WI State Budget Updates
Posted by DAWN at 2:14 PM
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he Assembly will be discussing the next state budget, AB-75, starting today. Already announced are several changes to the budget affecting people with disabilities from the version that was passed by the Joint Finance Committee.
These changes are:
- People choosing the self-direction option under Family Care called IRIS will be able to use the Ombudsman Program to help resolve service plan disputes.
- The spending limits for the Autism Insurance provision has been lowered from $60,000 to $50,000 for intensive treatment and from $30,000 to $25,000 for on-going treatment.
- Special Olympics of Wisconsin has been exempted from the 5% across the board cuts that are required of other line items in the budget.
- The housing tax exemption provision for seniors and low-income people has been taken out of the budget. This has been sought by Madison non-profits and disability advocates who say it is needed to keep providing housing to the poor and people with disabilities. Municipal officials and others had criticized the measure in recent days, saying it was unfair to give exemptions for senior housing units worth more than $500,000 in suburban Milwaukee.
It is expected that the Assembly will pass their version of the budget within the next few days. The budget will then move to the Senate for their consideration. If there are no differences between the two versions, then the budget goes to Gov. Doyle for his action. If there are differences, then a conference committee will be formed to settle the differences and then the two houses would have to vote on that version.
For more information about the budget, go to the DAWN budget page. The Arc Wisconsin has developed a brief resource that compares the action taken by the Joint Finance Committee versus what Gov. Doyle proposed..
Take Action Now:
It is very likely the budget will be passed by the legislature within the next week or so. If you want to have your opinions heard, you should Take Action now. The easy way to that is to use the DAWN “Take Action”. Go to the State Budget Bill, AB-75, and follow the instructions to Take Action.