After nearly four decades in Congress, Tom Harkin said goodbye to his colleagues in Washington DC earlier this month. Senator Harkin decided earlier this year not to run for re-election, a move that shocked and saddened many Iowans.
Sen. Harkin is well-known throughout the world as a champion for the rights of people with disabilities and as the author of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which was enacted in 1990 and required buildings and public transportation to be accessible, and called for accommodations for people with disabilities in the workplace. As the head of the US Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, Sen. Harkin advocated for full federal funding for the IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act), which pays for educating students in special education.
During his retirement speech, Sen. Tom Harkin challenged his fellow Senators to take action on four important issues (what the Des Moines Register called his "four final wishes"):
During floor debate in 1990, Senator Harkin once gave an entire speech in American Sign Language, a language he knew well from growing up with his brother Frank (who had a hearing impairment). So fittingly, Senator Harkin closed his retirement speech with "one of the most beautiful signs."
"Put your fingers together and put your hands together," Harkin said, holding his hands up in front of his face for everyone to see. "It looks like an 'A.' Move it in a circle in front of your body. This is the sign for America...Think about it. All of us interconnected, bound together in a single circle of inclusion. No one left out. This is the ideal America toward which we always, always aspire. And with that, for the last time, I yield the floor."
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Iowans that are elected to the Iowa Legislature often have a reason - they want to do something, help someone, or make a difference in our state. They may want to serve on a committee that will help them do that, and some want to serve on committees where they have some expertise (like a teacher serving on the Education Committee or a parent of a child with a disability serving on the Human Resources Committee). But legislators can only "request" that they serve on a particular committee; their leaders actually have the final say on these assignments. Those assigments are always made at the start of a General Assembly (what we call the two-year legislative cycle).
The committee assignments for the 2015-2016 General Assembly are now done, and you can now see which legislators are assigned to each legislative committee, including chairs, vice chairs, and ranking members. Click below for the membership lists:
There are a few "open" seats on committees, which will be filled by the winners of the special elections.
Governor Branstad told reporters recently that the state is going to face a “challenging” budget cycle when the session gets underway on January 12. “We want to be very careful and very frugal and yet be able to provide the resources needed to meet the priorities,” Governor Branstad said at the start of hearings on state agency budget requests. Agencies are requesting a total $7.05 billion for the next budget year, a 3.8% increase.
That may not sound like a large increase, but legislators have made some big promises over the past several years and the state isn't collecting enough money to live up to all those commitments. The non-partisan Legislative Services Agency says the state will need to spend all the extra revenues it has to pay for:
The Legislative Services Agency says the $520 million the state currently has in reserves will shrink to $176 million next year, leaving little room for any additional spending and creating concern about maintaining funding for the commitments already made. All of this means finding extra money for Medicaid (or anything else) may be very, very hard, and difficult decisions may need to be made (see the next article).
In addition, there are rumors that many of the state's 15 Mental Health and Disability Services (MH/DS) regions have a lot of money in reserves. Key legislators on human services issues have already been questioning regions' needs for additional funding (it is not the first time legislators would withhold state funding and require counties/regions to "spend down their reserves"). Expect legislators to challenge funding this year for these regions that provide non-Medicaid MH/DS services.
There is trouble brewing in the state's $1.3 billion Medicaid budget, and legislators are already talking openly about tough decisions that may need to be made when they head back to the Capitol in January. Medicaid provides health insurance for 680,000 low-income adults and children. It also pays for long-term care services for Iowa's seniors, from nursing home care to services that support seniors in their homes. And as many of you know, it also pays for a variety of health and supportive services, including supports that allow people to live in their own homes.
The Department of Human Services says they need an additional $68 million to get through this current fiscal year (which ends on June 30, 2015). Without those dollars, waiting lists will continue to grow and the state may have to make difficult decisions when reviewing the needs of people receiving Medicaid services. In addition, the Department of Human Services says they will need another $202 million to get through next year (and that doesn't include money needed to eliminate waiting lists).
Right now, there are large waiting lists for several of the state's Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) waivers which provide support for people with disabilities wanting to live independently or with their families. That list continues to grow because state funding for these waivers has rarely kept up with demand, even after a significant ($6 million) additional appropriation in the 2014 legislative session. This will continue to be a challenge when you look at the overall budget crunch the state is facing in 2015.
Lawmakers will be looking for ways to do more with less money, and will be asking hard questions so they can find out which programs work, and which programs aren't meeting their goals. One strategy that we hear more and more is moving more of Medicaid into managed care. While this rumor has been out there for a while, it is a fact that states are increasingly moving to the use of managed care and other integrated care models in serving their Medicaid beneficiaries. According to the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, more than 70% of the US Medicaid population is enrolled in some form of managed care.
There will be three special elections before legislators return to work at the Capitol on January 12, 2015.
Two years ago, we printed our first ID Action/Infonet Guide to the Iowa Legislature, and it was so popular we ran out of copies within a few weeks.
This year we plan to print and mail it again to all of our readers free of charge, including those of you that receive infoNET by email. While we now have committee assignments and other information, we must delay printing until the three special elections have been held (sometime in mid-January). While we hoped to have these in your hands before the start of session, we will still be able to get these to you by the end of January. In the meantime, you can access a draft version of the Guide online here.
If you have friends or colleagues that would like to receive a copy of our Guide, they must register with ID Action here - so feel free to forward to a friend and they too can get a free copy of this popular Guide!
The Youth Leadership Forum is a five day transition program for high school students with disabilities. Throughout the week, students will have the opportunity to learn about developing self-esteem, choosing a career, assistive technology, disability rights and self-advocacy. Students can be in 10th, 11th or 12th grade (this includes fifth year seniors). Students must be working with a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor or be on the waiting list in order to participate.
The next YLF session will be July 12-17, 2015 on the Iowa State University campus in Ames, Iowa. Students stay overnight in the dorms and participate in large group and small group activities, listen to speakers, take a trip to the State Capitol and connect with professionals and community leaders with disabilities as possible mentors and role models.
Approximately 40 students will be chosen to participate in this unique opportunity. There is no charge for those selected to attend. Applications are currently being accepted through January 15, 2015 and can be found online at http://www.humanrights.iowa.gov/pd/leadership_forum/index.html