The 2019 Montana Legislative Session is now upon
us. A major focus of the 2019 Legislature will be the
reauthorization of the Medicaid Expansion program.
However, Montana’s Centers for Independent Living
(MTCIL) will primarily be focussed on disability
specific programs and other pieces of legislation that
are important for people with disabilities all across
Montana.
Over the past two years, services for people
with disabilities have been decimated by budget
reductions and, while some funding for some services
has been restored, disability services as a whole
remain underfunded. These underfunded programs
include the Community First Choice program, HCBS
Medicaid Waiver programs, Vocational Rehabilitation,
Independent Living, Mental Health, and others. We
will be working hard to increase funding for these
programs to ensure that individuals with disabilities
have the services they need to live successfully in the
community.
In addition to these budgetary items, MTCIL’s will also
be working on legislation to update accessible parking
language in Montana law, restore funding for a
temporary rental assistance housing bridge program,
clarify funding disbursement mechanisms for senior
and disability transportation, ensure that voters with
disabilities have full and equal access to the voting
process, and more. We will also jump in to support
or oppose other legislation that could benefit or be
detrimental for Montanans with disabilities.
Former Summit employee and current MILP advocacy
coordinator, Joel Peden, will be the full-time lobbyist
for Montana’s four Centers for Independent Living
during the 2019 legislative session. However, we will
not be able to do all of this alone. We need your help
to ensure that programs for people with disabilities are
fully and adequately funded as well as to ensure that
other legislation that would improve the lives of people
with disabilities passes and that legislation that would
harm people with disabilities fails. We need your help
to send emails and letters, make phone calls, and
to show up in Helena and testify when the time
comes. Legislation that passes or fails in Helena has
a great, direct impact on our lives and it is important
that people with disabilities and our allies show up
in great numbers and make sure that our voices are
heard.
A great way to stay up to date on legislation that may
impact the lives of Montanans with disabilities is to
join the Montana Centers for Independent Living
Action Alert System! Our action alert system will
provide you with email notifications about upcoming
hearings, updates about disability related legislation,
as well as provide you with an avenue to easily submit
written testimony through our online action alert
portal.
Registering is easy. You can register for our
action alert system directly on Summit’s website
by going to https://www.summitilc.org and
clicking on the blue “Become an Advocate”
button or by going to the Montana Centers for
Independent Living Action Alert site, which can be
found at https://cqrcengage.com/mtcil.
To learn more about the 2019 Montana Legislature,
you can also visit the Montana Legislative website
at https://leg.mt.gov. On the Legislative website you
can watch or listen to committee hearings, look up
bill information, find and contact your legislators, and
more.
By subscribing to the MTCIL Action Alert system and
looking up legislation information on the Montana
Legislative website, you will be able to stay well
informed and ready to help advocate on behalf of
Montanans with disabilities.
