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Govt. Affairs

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Since the Pennsylvania General Assembly passed HB 33, eliminating the General Assistance program, legislative and advocacy groups are working to help Pennsylvania’s most vulnerable and impoverished populations previously receiving support from General Assistance. Senate Bill 799 has been introduced to establish the Emergency Relief Program. This program is designed to provide temporary emergency assistance of $200 per month for the most vulnerable populations with immediate and urgent needs.

The Emergency Relief Program goes to people with disabilities who cannot work, people in treatment for a substance use disorder, orphaned children cared for by neighbors or friends, people fleeing domestic violence, qualified veterans, or people caring for someone with a disability.

Additionally, Community Legal Services in Philadelphia filed suit against the Department of Human Services, challenging the constitutionality of HB 33 and the manner in which it was passed. See the document below for more information:

Contact Jim Sharp, RCPA Children’s Division Director, with questions.

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The Planning Committee for State Representative Dan Miller’s Annual Disability & Mental Health Summit is seeking session proposals for workshops geared towards people impacted by disabilities and mental health concerns. Those attending the summit consist of parents, family members, caregivers, advocates, service providers, educators, medical professionals, government officials, legal professionals, inclusive employers, and mental health professionals. Sessions are 60 minutes in length, and should include 10–15 minutes for Q&A.

Representative Miller’s Disability & Mental Health Summit provides the largest collection of resources and workshops in Western Pennsylvania. Over the past six years, this event has made a difference in the lives of thousands of people. In 2020, the summit will recognize and celebrate the 30th anniversary of the passage of the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act in a bigger venue, doubling the crowd, providing more resources, and increasing the summit’s scope across the state! You can visit this website to view last year’s program. Please feel free to share this with your peers and other organizations.

The 2020 Disability & Mental Health Summit will take place on March 6, 2020 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, PA.

Submission deadline is September 30, 2019.

Questions, please contact Jack Phillips, RCPA Director of Government Affairs.

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This September, the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs (DDAP) will be celebrating the 30th Anniversary of Recovery Month. DDAP is seeking participation in their Annual Recovery Month Kickoff, which will take place on September 4 from 11:00 am – 1:00 pm. The event will be a bit different from previous years and will be held in the atrium at Strawberry Square; a focal point of downtown Harrisburg with a lot of foot traffic from community members.

By moving the event location from the Capitol Rotunda to Strawberry Square, DDAP hopes the venue change will attract more interaction with community members. DDAP is looking for providers to participate in the September 4 event by setting up a display table with information about your organization and the services that you provide.

Please note that space is limited and participation will be granted on a first-come, first-served basis. To secure a table, please email DDAP Communications Director Rachel Kostelac. Questions, please contact Jack Phillips.

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Prior to the July 4 holiday, the House and Senate passed legislation to extend Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHC) funding from June 30 through July 14. The bill, sent to President Trump for his signature, can be seen here.

RCPA is requesting members to contact their state legislators and ask them to reach out to Governor Wolf and the Department of Human Services (DHS) Secretary Teresa Miller, to have them accept the federal extension of CCBHC funding.

The areas in Pennsylvania that have CCBHC facilities are as follows:

  • Philadelphia;
  • Delaware and Montgomery counties;
  • Berks County;
  • Allegheny County;
  • Clearfield, Clarion, and Centre counties; and
  • Bradford County.

Please contact RCPA Director of Government Affairs Jack Phillips with any questions.

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PA Senate GOP Warns Lt. Gov. Fetterman to Avoid Repeat of Last Week’s Rule-Breaking

Capitolwire.com – Under The Dome™
Wednesday, July 3, 2019 8:06 am

Maybe Senate Republicans would have “moved on” from June 26’s sad display on the Senate floor, as urged by Gov. Tom Wolf and Lt. Gov. John Fetterman on Tuesday, if not for Sen. Katie Muth, D-Montgomery, taking a victory lap, of sorts, on Monday evening during MSNBC’s “Hardball” talk show regarding her role in the June 26 state Senate blow-up … and not letting everyone “move on.” Instead, on Tuesday, the Senate GOP – all 28 of them – sent a letter to Fetterman (and provided Wolf with a copy) containing a stern warning he not repeat what even he, in a Twitter post, acknowledged was an intentional violation of the Senate’s Rules (he wrote he allowed Muth to speak “against Senate rules”).

In addition to stating in their letter that a recurrence of his “usurping legislative authority” and his “self-righteous defiance of the Rules” would immediately result in him being replaced as presiding officer, as per the Senate’s rules, the Senate GOP wrote that he should refrain from ever again mistreating the Senate’s Parliamentarian/Secretary, Megan Martin. Lost in Muth’s narrative that the GOP was trying to silence her – a woman – on June 26 is the fact that Fetterman as presiding officer of the Senate dismissed and ignored Martin – the first woman elected (unanimously) as the Senate’s parliamentarian – as she attempted on several occasions, during the chamber’s June 26 blow-up, to indicate to him his next appropriate actions, as per the Senate’s rules.

But maybe that’s a bit too nuanced for some, particularly those who act like or suggest the facts are only opinions – and simply to be ignored – when they don’t support the partisan political narrative they’re trying to advance?

Questions, please contact Jack Phillips.

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Capitolwire: Gov. Wolf signs into law bill allowing Pennsylvania to operate its own health insurance exchange, create reinsurance program.

By Alyssa Biederman
PLCA Intern

HARRISBURG (July 2) – Legislation hoping to make health insurance more accessible and less expensive for Pennsylvanians was signed into law on Tuesday by Gov. Tom Wolf.

“This bill is a huge step toward making health insurance affordable and effective for all Pennsylvanians,” said Wolf, indicating the hope is for the new law to make it so “everyone pays less.”

House Bill 3 was a bi-partisan effort to allow Pennsylvania to create its own state-run health insurance exchange, which will minimize Federal costs and allow the state to subsidize premiums.

HB3 prime sponsor and House Majority Leader Bryan Cutler, R-Lancaster, said healthcare is an issue for everyone, regardless of political party, that has to be solved.

“For too long people have been frustrated with healthcare,” Cutler, a former X-Ray technician, said. “Instead of focusing on making things better, we too often focus on what things cost.”

He added that the enactment of this bill — which will be effective for the Fall 2020 open enrollment and insurance coverage that begins Jan. 1, 2021 — will “significantly” decrease costs for Pennsylvania’s more than 400,000 private health insurance consumers that currently obtain their insurance from the federally-run exchange.

The bill will achieve this by transferring Pennsylvania’s existing health insurance exchange from federal to state control. Becoming state-run, Wolf said, will save money that will ultimately be used to decrease the amount health insurance consumers have to pay each month.

Pennsylvania has relied on the federal health insurance exchange since the implementation of 2010’s Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. According to the Wolf administration, to cover costs, the federal government charges insurers a 3.5-percent fee on premiums paid by ACA enrollees each month, a projected $98 million for Pennsylvania insurers in 2019. This user fee is expected to be cut to 3 percent beginning in 2020, which would equate to approximately $88 million dollars from Pennsylvania insurers. Eliminating the need for insurers to pay that fee will allow for a redirection of that funding to help pay for a reinsurance program, which will allow insurers to price their products lower by limiting their exposure to very high, unpredictable medical expenses incurred by their members; the reinsurance program covers some of those expenses when they exceed a certain threshold.

Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner Jessica Altman said she believes this change will incentivize more Pennsylvanians to apply for health insurance in the state.

Altman added that although the signing of the bill is a step forward, the state must continue to make health insurance more accessible.

“The passage of this legislation is analogous to registering for a marathon,” Altman said. “The race is still before us. We have a lot of training to do and roads to run before we reach the finish line.”

Cutler said he is confident that Pennsylvania’s four legislative caucuses will be able to keep passing legislation that will improve Pennsylvania’s health insurance landscape after seeing the collaboration that went into HB3. The bill passed unanimously in the House and Senate last week.

This plan was inspired by an executive order by President Donald Trump which provided states with more flexibility regarding the operation of their own health insurance exchanges.

“Regardless of how you feel about the status of things in Washington, D.C., we have a responsibility to govern here in Pennsylvania,” said Cutler. “That’s what this bill demonstrates better than anything else.”

Questions, please contact Jack Phillips.

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By Robert Swift
Staff Writer
Capitolwire

HARRISBURG (July 1) – Gov. Tom Wolf signed a law Monday making it easier for newcomers to Pennsylvania with out-of-state occupational licenses to get work more quickly in their professions.

The Governor said he hopes the law, formerly House Bill 1172, will be the first of a coming wave of changes to Pennsylvania’s occupational licensing system.

The law requires state licensing boards to issue licenses by endorsement to someone who holds the same license in another state and meets similar requirements. Act 41 takes effect in 60 days.

This license can be issued on an individual basis if the licensing requirements in another state, territory or country are determined to be substantially similar to Pennsylvania’s requirements.

The law also creates a provisional endorsement license.

Its enactment means that many licensed professionals from other states won’t have to complete Pennsylvania’s entire licensing process to be able to work here.

Military spouses will especially benefit from the law since they move often and will no longer find themselves unable to work for long periods of time while they go through a licensing process, said Wolf.

“They [spouses] can’t be forced to lose weeks, even months of employment,” he added.

Occupational licensing is a target for reform at a time when some employers face shortages of qualified workers and the state’s policymakers are focused on workforce development.

Wolf has also proposed making the licensing process more efficient, replacing 13 job licenses with less restrictive requirements and repealing the automatic 10-year ban on licensing someone convicted of a drug felony.

Lawmakers of both parties recently introduced bills to set new standards for occupational boards to use when considering licenses for applicants with criminal records.

Questions, please contact Jack Phillips.

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The 2019/20 budget season is over and the Governor has signed HB 790, the 2019/2020 General Appropriations budget, and HB 33, which eliminates the General Assistance Fund, a welfare program that provides cash grants of about $200 to Pennsylvania’s poorest residents. Despite an intense dust up amongst members of the Senate, the budget process was relatively calm.

According to summaries from the House Republican and Democrat Appropriations Committees, the 2019/20 budget highlights include:

General Budget

The General Appropriations Budget spends $33.997 billion budget for FY 2019/20.

  • That is an increase of $596 million or 1.8%;
  • There are no new taxes or fees in this budget;
  • The budget is $149 million less than Governor Wolf’s February budget proposal;
  • The budget transfers an estimated $250 million into the state’s Rainy Day Fund.*
    *The Rainy Day Fund is essentially the state’s savings account and is utilized when the economy hits a downturn and revenue collections are weak. By saving money, this budget protects taxpayers from future tax increases.

Drug and Alcohol Programs

The proposed legislation provides level funding for assistance to drug and alcohol programs, which provides grants to single county authorities across the commonwealth to develop and implement substance abuse education, prevention, and treatment programs.

Funding for general government operations would increase by $793,000 – 42.5 percent – to bolster administrative resources needed to effectively implement state and federal programs, which mirrors Gov. Wolf’s request.

Outside of the department, the proposed legislation includes $1.5 million in new funding through the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) to supply additional doses of Naloxone to first responders.

Education

Basic education funding contains a $160 million increase in basic education funding through the fair funding formula, according to the latest information available. Comparatively, Gov. Wolf’s 2019/20 budget proposal called for a $166 million increase in formula-driven funds.

Special education funding includes a $50 million, or 4.4 percent, increase for special education funding, which was the amount requested by Gov. Wolf in February.

Early intervention funding, which provides funding for developmental support services for 3- to 5-year-olds, receives a $15 million increase for 2019/20 on top of a $14 million supplemental appropriation for 2018/19.

Early childhood education funding in Gov. Wolf’s 2019/20 budget proposed a $40 million increase for Pre-K Counts and a $10 million increase in Head Start Supplemental Assistance. The budget lowers these amounts to $25 million and $5 million, respectively.

The School Safety and Security Grant Program are being funded at $60 million. $45 million is coming from General Fund revenues and $15 million is from the courts.

The Public Library Subsidy will receive a $5 million, or 9.2 percent, increase is the first real state funding boost for libraries since drastic cuts in the wake of the Great Recession. However, the $59.5 million funding level for 2019/20 remains well below the $75.8 million peak in 2007/08.

The Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) will receive $25 million in additional funding.

Health

The proposed budget legislation includes funding to the Department of Health that is largely in line with the governor’s request. It also offers several additional, targeted increases to specific programs.  The budget, at a minimum, would restore funding for all disease line-items that the governor had proposed to eliminate.

Human Services

The budget provides $12.7 billion in state General Funds to the Department of Human Services, a $97.3 million increase from the revised 2018/19 budget that counted a supplemental appropriation increase of $650.5 million.

  • The proposed 2018/19 supplemental increase includes $200 million to backfill the funding gap created in Medical Assistance-capitation when the court blocked the transfer from the Pennsylvania Professional Liability Joint Underwriting Association (JUA) The transfer was anticipated by June 30, 2019.
  • The administration has appealed the court’s decision and the proposed budget assumes the JUA transfer will occur in 2019/20. Consequently, the 2019/20 appropriation for Medical Assistance-capitation is predicated on the success of this appeal and transfer of $200 million to help pay program expenditures.

The proposed legislation would fully restore funding for hospitals and medical centers to the physician practice plan and academic medical centers appropriations in line with the prior year funding amounts.

Funding for existing long term living waiver programs continues to shift to Community HealthChoices – the statewide managed care program for seniors and individuals with physical disabilities – as the program becomes active statewide. The final phase of implementation will occur on Jan. 1, 2020, to add the remaining regional zones, including Lehigh/Capital, Northwest, and Northeast alongside the Southwest (implemented Jan. 1, 2018) and Southeast (implemented Jan. 1, 2019).

  • The budget offers $12 million, a 2 percent rate increase, for personal assistance services provided by direct care workers. The proposed increase is across long-term living appropriations including: home and community-based services, services to persons with disabilities, attendant care, and Community HealthChoices.

Intellectual Disabilities and Autism funding in the current budget supports several important initiatives directed to Pennsylvanians with intellectual disabilities and autism spectrum disorder. State funds totaling $15.003 million (with $15.309 million in federal matching funds) would provide services to an additional 865 individuals currently on the emergency waiting list that now counts 5,306 individuals. Of this total, $10.959 million would be used to place 765 people in the community living waiver while $4.044 million would be used to place 100 people on the consolidated waiver.

Mental Health Service funding will have an additional $26.3 million which includes funds to provide home and community-based services for 45 individuals currently residing in state hospitals.

Children and Youth funding in the budget reflects an increased use of federal block grants funds to significantly reduce state spending on child-care services and child-care assistance. Federal block grants will also be used to fund new initiatives for the coming fiscal year.

The waiting list for child-care services currently stands at 4,700. The proposed budget includes an additional $15 million in federal funds to remove 970 infants from the waiting list. The proposal would also utilize $9.986 million in federal funds to increase the reimbursement rates to STARS 2, 3, and 4 providers.

An additional $5 million in state funding would be spent on community-based family centers, providing access to evidence-based home visiting services to 800 more Pennsylvania families, bringing total spending to $18.558 million.

Labor and Industry

A minimum wage increase was contained in Gov. Wolf’s February budget address. The Governor’s proposal would have raised the minimum wage to $12/hour effective July 1, 2019, followed by 50 cent increases annually until 2025, when the minimum wage would reach $15/hour. House and Senate Republicans rejected the governor’s proposal to increase the minimum wage, and the final budget plan does not assume or include any change to the minimum wage.

The Office of Vocational Rehabilitation will receive a $2.3 million increase; however, the increase will likely not offset declining federal funds, creating pressure on OVR’s ability to provide services to Pennsylvanians with disabilities seeking employment during the coming fiscal year. Along with a number of cost containment strategies, OVR plans to close the “order of selection,” which creates a waiting list for services.

The Centers for Independent Living would receive a 2.0 percent increase.

Health and Human Service Code Bill

Senate Bill 695 prevents the Department from entering a contract with a broker until an analysis of non-emergency medical transportation and other human services transportation programs has been completed (See pages 3 and 4); provides for an analysis of a uniform statewide preferred drug list; and extends the Nursing Facility assessment and the Intermediate Care Facilities for Persons with an Intellectual Disability.

Questions, contact RCPA Director of Government Affairs Jack Phillips.

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