May, 2005
I just returned from a whirlwind trip to Southern California, another State Budget Strategy meeting was in order. The Governor's Proposed Budget was released and organizations were scrambling to figure out what the proposals mean to them and more importantly to the people they serve.
You know you've been traveling too long, when cashiers in major airports start to recognize you. There I was, briefcase, Palm Pilot and Starbucks in hand, when a shiny, happy woman from one of the gift shops, waves and starts telling me that it's been too long since she's seen me. Of course, I was certain that she must be mistaken, it was only the second time I'd ever been in that airport.
Just as I'm about to tell her that it must have been some other stressed out traveler, she said, I'm sure it was you....you work with people with disabilities. Talk about a weird deja vu, there I was just like last year, in that airport, talking with that woman about people with disabilities and the Governor's Budget. Now, don't get me wrong, I love traveling, and working with people with disabilities, but it struck me as sad that the Governor is proposing some of the same cuts to disability programs that we talked about last year.
In his proposed budget released on January 10th, Governor Schwarzenegger reduces the State's share of cost for In Home Supportive Services (IHSS) provider wages and benefits. You may recall that the IHSS program provides home care for people with disabilities and seniors who are at risk of institutionalization, enabling them to stay at home and in their communities.
So, what does it mean, to reduce the State's share of cost for provider wages and benefits? Currently, the State pays a portion of wages and benefits for providers in the IHSS program, up to $10.10 per hour. The Governor proposes that the State should stop paying this portion, which would reduce provider wages to the State minimum wage of $6.75 an hour. That's right, the Governor has brought back his proposal to pay IHSS providers only minimum wage. He gives Counties the option of making up the difference, by paying the State's share, but how many of California's financially strapped Counties could actually afford to do that? My guess would be very few, if any.
Thanks to great advocacy efforts from Independent Living Centers and other groups last year the Governor backed off this proposal; but, apparently he didn't learn very much about the true value of this program because it's on the chopping block again. This proposal could force people with disabilities and seniors to live in institutions, at what would be a much higher cost to the State. How are families that are providing this care, supposed to survive on minimum wage? Why would someone want to be an IHSS provider, when they could make more money working at McDonald's, if this proposal succeeds? I don't know about the rest of you but I'm getting tired of all of this deja vu. Its time to teach Governor Schwarzenegger the lesson that he failed to learn last time...Don't Mess with IHSS! Contact me for more information about how you can get involved.