A Senate panel wants to grant services to more than 2,000 people with disabilities in the next year, some of whom have waited years for help from the state.
The bold recommendations, if adopted by the state Legislature, could clear a waitlist of more than 7,000 people, by funding services for more than 2,000 people each of the next three years. One estimate pegs the yearly cost at about $66 million, but it could be higher depending on the services people need.
The Senate study committee on people with intellectual and developmental disabilities delivered a nearly 30-page report on Wednesday, after months of hearings uncovered how the state’s system for serving people with disabilities is in crisis. Testimony from industry experts revealed that homes that care for Georgians with intellectual and developmental disabilities are closing down, and the agencies that do exist can’t retain staff members.
“We don’t consider our work done today,” Sen. Sally Harrell, a Democrat, said at the hearing. “This is the kickoff of a process to solve these issues, which are deep and complex.”
The bipartisan study committee made a number of recommendations, including creating a commission to further examine the problems that are plaguing the community, and to prioritize matching more Georgians with disabilities to jobs. The chief recommendation is for the state Legislature to fund disability services for 2,400 more people in next year’s budget. This would clear out about a third of the 7,100-person waitlist, and could cost tens of millions of dollars.
Disability advocates, who have long fought for clearing this backlog, were heartened by the proposal. It would be a dramatic increase from the current fiscal year: In July, the state added 513 new waivers to support 513 people with services. One waiver enables one person with disabilities to receive services.
“This is tremendous, I can’t tell you how thrilled I am and how excited members of my community are,” said Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities Executive Director D’Arcy Robb. “I am confident we are going to get a significant waiver investment this year, these issues have been boiling and bubbling over for a long time.”
But money for waivers alone won’t solve the problem, according to those same advocates and parents of children with disabilities. Changes in the job market have led to a severe shortage of caregivers, who are exiting the profession for better wages in the retail and fast-food sectors. This means that even people who have waivers right now aren’t able to access services.
For the first time since 2015, the state of Georgia is conducting a rate study to examine the wages of these workers, otherwise known as direct support professionals. They now make as little as $10.63 an hour in Georgia, and it’s not uncommon for DSPs to have multiple jobs. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution spoke to some caregivers who said they work as much as 100 hours a week in order to pay their bills.
A draft of the rate study shows that workers should be paid a recommended floor of $15.18 an hour, but both lawmakers and advocates expressed concern that it would not be enough. The state is now seeking public comment on the study’s initial findings.
Diane Wilush, president and CEO of United Cerebral Palsy of Georgia and United Cerebral Palsy of South Carolina, said the recommendations will greatly help people with disabilities in Georgia, but that more funding for wages is absolutely critical.
“I don’t know how we absorb more people when providers are already reducing services, because we don’t have enough personnel,” she said. “If in three years we chip away at the waiting list that’s terrific, but we will have a new hidden waiting list of people [who need to find] providers. That’s what my worry is.”
Harrell, who is working closely with her Republican co-chair Sen. John Albers, said she hopes Gov. Brian Kemp will take on the issue of funding for both waivers and the increased wages.
“That’s a large appropriation that requires the support of the governors office,” Harrell said. “I would like to see the governor take this on as a priority.”
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