Eureka: Progress at the Arizona State House to Help Disabled Children

After weeks of partisan divisiveness, Democrats and Republicans in the Arizona State House banded together to pass, in a large bipartisan 48 to 11 vote, HB2945: supplemental funding for the Division of Developmental Disabilities.

This vote will, as Appropriations Chairperson David Livingston said, “Help save lives.”

The final House Bill included compromises that both sides favored.

Governor Katie Hobbs and the Democrats were able to secure the funding for the supplemental request through the prescription drug rebate program.

Republicans were able to get “guardrails” that they favored in moving the DDD program forward.

In commenting before the vote, Assistant Democratic House Leader and Ranking Appropriations Member Nancy Gutierrez stated:

“This is a bipartisan plan, and it will protect, care and life-saving services for our most vulnerable Arizonans with disabilities. And it does it without harmful effects to other folks or taking away from homelessness or affordable housing. It’s not perfect, but it is a great compromise from both sides. I greatly appreciate everyone who worked with us to get this done and we urge the Senate to pass this as soon as possible, so that the stress on these families will end as quickly as possible.”

HB2945 now moves on to the State Senate whose members will probably vote on this tomorrow.

Senate Democratic Leader Priya Sundareshan issued a comment to Blog for Arizona, writing:

“Today, while Senate Republicans refused to allow a clean bill to provide the supplemental funding needed for the DDD program, the bipartisan bill that passed out of the House shows that Democrats are willing to sit at the table in order to provide the families with the support they direly need. We urge the Senate Republicans to move this language immediately to the Senate floor so that this DDD funding crisis can be averted.”

If successful in in the Senate, it will move to Governor Katie Hobbs desk for her signature.

After the House passage, the Governor issued a press release that read:

“After months of confusion and uncertainty for countless families, tonight we took an important first step towards delivering critical funding to continue vital services for Arizonans with Down syndrome, autism, cerebral palsy, and other developmental disabilities. I am grateful to see House members on both sides of the aisle come together to advance common sense proposals. This deal ensures critical services for disabled Arizonans will continue, delivers reasonable guardrails for the Parents as Paid Caregivers program, and protects funding to respond to Arizonans’ housing needs. It’s time for the Senate to get this negotiated bill on my desk to protect services for these families.”