Frazier addresses state budget impact on IDD community
SACRAMENTO – Assemblymember Jim Frazier (D-Discovery Bay), chair of the Select Committee on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, said today he is grateful for a few small gains for the IDD community in the state budget the Legislature adopted today. These include a rate increase for some service providers – $125 million in this year’s budget and $150 million in next year’s – access to state minimum wage adjustments and restoration of a service exclusion (uniform holiday schedule) adopted during the 2009 recession.
However, Frazier said he is disappointed that the IDD community is still being left behind in budgets that each year increase spending in other parts of the social safety net. He expressed his frustration in an address to his colleagues in the Assembly during today’s Floor vote to adopt the budget:
“While this Budget puts funding into programs that serve Californians with intellectual and developmental disabilities, we all have to acknowledge that we aren’t doing enough and will need to do more, maybe even this year.