Conference outlines budget, legal issues on disabilities(1)

By Alfredo Santana

The issues of declining state funding for programs for people with disabilities, how to move forward possible legislative issues starting at legislators’ local offices, and the need to better portray people with disabilities in electronic media were some of the highlights at the 2010 conference called RespectABILITY.

The daylong series of workshops and information conferences at the Marriot hotel convention center in Burbank, on Friday, Oct. 22, drew at least 350 participants and advocates interested on legislative action, housing issues, and legal representation for the elderly and communities with disabilities.

Paula Pearlman, executive director at Disability Rights Legal Center, said at the event’s opening speech that the topics dealt with at the conference “are not about disability rights only. They are about disability rights for all of us with disabilities who look for equal opportunities at work.”

Liz Pazdral, executive director of the California State Independent Living Council, said her organization is working on a 10-point program with goals to improve living standards and working opportunities for these communities.

Among her efforts are the continuous improvement of accessible housing in the state, housing with access to health care providers, the implementation of legal frameworks that ensure the reduction of discrimination practices against people with disabilities, and the creation of special task forces to implement these laws.

She mentioned the case of Smith v. LAUSD, as good legal guidance on how students with special needs are entitled to have professionals who assist them in K-12 schools. She said schools facilities must be accessible in their structure, and allow in-classroom accommodations for those with disabilities.

For his part, Scott Graves, senior policy analyst at the California Budget Project, said that for the last 15 years, state budgetary sessions have been troublesome, and the current budget “stinks.” He mentioned several main factors for the budget shortfalls that began in the late 1990s.

California has a revenue problem, not a spending problem, as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has repeatedly said. “The tax revenue system is not bringing enough revenue” to support all state’s social programs, thus programs that benefit the elderly and disabled are greatly affected.

“Elected officials have cut taxes the last five years. They cost at least $10 billion a year,” Graves said.

Secondly, starting in 2007 real estate and wages income revenue began a dramatic decrease. He said the bulk of revenue to support social programs was there. What used to be a $100 billion yearly budget, now is $86.5 billion. Thirdly, the fact that it takes a 2/3 legislative majority to approve a budget is working against state programs, a unique situation in California, since most states legislatures can approve a budget with a simple majority vote. This makes hard to eradicate tax cuts forwarded by Republicans, thus making it harder achieve any budget, unless it’s shaped up to fit the wills of GOP officials.

“Republicans have only 30% of the state’s seats,” Graves said. “We know that Republicans have very different public policies than Democrats. They look to cut programs to health services education, etc.” Graves added the promised $4 billion federal aid package to help plug the projected $19 billion shortfall in this year’s approved $86.5 billion may not arrive at all.

Mike Herald, an attorney with the Western Center on Law and Poverty, said the last three have been the most difficult years for social programs in Sacramento. This year’s budget negotiations, he said, kicked off with a goal to avoiding a repeat of the 2009 fiscal fiasco that stretched until mid November.

Herald insisted that the state has a revenue problem, and that tax cuts only make the hole in the budget deeper.

“We need more senators in Sacramento to stand up and fight for these causes. We went to the Democrats [and complained] first, because they caved in to the governor’s budget cuts,” Herald said.

It was great to see, however, people with disabilities, with their wheelchairs and scooters as the first group to erect gurneys, and block streets around the Capitol and the governor’s Mansion, in protest for the draconian cutbacks on social services, Herald said.

“I and 11th streets were blocked with wheelchairs and other devices. It was the first community that protested the cuts. The police completely mismanaged it, and didn’t know how to handle the protest,” Herald said.

In the end, several police members said that it was okay to protest, “because in the end, they were getting cut too. In fact they said they should join them,” Herald said.