these cuts shouldn't rest on our backs alone.” Plaugher encouraged everyone concerned
about the cuts to send a letter to their state senator or representative urging
them not to vote to approve Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's recommendation of
a 10-percent, across-the-board cut to all statefunded social service programs
to alleviate the state's $16 billion deficit.
Read
Story Personal Finance Notebook: Delaying tax filing
might affect your rebate check
February 26, 2008. Sacramento Bee
SACRAMENTO— "...More on Medi-Cal; Q: It was very sobering
to read your recent article about the woman's family asking about
Medi-Cal trying to recover proceeds after her home is sold. I am
in a similar situation. My mother has had Alzheimer's for 11 years.
She has no income other than her Social Security. Two years ago she
qualified for SSI (Supplemental Security Income) and IHSS (In-Home
Supportive Services), which help pay for her 24-hour live-in caregivers.
Will the government try to get that financial assistance back if
she enters a nursing home or dies?"
Read
Story *Note from webmaster; click link to read story and
scroll to questions at bottom of the article to find information re IHSS
and Medi-Cal
Advocates for disabled, seniors fight budget cuts
Coalition appeals to governor, legislators not to break safety nets
February 23, 2008. The Valley Herald
SAN LEANDRO — "Alfonso Jackson fell from the fifth floor of his building
at work in 2000. Having broken "every bone in my body," Jackson said, he was
not supposed to survive...He eventually recovered. And through the county's In-Home
Supportive Services program, Jackson, who uses a wheelchair, was able to get
help and live a fairly independent life.
But with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposal to cut all state-funded programs
by 10 percent to mitigate the looming $16 billion budget deficit, Jackson said
his supportive care would be significantly affected."
Read
Story In-home caregivers protest for a raise
February 14 2008, North County Times
SAN DIEGO ---- Amputee Michael Staton shivered in his wheelchair in a steady
drizzle outside the San Diego County Administration Center on Thursday, part
of a prayer-protest demanding better pay for in-home caregivers. Staton and others
said caregivers such as Staton's girlfriend, Susan Stansberry, find it hard to
live on the $9.25 an hour the county pays her, and deserve more. "She feeds me,
cares for me, goes to the pharmacy for me," said Staton, who lost all of one
leg and part of another to a circulatory disease. "I'm this much short of a vegetable.
They don't pay her enough for what she does." Carrying signs reading "Have a
heart," dozens of in-home caregivers, religious leaders, union officials and
patients held a Valentine's Day prayer vigil and protest to demand that county
supervisors offer more money to caregivers, who are negotiating a new contract.
Read
Story
In-home caregivers protest for a raise
February 14 2008, North County Times
SAN DIEGO ---- Amputee Michael Staton shivered in his wheelchair in a
steady drizzle outside the San Diego County Administration Center on Thursday,
part of a prayer-protest demanding better pay for in-home caregivers.
Staton and others said caregivers such as Staton's girlfriend, Susan Stansberry,
find it hard to live on the $9.25 an hour the county pays her, and deserve
more. "She feeds me, cares for me, goes to the pharmacy for me," said Staton, who lost all of one leg and part of another to a circulatory disease. "I'm this much short of a vegetable. They don't pay her enough for what she does."
Carrying signs reading "Have a heart," dozens of in-home caregivers, religious
leaders, union officials and patients held a Valentine's Day prayer vigil and
protest to demand that county supervisors offer more money to caregivers, who
are negotiating a new contract.
Read
Story
|
