Source Reveals NYS Surplus Plan

ALBANY—Governor Andrew Cuomo and legislative leaders have reached an agreement on how to spend $5.4 billion won from settlements with various banks, an administration official said Monday evening.

The official, speaking on background, outlined a plan that hewed closely to Cuomo's original proposal to spend the one-time windfall. The official laid out what he said was an agreement with leaders of the State Senate and Assembly, but legislative spokespeople did not immediately confirm the framework.

Opinion: Neurodiversity Proponents Object to Diverse Viewpoints

Officially, April is National Autism Awareness Month, which directly follows National Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month in March. Although awareness of autism and the burdens it can sometimes bring has probably increased substantially in the past 10 or 15 years, it is not as evident that understanding and acceptance of people affected by autism have increased to a comparable extent.

Editorial: Calif. Needs Funding Reform

California’s community of individuals with developmental disabilities is in crisis, but few outside that community are aware of it. That needs to change, and fast, before things get even worse.

Support for the state’s roughly 280,000 developmentally disabled individuals has declined to such a state that some are no longer receiving levels of service that are mandated federally, much less what a civilized society owes its most vulnerable members

Student with Down Syndrome Told He Can't Wear Sweater with Varsity Letter

In yet another example of insensitive, zero-tolerance approaches, school faculty members of Wichita East High in Wichita, Kansas reportedly compelled a special needs student athlete having both Down syndrome and autism to remove a varsity letter his mother bought for him. He was given instead a girl’s sweater to wear.

School officials stated he could not wear the varsity letter because he was not a member of the varsity team. Apparently they were forced to act upon this transgression because “one parent complained” and therefore no exception could be made for this student.

Nineteen year old Michael Kelley participates in extra-curricular basketball. His family bought him a varsity letter similar to what other students at the high school wear as a tribute to honor his athletic achievements.

North Dakota Passes ABLE Act

BISMARCK -- North Dakota’s Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act, HB 1373, has passed both chambers of the legislature and is now headed to Governor Jack Dalrymple.  Once enacted, North Dakota will become the second state to enact ABLE legislation in 2015. HB 1373, was sponsored by Reps. Mark Dosch (R-Bismarck) and Rep. Wayne Trottier (R-Northwood) in the House and and Sen. Kyle Davison (R-Fargo) in the Senate.

New Life for Georgia Autism Bill

ATLANTA 

— An autism insurance bill considered dead earlier this week got a new lease on life Thursday when two key legislators from the House and Senate announced a compromise plan they hope will pass before the session ends next week.

State Sen. Charlie Bethel, R-Dalton, and Rep. Richard Smith, R-Columbus, said in a joint news conference that they have agreed on a deal that will look a lot like a Senate measure that flew through the chamber in January.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/living/health-fitness/article16450301.html#storylink=cpy

Opinion: Brownback Hits a New Low in Kansas Medicaid Expansion

All of a sudden, Gov. Sam Brownback is consumed with compassion for the more than 5,000 disabled Kansans who are pleading for services.

This is new. Brownback didn’t give a rip about people with developmental and physical disabilities when he rammed through his massive tax cuts, which benefited wealthy Kansans and rendered the state unable to meet its most basic obligations.

And his administration turned a cold shoulder to the protests of families of people with developmental disabilities when they learned that decisions about their loved ones’ well being would be turned over to for-profit managed care companies.

But last week, Susan Mosier, Brownback’s acting secretary of the Department of Health and Environment, testified before a legislative committee. She said the administration wouldn’t consider expanding Medicaid eligibility for “able-bodied adults” until it had cleared the waiting lists of disabled persons needing mostly non-medical services such as occupational therapy, job training, group home placements and respite care for family members.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/barbara-shelly/article16399856.html#storylink=cpy