On July 7, we saw some hard-fought gains reduced as the legislature had to address declining revenues for the Commonwealth. We lost $23 million in funding in the Department of Developmental Services (DDS) relative to the Governor's proposed budget and the House and Senate budget bills.
Unfortunately, Governor Baker added to the reductions on July 17 by vetoing nearly $7 million in community residential services and hundreds of thousands in other line items. This means we have our work cut out for us. We are hopeful veto overrides will take place in all the DDS budget reductions over the summer.
We look forward to advocating for veto overrides this summer as well as restoration of other funding later in the fall. But we need your stories to be effective and eventually we will need your participation. If you or someone you know is in need of ANY services at DDS and/or MassHealth services (AFC or other), PLEASE share your stories. We have a form on the Supporting Families page located here.
Please don't wait. We have lots of education to do - not only policymakers but everyday voters! Thank you.
|