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Legislative Session Begins...
The Maryland General Assembly opened their 2014 legislative session today. As always, we will be advocating during the session to protect and enhance public funding and rights that could affect people with developmental disabilities and their families. It is essential that we maintain a strong voice and that means we need you to lend your voice to the effort also. Be ready to contact your legislator if we send out an alert or call to action, attend a hearing or DD Day if you can, and at minimum, please stay aware of what's at stake. State fiscal challenges put a tremendous strain on lawmakers so we need them to know that you care about these issues and that you're watching. Please do not underestimate how important this grassroots advocacy is and how much lawmakers listen to you.
Here are some dates, resources and items for your attention at this time:
1. Calendar Delivery Day
 | Crystal, pictured in center, at last year's
DD Day at the Legislature |
Tomorrow, a group of staff and self-advocates from Arc organizations around the state will hand deliver calendars to every single legislative office. Legislators have come to expect the annual calendar delivery that contains photos and stories of individuals with developmental disabilities who are supported by Arcs in Maryland and who are living/ working/ thriving in our community as a result of the supports they receive. The calendar also contains the birth dates of all members of the legislature. The Arc Baltimore is represented in the 2014 calendar by Crystal Stephens, a self-advocate on our board of directors and vice president of The Helping Hands self-advocacy group, who works full time as the receptionist at our facility in the Seton Business Park.
2. State Budget
The Governor's budget will come out in the next week or so and will contain funding details for the Developmental Disabilities Administration as well as other key funding sources for our constituents. We will get you the detail on funding levels and any areas of concern that could impact services. In the meantime, mark your calendar: DDA Budget Hearings are scheduled for February 13th and 18th. We may need calls or emails to committee members, either at that time or in follow-up. We'll let you know.
3. DD Day at the Legislature
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Self-advocates from The Arc Baltimore rally for disability rights in Annapolis.
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Developmental Disabilities Day at the Legislature (DD Day) is on February 18th. The Arc Baltimore will have buses leaving by 7:30 a.m. for Annapolis. This is the premier opportunity for us to demonstrate the community of support for disability rights issues to the legislators. The day begins with an introduction to state officials and culminates in a rally in lawyer's mall. Plan to participate and watch for registration details soon.
4. Minimum Wage
The Minimum Wage issue has very IMPORTANT implications for employees of DD organizations. Currently, DDA's funding system allows for a direct support hourly wage of approximately $9.86. Thought this is more than the current minimum wage of $7.25, the position of direct support professional is not a minimum wage job. Thus, any increase in minimum wage must have a corresponding increase in funding rates for providers to assure that direct service professionals are adequately compensated at a level that significantly exceeds any new minimum wage. There may be multiple bills and times when contacts with legislators will be essential. We will let you know - and will count on you to respond.
We must also ensure that our State contracts that employ our supported landscape and janitorial workers are also increased to keep our workers at or above any increased minimum wage.
5. Advocacy Resources
In addition, The Arc Baltimore maintains a legislative guide that you may want to print and keep handy. It provides numbers and contact information for federal and state elected officials and state administration contacts.
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