Members,

Please take the time to fully read this message.

We want to thank you for all your continued support during the budget process this year! My fellow OPRA staff and I are so thankful for how you all of you have stepped up in unprecedented ways to take part in OPRA’s advocacy efforts. With all of the excitement here at the office over the past few months, we would not have been able to do pull off our budget work without your endless contributions!

A few notes:

• We are more or less halfway through the budget process.
• The proposed budget has moved in to the Ohio Senate. The various Senate Committees will be hearing public testimony next week. Testimony in the Senate Committees relevant to our system will be heard on May 14^th and the 16^th.

• Most of the budget initiatives proposed by Director Davis, DODD, and the larger stakeholder group remained intact through the House of Representatives.
• In total, the Ohio House of Representatives have appropriated nearly $150 MILLION in NEW funds to services for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. This is a historic investment! A large portion of this increase is intended to go to the rate increase for DSPs providing homemaker/personal care to increase the average hourly wage.
• DODD initially proposed to increase the HPC rate so that the average DSP hourly wage for a DSP providing H/PC would go from $11.23 to an average $12.38.
• The House of Representatives allocated additional funds to further raise the average DSP hourly wage for a DSP providing H/PC to $13.00.  
• Maintaining the funds through the House is an incredibly important victory, but there is still significant advocacy work that needs to be done. As the budget moves into the next few phases, our main task is to hold on to this funding through the Senate. We are extremely thankful for the House’s investment in our services as there are many other systems who did not receive near the amount of appropriations ours did.
• Now is the time to contact your Senators to encourage them to maintain the budget. Learn how below.

o We know the H/PC increase doesn’t help many our members who only provide day and employment services and doesn’t give raises to your DSPs who are working in your various day programs. As your OPRA staff, we remain dedicated to working through the many issues we know exist in the various day array services and WILL continue to advocate on your behalf to remedy these. We have commitment from Director Davis to work with us outside of the budget process to get our day array providers some much needed relief. We have set up a Members-only call with Director Davis on Monday so you can hear directly from him his commitment to this part of our field. Information on this was sent out through our Constant Contact lists.

Ways to advocate in the Senate:

• Provide written testimony to the Senate Health, Human Services and Medicaid Committee.
• If you would like to provide written testimony, please send the testimony to Christine Touvelle (ctouvelle@opra.org) no later than close of business on May 15^th. Any written testimony should be on agency letterhead.
• Email the Senators of the district you provide services in an the district of your central office.
• Consider getting the individuals you support, their families, and your staff involved.

What should you say?

• The main talking point is to encourage the Senate to maintain and support the Department of Developmental Disabilities budget as passed by the House.

· Remember to thank the legislature for their commitment to individuals with disabilities, your staff who support them, and the system as a whole.

• I have attached a draft template language you can use as written testimony for the Committee and one for emailing your Senators. The drafts encourages Senators to maintain the historic investment in H/PC service.
• There are two different email templates- one from the perspective of agency administrators and one from the perspective of a DSP.

You can find out what Senator represents your district here.

If you want to email your Senator, the email is the Senator’s last name @ohiosenate.gov (ex: touvelle@ohiosenate.gov)

Please let me know if you have any questions!

Christine

Christine Touvelle

Policy Analyst

O- 614-224-6772

1152 Goodale Blvd.

Columbus, Ohio 43212