Dec 1 2010
Access to Independence recently announced its role in helping to pass H.R. 5610, a bill designed to preserve balanced funding for California's 29 Centers for Independent Living (CIL) — nonresidential, private, nonprofit agencies that provide services for people with disabilities to enable them to live independently.
“The passing of H.R. 5610 has stabilized Centers for Independence Living on a national level and ensures that equitable funding will be available for the 391 centers throughout the U.S. including the 29 in California”
Access to Independence's Executive Director Louis Frick was one of a four member delegation that traveled to Washington, D.C., to address and resolve a technical adjustment in the new funding formula created by the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) that threatened to destabilize the network of 391 CILs in several states including California.
The disparity was the result of the disbursement of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) funds. Regular annual funding — provided by The Rehabilitation Act — for CILs is determined using a population-based formula and the previous year's allocations. However in fiscal year 2009, CILs received $87.5 million in ARRA funds, which 31 states elected to distribute based on an alternate formula. While ARRA funds provided a one-time boost to many CILs in 2009, the long-term effects would have created an imbalance and would have jeopardized future funding for many states, California in particular. With H.R. 5610 in place, states may apply for a waiver to disregard ARRA funds received in 2009, relieving the disparity that would have resulted if the ARRA funds were included in benchmark data.
"The passing of H.R. 5610 has stabilized Centers for Independence Living on a national level and ensures that equitable funding will be available for the 391 centers throughout the U.S. including the 29 in California," said Louis Frick. "This is a milestone achievement as it protects the long-term outlook for organizations like Access to Independence to provide vital services to people living with disabilities in our community."
H.R. 5610 was introduced by Congressman George Miller (CA -07), passed in the Senate on July 27 and signed into law by President Obama on July 29 of this year. Additional members of the delegation represented Marin CIL, Salinas CIL and California Foundation for Independent Living Centers.