The 2019 Montana Legislature has been nothing short of a roller-coaster ride for disability advocates. It has been frustrating at times with many worthwhile and important bills going down in flames and it has been exciting at times with some good bills getting passed or still making their way through the legislative process. Many of the deals made during this legislative session were behind closed doors and lacked transparency and meaningful input by advocates.Summit and Montana’s Centers for Independent Living would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has helped advocate on behalf of Montanans with disabilities. This far into the legislative session we have been able to mobilize 480 disability advocates who have sent 6345 emails to legislators in support of legislation to improve the lives of people with disabilities. If you are looking for ways to get involved, the Montana Centers for Independent Living Action Alert listserv is always accepting new advocates. To join the MTCIL Action Alert listserv and receive action alerts in your email inbox, please visit our website at https://www.summitilc.organd click the blue “Become an Advocate” button about halfway down on the front page. Even though the 2019 legislative session will be coming to a close here in the near future, we still have much work left to do. The following is an update on several key pieces of legislation important to people with disabilities:HB 2: This is the budget bill. Contained within the human services portion of this bill remains a nearly $15 million reduction to the Big Sky Waiver program and a nearly $8 million reduction to Medicaid core services that were originally proposed by Gov. Bullock. We do not know how these reductions will affect community services in the next biennium but we will keep a close eye on them and advocate that no services be reduced. On the brighter side, the legislature has added $1 million to fund 100 waiver slots in the Big Sky Waiver program, $800,000 for the Extended Employment program, and passed small provider rate increases of .91% for FY 2020 and 1.83% for FY 2021 for nearly all providers providing Medicaid services, Vocational Rehabilitation, Independent Living, along with other funding increases.HJ 3: This bill, which was a resolution to call for an interim study on voting accessibility for disabled electors, passed both chambers of the legislature and has been filed with the Secretary of State.HB 16: This bill would allow the Montana Board of Housing to administer $15 million from the coal tax trust fund for the purpose of providing loans to increase the
development and preservation of affordable housing throughout Montana. HB 16 has passed both chambers of the legislature but has been referred back to the House with Senate amendments.HB 88, HB 288, and HB 207: These three bills all relate to the Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) program. HB 88 and HB 207 passed both chambers of the legislature and have each been signed by the Governor while HB 288 seems to be headed for approval as well. Each of these bills enhances Montana’s ABLE program in various ways such as opening the program up for individuals from out of state, allowing state tax refunds to be direct deposited in ABLE accounts, adding an individual with a disability to the ABLE advisory committee, and expanding who may be able to claim a tax credit for contributing to an ABLE account.HB 529: This bill will require the Department of Public Health and Human Services to establish Medicaid Waiver waiting list policies and procedures in administrative rule so that they are subject to the public administrative rule process any time the state may want to change them. This bill has passed both chambers of the legislature and is headed to the Governor’s desk for signature.SB 291: This bill changes some language in Montana’s election laws in order to pave the way for the Secretary of State’s office to be able to upgrade existing AutoMark voting machines with newer technology. SB 291 is on its way to passing the legislature and becoming law.While the bills listed above have or are on their way to passing, the following bills, unfortunately, have decidedly met a much different fate.HB 470: This bill would have updated Montana’s accessible parking laws by bringing the definition of what constitutes an accessible parking space up to date in order for law enforcement officials to better be able to enforce against people who park illegally in accessible parking spaces. Unfortunately, this bill was tabled after its first hearing in the House Judiciary Committee.HB 468: This bill would have required certain state agencies to work together in developing a plan for moving employees with disabilities from subminimum wage employment into integrated employment programs. This bill was tabled in the House Business and Labor Committee.HB 424: This bill would have allowed habilitative services to be covered under regular Medicaid plans. This bill was tabled in the House Human Services Committee.HB 659: This bill would have established penalties for individuals who harm, or whose animals harm or cause the death of a service animal. This bill was tabled in the House Judiciary Committee.Some decent legislation has passed during this legislative session and we should indeed celebrate what we have been able to accomplish. It is unfortunate that some of our key pieces of legislation, namely HB 470 and HB 659, did not really receive the recognition or consideration they both deserved.Despite this up-and-down session, work towards getting these and other key pieces of legislation passed during the 2021 Legislative Session begins now. We will need all hands on deck over the next two years to ensure that the disability voice is heard, not only by making sure people with disabilities vote during the 2020 election but by also ensuring that candidates and lawmakers continually receive information on issues that affect and are important to Montanans with disabilities.We hope you will join us on this journey so that we can all keep making a difference!
