March 8, 2006

 

Dearest Advocates:

 

Yesterday I sent the below advocacy e-mail but wanted to clarify and add a few items......

 

1. The Katie Beckett Waiver funding of $7.6 Million was put into the Supplemental 2006 Budget. Therefore, both the House and Senate have agreed to this funding.  Please also take a moment to thank the following Senators, as well as, the below Representatives I gave you yesterday:

 

Senator Tommy Williams tommie@tommiewilliams.com

Senator Jack Hill jhill@legis.state.ga.us

Senator Bill Stephens bstephen@legis.state.ga.us

 

2. The funding for the MRWP and ICW programs is being proposed with the House for the 2007 Budget and therefore will be going to the Senate next for approval.

 

3. Change: Rep. Judy Manning's e-mail address is: judymanning@bellsouth.net

 

Sorry for the confusion....It's very hard to keep track of everything going on (especially, when I'm not down at the Capitol). I rely on my vast network of families, legislators, friends, providers, etc in getting the information out as quickly as possible.

 

In addition, I'm working with a few reporters all over the State right now regarding our advocacy effort and needs for children and adults with disabilities.  Education is the key to success! If you have not already done so, please submit the following information (if you are interested in speaking to the media). I'm specifically looking for the following areas: Savannah, Albany, Athens, Athens, Augusta, Macon, Columbus, and Rome.

 

1. Name.

2. Child's age and disability.

3. Where do you live.

4. Contact info including: phone and email address.

5. Any additional comments you have that may be interesting to the media.

 

Thanks again- This is a very exciting time for Georgia and Disability Awareness and FUNDING!

 

Have a wonderful day,

Heidi

Dearest Advocates:

 

Today, the House Appropriations Committee recommended, as part of a multi-year funding plan, to fund 1,500 new supports to Unlocking the Waiting Lists with 9 months of funding and 152 new Independent Care Waiver slots for the 2007 Budget! This is fantastic news! 

 

In addition, the House has proposed a TOTAL OF $ 7.6 Million for those families that have been denied the Katie Beckett Waiver due to the change in criteria in November 2004! As part of that proposal, a foundation would be established to review, process and issue monies to those families. The funding would be for the remaining 06 budget (April 06-June 06) and the entire 07 Budget (July 06 -June 07). The hopes would be that this foundation would be self sufficient by mid-2007. (Please don't ask me additional questions regarding this funding.....this is all I know at this time. As soon as I have more information, I'll forward to the group).

 

If the above information does not show  you that grass roots advocacy is paying off.......I don't know what does. This is amazing!

 

 

Please take a moment to thank the following Representatives in the House and let them know we appreciate their commitment to children and adults with disabilities:

 

bharbin@legis.state.ga.us, jbrown@legis.state.ga.us, dsheldon@legis.state.ga.us , mickey@legis.state.ga.us, chugley@legis.state.ga.us, jshaw@legis.state.ga.us, subrmyster@aol.com, votebutler@bellsouth.net, repdavidgraves@hotmail.com, judymanning@bellsouth.net, rstephens@legis.state.ga.us, lwalker@nfumc.org, loneal@legis.state.ga.us

 

(I tried to make this as easy as possible for you so all you have to do is cut and paste the above list of legislators into your thank you document)

 

This funding still needs to be approved in the Senate but this is a step in the right direction!

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In addition, I know we all have concerns regarding the recently published eligibility criteria for the ICF-MR for Katie Beckett Waiver.  I am currently in the process of preparing a list of concerns to be issued to Dept. of Community Health. If you have specific issues, please email me a BRIEF list of your concerns.

 

Thanks again, Heidi