Update on Fridays White House Meeting and DOL Extends the

DOL EXTENDS THE COMMENT PERIOD DEADLINE!
The Department of Labor has extended the comment period for the proposed
changes to the Companionship exemption to March 21, 2012!  If you have not
commented already, please submit comments on the proposed rules.  It is
particularly important that they hear how this proposed rule affects people
with disabilities who rely on long term services and supports and consumer
directed services.  This includes both folks who use Medicaid-funded long term
services and supports and those who privately pay for these services.

To submit comments, you can go to http://ly.adapt.org/dol


UPDATE ON THE MEETING WITH THE WHITE HOUSE
On Friday (March 9th) representatives from the disability community met with
folks from the White House and the Department of Labor.  The meeting was
facilitated by Kareem Dale, Special Assistant to the President for Disability
Policy and Portia Wu, Senior Policy Advisor, White House Domestic Policy
Council.

The folks who attended on behalf of the disability community (either in person
or by phone) appreciated the opportunity to express our concerns directly to
the administration about the unintended consequences of this proposed rule.
Kareem and Portia acknowledged our frustration that the Department of Labor
had not adequately engaged our community prior to releasing the rules, but
explained the Department of Labor was already in the middle of the rule-making
process and the opportunity for back and forth conversations were limited.

The Department of Labor staff basically described the current and proposed
rule, highlighting that they were paying close attention to Congress's intent
for these rules back in the mid-1970s.  After DOL gave their background,
Kareem opened the meeting up for advocates to express their thoughts.

Cathy Cranston (ADAPT of Texas) started by pointing out that attendants and
the people with disabilities they assist are tied together and we need to move
our issues together, rather than have the interests of one group override the
needs of another.  She explained some of the other concerns that ADAPT has
been raising and ended with an observation that Texas (like many states) was
facing a huge Medicaid shortfall and that it would be very unlikely that
Medicaid rates would be increased to cover the cost of time-and-a-half so
attendants wouldn't actually see increases in their paychecks from this
change; in fact those that work over 40 hours a week would see a reduction in
their earnings or need to work more hours to get the same pay.  Other
disability groups, including the National Council on Independent Living,
United Spinal Association, and Easter Seals, shared their concerns as well.

There was some discussion about who could use the exemption and that it would
still be available to individuals.  Disability groups expressed concerns that
people with disabilities need to use fiscal intermediaries to bill Medicaid
and do payroll so they would still be impacted by the rules.  DOL said that
FIs wouldn't be considered the employers, although it was noted that this
needed to be clarified.  DOL staff also explained that they were interpreting
the original Congressional intent to mean that the exemption should be
narrowed.  Under the proposed rules, only attendants providing assistance to
people who needed periodic or incidental assistance with toileting or bathing
would be exempt.  Essentially, that would mean even where families or
individuals could claim the exemption, it would not be available for people
with disabilities who need regular personal assistance with activities of
daily living.  This doesn't just affect Medicaid recipients; this change could
make long term services and supports unaffordable to people who are privately
paying for that assistance!

DREDF (Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund) made an excellent point
that a lot has changed since the mid-1970s and that an entire infrastructure
for long term services and supports has been built on the assumption of this
exemption.  But it was clear that the DOL staff were not able (or willing) to
look at the bigger picture.  We reinforced that this was exactly the reason we
needed to bring all of the parties together.  DOL and worker advocates clearly
didn't have the expertise about the impact of these changes on the disability
community.  Similarly, the disability community representatives didn't feel
that they had a sufficient understanding of the labor rules to make specific
recommendations.  We suggested that DOL might use a negotiated rulemaking
process to create an opportunity to bring the needed expertise to one table,
but the administration's representatives seemed unfamiliar with that process
and couldn't comment on that approach.

Although we were just able to scratch the surface of these complex issues in
our meeting, we were able to raise these issues directly with the White House.
Kareem reminded everyone that this meeting didn't substitute for submitting
comments on the proposed rules.

The Department of Labor is in the process of developing regulations for a
system that it clearly doesn't understand.  They need to hear from us DIRECTLY
about how these rules impact our community.  If you have not commented
already, please submit comments on the proposed rules.  To submit comments, go
to http://ly.adapt.org/dol

NATIONAL ADAPT MAILING LIST - Adapt Community Choice Act List http://www.adapt.org