Travis County Commssioners Court
April 1, 2003
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Item 6
Number 6. Adopt resolution in support of continuation of state
>> goodman: disabilities. Whereas a community gains strength through inclusion, not exclusion, whereas the u.s. Supreme court ruled in 1999 that states must provide services to people with disabilities and the most integrated setting -- in the most integrated setting possible. Whereas services to allow people to live in the community rather than institutions are most affected by the state save as minimum of $1,000 per person per month, and an interim subcommittee of the Texas senate finance committee reported that having people with disabilities in the community and not in nursing homes contributed over $900 million to the state's economy, whereas there are an estimated 21,188 disabled children and adults within Travis County service area, whereas the 78th Texas legislature is considering budget cuts in which some programs will be eliminated entirely, resulting in loss of community based services to support independence and self sufficiency for people with disabilities, whereas budget cuts will impose a burden on local taxpayers as more people with disabilities are forced to access safety net services and public hospital emergency room for routine health care and preventable illnesses, and whereas the Texas economy stands to lose millions of dollars in federal funds and thousands of jobs, now therefore be it resolved that the Travis County Commissioners court calls on the governor and lieutenant governor, speaker of the house, the legislature and all citizens of the state of Texas to increase not decrease the current level of funding for community based services, so that people with disabilities can continue to be active contributors to the daily life of the states, towns and cities and counties, right?
>> yep.
>> therefore I move approval.
>> second.
>> good morning.
>> good morning.
>> I’m jennifer mcphail, I’m with adapt of Texas. We wanted to come here today to thank you for your support with this resolution. But also to let folks know in the community that are watching us right now, will watch us again on the reruns, that we need for folks, average folks to tell the leadership, the speaker, the lieutenant governor, the governor, that these cuts are not acceptable. We want no cuts to community services. Community services are cheaper. And they are more humane. They allow families to stay together. It's healthier for our economy. It puts people to work. If I remember correctly, I can't remember how many thousands, but I know that there are several thousand attendants that work in this county area that will lose their jobs if these cuts go through. This is the wrong thing for the economy. You do not want to do something like this during a recession. This will put people out of work. People like me in nursing homes or state schools. At double the cost and you lose my contribution to the tax base. You lose my contribution to society. And it's the wrong thing to do. We have been able to make some head way down at the capitol. But the fact of the matter is right now they are changing the scores that each individual gets on their assessment for home health care services. And that's going to result in 55,000 people across the state losing home health care. Me included. Potentially. And that's the wrong way to go. It makes no fiscal sense, it's not responsible, it's not human and it's a form of segregation. And we thank you for -- for your support in trying to stop it. Because it's -- it's bigotry, plain and simple.
>> thank you.
>> thank you.
>> I been living here -- I have been -- I have been living here -- I have been living here since '84. I've been working did adapt to get people to -- to get people out of institutions. This year -- this year it's bad. Before these cuts will be able to do better. We were able to do better in the past years. Think want to cut -- they want to cut jennifer and other people and where are they going to go? They are going to put burdens on the county, on the city, and thank you for passing the -- thank you for passing the resolution.
>> thank you.
>> thank you. What's that speaker's mame?
>> wayne spon. You want to introduce the others?
>> this is Ron cranston, behind me is felix brionis.
>> good to see you all.
>> thank you all for coming down.
>> thank you.
>> you want to speak.
>> sure can. Stephen can you put that mic by her.
>> I did want to thank you all for your support.
>> interpreter: I just wants to thank you all for your support. If we get cut off, it will be bad for us because we don't want to go back into institutions. Yeah. And we've worked so hard to get out. And we have our freedom and we don't want that taken away from us. Thank you.
>> thank you.
>> thank you.
>> thank you.
>> jennifer, are you getting the e-mails? We had you put on the committee action list.
>> yes.
>> good. I think that's a real important thing right now to share as much information as we can the community action group has a really good e-mail list going of keeping people up to date. We were able to get them on that. Wanted to make sure --
>> we want to thank them, too, but also remind them as well to push community services as much as possible.
>> stephen, stephen, since we had the -- since we had the last meeting with the person that has spoken this morning, there was some information that they were requiring that we maybe could provide them as they go forward toward the legislature as far as making sure that they requested being adhered to favorably. Has that information been shared with them before we go back before the Texas state legislature?
>> yes. We had a meeting and gave information provided to the court I think a couple of days before that, which does include some impacts that would happen locally -- [multiple voices]
>> okay. That's good.
>> very good.
>> thank you all, thank you all for coming down.
>> thanks very much.
>> thank you very much, too, stephen. Second that. All in favor? That passes by unanimous vote.
Last Modified: Tuesday, April 8, 2003 1:25 PM