Maryland budget moves forward with cuts to disability programs

Maryland’s next state budget is moving forward with significant cuts to programs for people with developmental disabilities that advocates said will be “very painful” to absorb.

The Developmental Disabilities Administration, which has seen a rapid rise in costs, was targeted for $150 million worth of cuts in Gov. Wes Moore’s $70.8 billion budget proposal. But lawmakers are adjusting how the reductions are being implemented and scaling them back to $127 million.

It’s part of a plan to close a $1.4 billion shortfall by taking money from other state accounts, freezing spending and making cuts.

“All of these solutions in here would probably be defined by just about everybody in the process as the least bad of all the choices,” Maryland Senate Budget Chair Sen. Guy Guzzone said Friday morning, as his committee signed off on the changes.

The revised budget moves next to the full Senate for approval, then the House of Delegates will take it up. Democratic leaders in both chambers have worked closely on their changes to the budget.

Advocates for people with developmental disabilities expressed mixed emotions about the version of the budget moving forward: Relief that some cuts are off the table but concern that those remaining will be difficult to live with.

“This is going to be very painful,” said Ande Kolp, executive director of The Arc Maryland.

About 20,000 Marylanders with developmental disabilities receive services through Medicaid, ranging from personal care to job training and housing support. Maryland has a waiver from the federal government that allows flexibility and keeps more Marylanders living in the community rather than institutions.

But the costs of the program have grown significantly and are difficult to predict. State officials worry that the waiver could be in jeopardy if costs rise too high.

The cutsinclude: reduced wages for individuals with disabilities who hire their own staff instead of participating in programs run by organizations; limits for how many hours family members can be hired to care for an individual; tightened rules for when individuals can receive one-on-one supports; and reduced reimbursements for service provider organizations.

The organizations already struggle to hire and retain staff while breaking even; they say even the slightest cuts in state funding will be difficult to absorb.

“That’s going to be painful,” said Laura Howell, executive director of the Maryland Association of Community Services, which represents agencies.

Senators nixed a Moore proposal that would have capped individual budgets at $500,000, which advocates said would have hit Marylanders with the most significant needs.

About 1,600 people have budgets that large, though only about half end up spending that much. The average individual budget is about $200,000.

“That is such a relief that they heard us,” Kolp said.

People with disabilities, their families and support organizations mobilized an intense lobbying effort. They held two large rallies in Annapolis, sent emails to lawmakers and delivered petitions to the governor’s office.

Guzzone said lawmakers balanced curbing costs while still providing needed services.

“I can tell you: This is one of the more challenging issues we’ve ever undertaken,” the Howard County Democrat said during Friday’s vote. “We know how important this community is and we know how difficult some of these choices were.”

The Senate Budget and Taxation Committee spent two hours making scores of tweaks to Moore’s budget proposal.

The changes included aligning the state budget with a package of energy legislation that Democratic leaders announced Friday morning.