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STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, MARCH 9, 2015.....When he was more than two decades away from assuming the most powerful position in the House, Robert DeLeo's first legislative issue was to protect services to people with disabilities, he told a roomful of advocates Monday. Now in his seventh year as speaker of the House, DeLeo said protecting the disabled is "still a battle."
"Believe it or not, protecting the disabled was the very first issue that I got involved with as a legislator," DeLeo said at an event hosted by the Massachusetts Developmental Disabilities Council and The Arc of Massachusetts, which seeks to better the lives of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
The Winthrop Democrat and former selectman said he had been in the Legislature for three months when he decided to take on Gov. William Weld and others over the issue.
"It's interesting, because although we have made great strides.... it's still a battle," DeLeo said. "It's still a battle each and every year. Not because of the good people like you, but because of those that are so afraid that the needy and disabled would get an upper hand, shall we say, in services provided."
Asked who battles him on the issued, DeLeo said, "Many times you will see some superintendents or folks in the school system complaining about the amount of money we give to special education versus regular education. They've almost been pitted against each other, and I feel that's wrong."
Gov. Charlie Baker told those gathered in the  Great Hall that they will be a priority.
"This is an issue we are deeply committed to, especially providing opportunities for people to be self-sufficient and to have opportunities," Baker said. Baker, who was Health and Human Services secretary in the Weld administration, said he is "more than aware" of the opportunities available and the progress made for those with disabilities.
 Senate President Stanley Rosenberg said the special needs advocates visiting the State House Monday were "out in force as you should be to remind the people of the Commonwealth of the amazing progress that's been made the last 20, 30 years."
Rosenberg said people with disabilities in Massachusetts can now participate in life the way everyone else can, adding, "It wasn't so long ago that it wasn't that way."
Rep. Sean Garballey, an Arlington Democrat sworn in to the House in the spring of 2008, credited DeLeo with protecting funding for those with disabilities even during the period of tight budgets around the start of the last recession when DeLeo was chairman of House Ways and Means.
"These line items we never want to cut," Garballey said, quoting DeLeo from an hour-and-a-half meeting about the budget the former Ways and Means chairman held right after Garballey joined the House. "And I said, 'Well, Mr. Speaker, what are those line items?' And he said, 'Well, they are line items for people with disabilities.'"
"Six months after he said that to me we had the largest economic collapse - $5 billion in revenue. He kept that promise and he has lived with that promise as the speaker of the House," Garballey said.
The Arc is seeking increases over funding outlined in Gov. Charlie Baker's $38.1 billion budget proposal. Arc Executive Director Leo Sarkissian told the News Service Baker increased funding for autism adult services and residential services for people who recently turned 22, but cut $5 million from Department of Developmental Services for family support and about $10 million from day and work program funding.
 Sarkissian compared Baker to past governors,
including his predecessor.
"I'll tell you he compares well to someone like Frank Sargent, Deval Patrick," said Sarkissian, crediting Baker with "trying to do something in a difficult budget year."
Sarkissian agreed with Garballey that DeLeo has held the line to support programs for the developmentally disabled and also credited DeLeo with leading an effort to protect a provision of state law that directed schools to provide the maximum feasible benefit to students with special needs.
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03/09/2015
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