CDCAN DISABILITY RIGHTS REPORT
CALIFORNIA DISABILITY COMMUNITY ACTION NETWORK
#010-2012 - JANUARY 19, 2012 - THURSDAY
REMEMBERING THE LIFE & WORK OF STEVE ELIAS (Nolo Press Author) AND
KPFA RADIO'S YVETTE HOCHBERG
Advocacy Without Borders: One Community - Accountability With
Action
CDCAN Reports go out to over 60,000 people with disabilities,
mental health needs, seniors, people with traumatic brain and other injuries,
people with MS, Alzheimer's and other disorders, veterans with disabilities and
mental health needs, families, workers, community organizations, facilities and
advocacy groups including those in the Asian/Pacific Islander, Latino,
African-American communities; policymakers, and others across the State.
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To reply to THIS Report write: Marty Omoto at martyomoto@rcip.com
Website: www.cdcan.us
Twitter: martyomoto
State
Budget Crisis - Breaking News:
FEDERAL
JUDGE ISSUES PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION THAT CONTINUES STOPPING STATE &
FEDERAL GOVERNMENTS FROM IMPLEMENTING 20% IHSS ACROSS THE BOARD REDUCTION
SACRAMENTO, CA (CDCAN) [Last updated 01/19/2012 03:32
PM] - A federal district court judge in Oakland, as expected, issued a
court order that will continue blocking the Brown Administration and the
federal government from taking any steps to implement the 20% across-the-board
reduction in service hours for hundreds of thousands of children and
adults with disabilities - including people with developmental disabilities -
and seniors who receive In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS). The
reduction would have also impact hundreds of thousands of IHSS workers. US
District Court Judge Claudia Wilken issued the court order - called a
"preliminary injunction" during the hearing held today in her
court room in Oakland. The State will likely appeal the court
order. The order issued today by Judge Wilken remains in
effect unless a higher federal court - in this case the US 9th Circuit Court of
Appeals or the US Supreme Court decides to reverse it or if Judge Wilken
decides at a later date to modify (change) it in some way.
Judge Wilken issued on December 1st a temporary
restraining order that blocked the reduction from taking place until a she
decideD whether or not to grant a more permanent order to stop the cuts
from being implemented. The preliminary injunction granted by Judge
Wilken - requested by those filing the lawsuit (IHSS
recipients) - means that the State federal governments would
still be blocked from implementing the IHSS 20% cuts. In
issuing the temporary restraining order in December, Judge Wilken had found
that the reductions violated federal law and likely would, if implemented,
cause immediate significant harm to people with disabilities and seniors
in the IHSS program who would be impacted by the cut in service
hours.
Judge Wilken heard today from attorneys
representing IHSS recipients and the Brown Administration in the lawsuit "David
Oster, et al v. Lightbourne", ("Oster" is an IHSS
recipient and "Lightbourne" is Will Lightbourne, the director of the
California Department of Social Services, the state agency that oversees
statewide the IHSS program). The case was previously titled
"V.L. v.Wagner" ("V.L." was the initials of
an IHSS recipient and "Wagner" is the name of the previous director
of the Department of Social Services).
The lawsuit was filed by Disability Rights California (DRC),
Disability Rights Legal Center, National Senior Citizens Law Center, the
National Health Law Program and San Diego attorney Charles Wolfinger on behalf
of the IHSS recipients. The union plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which include five
SEIU locals and United Domestic Workers-AFSCME, represented by law firm of
Altshuler Berzon LLP.
20% Cut Part of the 2011-2012 State Budget
"Trigger Cuts"
* The 20% across-the-board cut in IHSS hours amounting
to a reduction of over $100 million in State general fund spending in the
remaining months of the 2011-2012 State Budget year (and continue into the
following budget year) was scheduled to go into effect on January 1, 2012 but
never was implemented due to the temporary restraining order that was issued in
December. The 20% reduction did include several exemptions to the
cut for certain eligible persons in the IHSS program. With the
court order issued today - the State and federal governments are still blocked
from taking any steps to implement the cut for now.
* The reduction was part of the $1 billion in
"trigger cuts" that were part of the 2011-2012 State Budget that was
pulled because the State's revenues fell significantly below what was budgeted
last June.
* Among the other state budget "trigger
cuts" included $100 million reduction in state general fund spending to
the developmental services budget for the 2011-2012 State budget year that ends
June 30, 2012 - with another $100 million covering the 2012-2013 State
Budget year.
* The 20% across-the-board reduction is in addition to
other cuts and major changes to the IHSS program Governor Brown proposed
as part of his 2012-2013 State Budget.
HELP - VERY URGENT!
PLEASE HELP
CDCAN CONTINUE ITS WORK!!!
CDCAN - 1225 8th Street Suite 480 - Sacramento, CA 95814
Many, many thanks to all the organizations and individuals for their continued support that make these reports and other CDCAN efforts possible. [
Note: As of June 26th due to major problem with my computer and email, I have to use this old format of the CDCAN Reports that unfortunately does not have the list of people and organizations who have generously contributed and supported CDCAN in the past year and in recent weeks and months. I should have computer problem repaired sometime soon.- Marty Omoto]
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