On June 29, 2009 Gov. Doyle signed into law AB-75, which was the next two-year state budget bill.  This bill became Act 28.  The legislature passed the budget at the end of last week and sent it to Gov. Doyle.  He reviewed the bill over the weekend and signed the bill on Monday.

The bill has many items of interest to the disability community.  The highlights include:

• Maintains eligibility standards and benefits for Medicaid, BadgerCare Plus, and SeniorCare;
•  Provides insurance coverage for children with autism;
• Restructures Southern Wisconsin Center and encourages 70 residents to voluntarily return to the community within two years;
• Provides funds to increase the number of long-term support waiver slots for children with disabilities by 1000 over four years;
• Increases funding for elderly and disabled transportation by $1 million;
• Continues to expand Family Care statewide, but over three years instead of two;
• Creates a Transportation Manager (an agency) in non-Family Care counties;
• Creates a Resource Center to treat female inmates with mental illness;
• Creates the WI Quality Home Care Authority for home care workers hired by consumers;
• Maintains the ratio for the Family Care Ombudsman program of 1 advocate for every 2500 consumers and makes it available to IRIS participants;
• Maintains funding to the Lifespan Respite Care Program.
• Creates property tax exemptions for low-income housing providers;
• Reduces state funding to Independent Living Centers by 56% or over $500,000, but restores their base funding level in the next budget;
• Fails to increase the wages and benefits for direct care workers

For more information about the budget see DAWN's Issue Summary of the 2009-2011 State Biennial Budget.