NEWS

President Obama's FY 2013 Budget will Expand Opportunities for People with Disabilities

The Obama administration recently released their FY2013 budget. The budget targets scarce federal resources to areas critical to growing the economy. To expand opportunities for people with disabilities, the 2013 Budget will:

Increase Funding for the Education of Children with Disabilities. The Budget provides $11.6 billion for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Grants to States to provide a high quality education and help offset State and local education costs for children with disabilities. The Budget also provides a $20 million, or 5 percent, increase for the IDEA Infants and Families Program to provide the youngest children a good start. In addition, the Budget provides $30 million, a $28 million increase over 2012, for PROMISE (Promoting Readiness of Minors in SSI), a four agency joint pilot program, to fund and evaluate innovative approaches to improving outcomes of children receiving Supplemental Security Income and their families.

Encourage Workforce Innovation to Improve Outcomes for People with Disabilities. The Budget provides $125 million to the Departments of Education and Labor for a Workforce Innovation Fund to support reforms of the workforce system, including projects that improve education and employment outcomes for individuals with disabilities. The Vocational Rehabilitation program will contribute $10 million, and use its expertise to help ensure that the Fund invests in innovative programs and evidence-based practices to provide high-quality employment services to individuals with disabilities, including those with significant disabilities. The Budget also provides authority for the Department of Education to use unspent Vocational Rehabilitation State Grants funds to support innovative projects that would focus on improving outcomes for individuals with disabilities.

Support Workers with Disabilities. The Budget provides $24 million to the Department of Labor for the Disability Employment Initiative, which awards grants to build the capacity of One-Stop Career Centers to serve individuals with disabilities. The Budget also proposes a new Disability Insurance Work Incentives Simplification Pilot to make the Social Security work rules more straightforward and allow beneficiaries more flexibility to try to work without fear of losing their benefits.

Support Disability Research. The Budget provides $107 million for the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR).

Strengthen Anti-Discrimination Enforcement. The Budget proposes an increase for the Community Relations Service in the Department of Justice to fight hate crimes and provides a $14 million, or 4 percent, increase over the 2012 enacted level for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which is responsible for enforcing Federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee.

Provide Housing for Persons with Disabilities. The Budget provides a total of $150 million for the Housing for Persons with Disabilities Program. Even in tough fiscal times, the Budget continues to invest in the expansion of this program and includes $54 million to fund approximately 1,900 additional units awarded through states for partnerships integrating health care and affordable, supportive housing for extremely low-income persons with disabilities in community-based settings.

Support the Medical Needs of Veterans. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) estimates an increase in the provision of health care services for veterans in Priority Levels 1-4 (largely those with service-connected disabilities). To meet the needs of this specific group of veterans, the VA Medical Care Budget includes $32.7 billion.

Some other key points of the FY2013 budget are as follows:

Reduce Social Security Appeals Hearing Backlog

Expand Passenger Rail Options

Improve Effectiveness of Disability Programs

Support the Rights of People with Disabilities Internationally

Source: Whitehouse.gov

The Maryland Developmental Disabilities Administration Announces the Appointment of Stanley "Stan" Butkus, Ph.D as the New Deputy Director

On Wednesday, February 1^st Frank Kirkland, DDA Executive Director, announced the appointment of Stanley “Stan” Butkus, Ph.D as the Deputy Director of the Developmental Disabilities Administration (DDA) effective Wednesday, February 8^th. Dr. Butkus has over thirty years experience in the field of intellectual and developmental disabilities. He is a graduate from St. Francis Xavier University and subsequently obtained three masters degrees including a M.A. in Educational Psychology and Special Education form the University o f Nebraska , a M.P.A from the University of New Hampshire and a M.S.W. from the Virginia of Commonwealth University. Dr. Butkus received his Ph.D. from Brandeis University . He has served as adjunct faculty at the Virginia Commonwealth University ’s Scholl of Social Work from 1988-1990. Additionally, Dr. Butkus co-authored numerous journal articles on various disability related topics. Dr. Butkus has held several high level leadership positions in local and state government. Most recently, Dr. Butkus served as the Director of the Metro Developmental Disabilities Service Office in the New York Office of People with Developmental Disabilities. Dr. Butkus previously served as the Director of the Virginia Office of Mental Retardation Services from 1986-1992 and as the Director of the South Carolina Department of Disabilities and Special Needs from 1996-2009. He has also held positions as the Director of the Central Virginia Training Center and the Associates Commissioner of Community and Facility Services in Virginia . Dr. Butkus is a past President of the National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities (NASDDDS).

Legislation Introduced to Remove Sunset on Employer Tax Credit for Hiring Individuals with Disabilities

New legislation has been proposed to remove the sunset on the employer tax credit for hiring individuals with disabilities. Senate Bill 167, sponsored by Senator Currie, has a hearing in the Budget and Taxation Committee on Feb, 1st at 3:00 p.m.  As reported in previous newsletters, Maryland Works has been advocating for the renewal of the tax credits for qualifying employees with disabilities every year that it comes up for its annual sunset. This year Maryland Works is working on adding co-sponsors to SB167 in the Senate and a companion bill in the House. 

Legislation Proposed to Remove Some Nonprofits from the MBE Program

The Baltimore Business Journal (BBJ) just released a follow to their Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) program investigation that Maryland Works previously reported on over the summer. The BBJ investigation showed that some nonprofits included in the program are inflating the state’s progress toward meeting the 25 percent goal of state contracting dollars going towards MBE-certified firms.

In the BBJ’s follow up to this initial reporting, they revealed that Del. Barbara Robinson (D) from Baltimore has drafted a bill for the 2012 General Assembly session that would exclude some nonprofits from the state’s MBE program. Robinson is still working with the state’s bill drafters on the language of the legislation, but says her intention is to remove nonprofits from the MBE program that are, “large corporations with millions of dollars, classified and defined as minorities.”

Robinson isn’t alone in her pursuits, a group of mainly women business owners are also working with Robinson, the Maryland Department of Transportation and the Governor’s Office of Minority Affairs to get a legislation proposal developed with the aim of removing the nonprofits and gaining the support of state agencies. The Governor’s Office of Minority Affairs has commented that they have no plans to introduce legislation that would remove nonprofits from the program.

According to the BBJ analysis, nonprofits that qualify for MBE status because they help people with disabilities, account for hundreds of millions of dollars going toward state reported MBE numbers. Eliminating the nonprofits would have a major impact on the state’s progress toward a mandated goal of achieving 25 percent of contracting work designated for minority owned businesses. Out of the $989 million the state spent on MBE contracts in 2009, $373 million was on nonprofits that provide services to Marylanders with disabilities. The BBJ reported that leaders of some of the nonprofits included in this count state that they did not gain MBE status to compete for the 25 percent of contracts, but they are included among the counted MBE firms nonetheless.

Maryland Works is in contact with key legislative and administration leaders to address this issue. Stay tuned for status on the matter in future Newletters.

Source: Baltimore Business Journal

U.S. Department of Labor Launches New Initiative for Employment First

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office on Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) has launched a new initiative to help states that are interested in implementing Employment First strategies. The new initiative will help states through the development of a strategic policy framework, provide provision of technical assistance from experts in the field, and access to mentors from other states who have already demonstrated success in implementing Employment First strategies in their state. ODEP will issue a solicitation during the first quarter of this year to allow interested states the opportunity to apply to be a protégé state.

Source: Disability. Gov