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From: EPinnes@aol.com
Sent: Monday, February 27, 2006 2:16 PM
To: EPinnes@aol.com
Subject: Legislative wrap-up
This message is from Ellen Pinnes and the Disability Coalition.

The outcome of the 2006 legislative session was generally positive for the disability community. Many disability programs received good funding, some new initiatives were approved, and some bad legislation was defeated.

It's not completely over yet. The governor has until March 8 to act on bills sent to him by the Legislature in the last three days of the session (which is most of them, including the big budget bills). On each one, he has three options: he can sign the measure into law, he can veto it (or veto parts of it using his line-item veto authority), or he can simply take no action, in which case the bill has been "pocket-vetoed" and dies.

A comprehensive legislative summary prepared by Jim Jackson of Protection & Advocacy System is attached for those of you who like to get into the details. But here's an overview:

A. Medicaid funding -
1) Base budget: $30 million in "new money" was added to the base budget for the Medicaid program. This is about $8 million less than will be needed according to the latest projection from the Human Services Department (HSD). However, that number changes from month to month so it's too early to say how far short the funding will be for FY2007 -- if at all. So far, HSD isn't talking about implementing any new "cost containment" measures (i.e., program cuts) and is assuming that the funding provided will be adequate to continue current operations. (Keep in mind that the Medicaid program is already operating at a reduced level due to cuts implemented in FY2005 that are still in place. That includes reduced levels of services in the Disabled & Elderly (D&E) waiver and the Personal Care Option (PCO) program, as well as cutbacks in dental services that are particularly important to many people with disabilities.)

2) Waivers: The home-and-community-based waiver programs fared well in the legislative session. The budget bills passed by the Legislature include $5 million in additional funding to add people to the Developmental Disabilities (DD) waiver, plus another $5 million that will be available if the first $5 million is fully spent. There's also $729,000 for the Medically Fragile (MF) children's waiver, which should be enough to eliminate the waiting list for that waiver.
Unfortunately, there's no new money added for the D&E waiver. However, the Legislature for the first time identified the specific total amount available for the D&E waiver (and did the same for the DD and MF waivers) so that the state agencies can be held accountable for how they use money allocated to the waivers.

3) Medicaid expansions and restorations:
a) The biggest item here ($17.6 million) is rate increases for providers, with most of the money going to physicians. Most Medicaid providers will get an increase of a little over 1%, which falls short of restoring the 1.5% across-the-board cut that was made in FY2005. On top of that increase, which will cost $5.2 million, there's an additional $9,450,000 for doctors, $950,000 for dentists, $750,000 for obstetricians, and $250,000 for behavioral health providers. (There's also $1 million to increase rates for DD waiver providers; this is funded through the Department of Health budget rather than in the Medicaid budget in HSD.)
b) Program expansions/restorations include funding to increase the income level at which children can qualify for Medicaid and the level at which women qualify for prenatal services, restoration of a second annual dental visit for children, elimination of the requirement that recipients recertify eligibility every six months rather than annually, and increased outreach to enroll eligible children. (There's also funding to start a "premium assistance" program for kids whose families have incomes too high to qualify for Medicaid even under the higher eligibility level. This will not be a Medicaid program and will be paid for entirely with state dollars.) Unfortunately, no funding was provided to raise New Mexico's extremely low income eligibility level for adult Medicaid coverage.

B. Other disability funding - Funding for other programs that are important to people with disabilities included an additional $1.5 million for the Family Infant Toddler early intervention program, $150,000 for the 211 statewide information and referral system, and funding for a variety of programs serving particular populations or geographic areas. The last category includes such items as training for parents of autistic children at San Juan College, mobile mental health crisis services, mental health jail diversion programs in Bernalillo County, and suicide prevention services. (For more information, see the attachment.)

C. Other measures of importance to the disability community -
a) Money Follows the Person - This bill will help people with disabilities move from nursing facilities into community settings by allowing money spent for institutional care to be used by the person to obtain community services instead. Due to opposition from the Association of DD Community Providers, which apparently feared that residents of its members' facilities would leave if given the opportunity and wanted to prevent them from doing so, the bill was amended so that it does not apply to people with developmental disabilities who are living in ICF/MRs. If signed by the governor, the bill will become effective only if New Mexico is selected to participate in the new federal MFP program that will provide enhanced federal funding.
b) Mental Health Treatment Decisions Act - Will allow and encourage mental health consumers to make advance directives for mental health care, like those that are authorized under existing law for physical health care. In such a directive, the individual can name a representative to act for him or her when s/he is unable to make decisions and can specify which treatments the person does or does not want to receive in that event.
c) Forced mental health treatment (often called "Kendra's Law") - A bill that would have authorized forced outpatient mental health treatment fortunately did NOT pass. The House of Representatives approved it under pressure from the Richardson Administration and Sen. Pete Domenici, but the bill died in the Senate when it was not called up for a vote before the session ended. The proposal was troubling and very divisive in the mental health community, and the committee hearings on the bill were lengthy and included emotional testimony from both supporters and opponents. Although leading members of his administration (including Human Services Secretary Pam Hyde, Health Secretary Michelle Lujan Grisham, and behavioral health czarina Leslie Tremaine) had publicly opposed this approach only weeks before the legislative session began, Governor Richardson chose to support the measure and Secretary Grisham was its most vocal supporter, pushing hard for its passage and brushing aside the concerns she herself had expressed only a few weeks earlier.

Stay tuned for more information as the governor wields his pen for signatures and vetoes.

Ellen Pinnes
for The Disability Coalition
PO Box 8251
Santa Fe, NM 87504-8251
Telephone/fax: 505-983-9637
Cell phone: 505-795-6487

GOVERNOR RICHARDSON SIGNED SB444, SENATOR PHIL GRIEGO, BON FEBRUARY 17, 2006.
THE BILL SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASES PARKING FINES.
PLEASE NOTE THIS TO YOUR LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS.

See SB444 on Parking