093_SR0322

                                     LRB093 14429 HSS 20117 r

 1                          SENATE RESOLUTION

 2        WHEREAS, Providing care  treatment,  rehabilitative,  and
 3    habilitative   services  to  individuals  with  developmental
 4    disabilities   or   mental   illness   is    a    fundamental
 5    responsibility of Illinois State government; and

 6        WHEREAS,  Individuals with developmental disabilities and
 7    mental illness depend  on  these  services  to  ensure  their
 8    safety, meet their basic needs, help them to develop to their
 9    fullest  potential,  and live, work, and recreate in the most
10    integrated   setting   appropriate   to   their    individual
11    circumstances; and

12        WHEREAS,  Centers for Independent Living provide critical
13    non-residential services to  individuals  with  physical  and
14    developmental  disabilities  that  allow  such individuals to
15    gain  the  skills  necessary  to  direct  their  own   lives,
16    participate  in their communities, and gain self-sufficiency;
17    and

18        WHEREAS,   Illinois   has   a   widespread   network   of
19    community-based agencies with  which  it  contracts  for  the
20    provision  of  such  treatment, residential, non-residential,
21    and day treatment programs to thousands of individuals; and

22        WHEREAS, A critical variable in  providing  high  quality
23    services  to  individuals  with  developmental  disabilities,
24    physical   disabilities   or   mental  illness  is  having  a
25    dedicated, stable, well-trained staff; and

26        WHEREAS, Historically these agencies  have  not  received
27    sufficient  State  funding  to  cover  the costs of providing
28    services, including the ability to provide salary  levels  or
29    benefits that attract and retain employees; and

30        WHEREAS,  Such inadequate funding levels have resulted in
31    a decrease in the level of community services to  individuals
 
                            -2-      LRB093 14429 HSS 20117 r
 1    who   need   them,  delays  in  the  provision  of  services,
 2    geographic differences in the availability of  services,  low
 3    wages  and  inadequate  benefits  for  staff,  high  employee
 4    turnover,  and  an  increased  level  of borrowing by service
 5    providers to make ends meet; and

 6        WHEREAS, Over the past three years  insurance  costs  for
 7    these   service   providers,   particularly  employee  health
 8    insurance costs, have increased far faster than the  rate  of
 9    inflation; and

10        WHEREAS,   These  community  service  providers  did  not
11    receive any cost-of-doing-business or cost-of-living increase
12    in the previous two State fiscal years; and

13        WHEREAS, In recognition of all of the above, the Illinois
14    General Assembly, by an  overwhelming  vote,  included  a  4%
15    cost-of-living  increase for these community service agencies
16    serving individuals with developmental disabilities, physical
17    disabilities, or mental illness in Illinois in a supplemental
18    funding bill for FY 2003  that  increased  the  base  funding
19    level for these agencies in subsequent fiscal years; and

20        WHEREAS,   Governor   Blagojevich   signed  that  funding
21    increase into law; and

22        WHEREAS, The Governor's Office of Management  and  Budget
23    has  directed all State agencies to hold 2% of their funds in
24    reserve; and

25        WHEREAS, In response to this directive, the Department of
26    Human Services reduced the base level funding of the agencies
27    that provide community based  services  to  individuals  with
28    developmental disabilities, physical disabilities, and mental
29    illness  by  2% and applied the 4% cost-of-living increase to
30    the reduced base funding level, resulting in  a  net  funding
31    increase  to  these agencies of less than 2%, rather than the
 
                            -3-      LRB093 14429 HSS 20117 r
 1    4% intended by the General Assembly; and

 2        WHEREAS, Because of other actions taken by the Department
 3    of Human Services, many  of  these  agencies  have  thus  far
 4    received no increase at all; and

 5        WHEREAS, Because much of the funding to these agencies is
 6    reimbursed to the State by the federal government at the rate
 7    of  50%  through the Medicaid program, the actual cost to the
 8    State to fund the 4% cost-of-living increase is actually less
 9    than the amount being held in reserve; therefore, be it

10        RESOLVED, BY  THE  SENATE  OF  THE  NINETY-THIRD  GENERAL
11    ASSEMBLY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  ILLINOIS, that we call upon the
12    Governor's Office of Management and Budget and the Department
13    of  Human  Services  to  act  to  ensure  that  Centers   for
14    Independent   Living,   agencies   serving  individuals  with
15    developmental disabilities, and agencies serving  individuals
16    with  mental illness through contracts with the State receive
17    the full 4% cost-of-living  increase  that  was  mandated  by
18    action  of  the  General Assembly for the purpose of enabling
19    such agencies to continue to meet  the  vital  needs  of  the
20    individuals they serve.