As many of you know, the 2012 Legislative Session begins Tuesday, January 24. During the past couple of months, ARRM has been working hard to prepare our reform bill, with an ambitious plan to get it passed in what is rumored to be a shorter than usual session.
Since late 2011, ARRM members and staff have been meeting with various stakeholders -- including legislators, advocates and DHS staff -- to share ARRM's Blueprint for Reform. Overall, the response has been positive. Each stakeholder group has provided us with their insight and feedback, which ARRM takes into account as we refine our bill. And as our bill moves through the legislative process, we’ll keep ARRM members up-to-date in a variety of ways.
Website
We have devoted a section of ARRM's website, arrm.org/reform, entirely to ARRM's reform plan. It includes the most recent version of the bill, a section-by-section bill summary, helpful documents to help you explain the bill to your legislators and staff, and a list of ARRM members who can answer your questions about the Blueprint for Reform.
Social media: Twitter, ARRM's Blog and Facebook
During session, ARRM staff are at the Capitol every day. We’ve learned that one of the fastest ways to get information to our members is using Twitter. In fact, members of the media and legislators follow our Twitter feed to get ARRM’s analysis of legislative developments. So if you are familiar with -- or curious about -- this micro-blogging medium, be sure to follow ARRM on Twitter. Also, we update our Facebook page several times a week.
And of course, we’ll be blogging about legislative events as they happen, so be sure to subscribe to this blog, the Daily Dispatch, if you haven't done so already.
Other advocacy news
On February 1, ARRM is scheduled to testify before the House Health and Human Services Finance Committee about the unintended consequences of provisions passed during the 2011 Special Session. Namely, we’ll be testifying about bed delicensing and the 10 percent congregate rate cut.
We urge members who have representatives on the House Health and Human Services Finance Committee to contact your legislators and let them know about the negative impacts of bed delicensing and the 10 percent rate cut. Our main message will be to repeal these provisions and adopt ARRM’s Blueprint for Reform legislation, which takes a better approach to finding savings and facilitating transition to other community services.
Finally, our grassroots messages for CEOs and management focus on reform this year. We encourage DSPs, families, and self-advocates to attend ARRM’s Day at the Capitol on March 1, talk about the impact of past cuts, and if they can, discuss our reform plan.
--Barb Brynstad and Barb Turner