Thank you to the hard work of the Legislative Coalition for People with Disabilities during the session. New monies were appropriated to the Division of Services for People with Disabilities (DSPD) for the budget year starting July 1, 2017. [Direct support staff were appropriated $2,000,000 on-going to help raise starting pay.]
The additional needs to people already in DSPD wavier services received $505,600 ongoing and $3,627,700 one time. (Ongoing money means that those dollars are a permanent addition to the budget. One-time money means that these dollars are only appropriated for that year.)
The fiscal intermediary received a $250,000 on-going to increase the rate. The DSPD waiting list received $750,000 on-going dollars that will be matched with 3x federal Medicaid dollars to help bring people off the waiting list.The DSPD Motor Transportation Payment received $150,000 ongoing.
Check out the bills and other relevant legislative action HERE.