ANNAPOLIS – Advocates are urging lawmakers to reconsider proposed funding cuts, warning they would devastate essential services for people with disabilities.
But advocates fear they are being drowned out in broader budget talks as state officials focus attention on much bigger budget worries than Gov. Wes Moore’s proposed trims to the state’s Developmental Disabilities Administration.
“The developmental disabilities community feels overlooked,” said Laura Howell, CEO of the Maryland Association of Community Services, “and truly doesn’t understand how this administration could make such a devastating cut that affects so many people in this community.”
The anxiety began to climb in January. That’s when Moore proposed a budget plan aimed at closing Maryland’s $3 billion deficit, including $200 million in cuts to the DDA. These cuts would affect multiple disability programs, including those for individuals who receive care from organizations and those who manage their own caregivers through self-directed care.
But since then, discussions have shifted from those cuts to the administration’s overspending over the past two years. Advocates worry that the focus on financial mismanagement has overshadowed the devastating impact Moore’s proposed cuts would have on the disability community.
Senate President Bill Ferguson, a Democrat representing Baltimore City, recently warned that the state stands to lose millions in federal funding under President Donald Trump. If that happens, it would force state lawmakers to make much bigger budget cuts than Moore has proposed. Ferguson also stressed the need for greater clarity about the monetary concerns within the Maryland Department of Health as the state navigates these challenges.
“Through Medicaid projections and through issues with DDA and projections with DDA, we’re going to have to have some serious financial cleanup that happens,” Ferguson said. “We need to get as certain as possible with dollars coming out of the Health Department.”
The governor’s office declined to comment but directed Capital News Service to a recent column by Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller in The Capital Gazette. In that piece, she noted that DDA expenses have surged by over 70% in recent years.
Miller attributed the sharp increase to several factors, including new caregiver payment methods, challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic and rising program and administrative costs.
“Regardless of the cause, unsustainable expense growth threatens to hold us back from making continued progress in delivering top-quality care for Marylanders,” Miller wrote. “We may not have created these cost overruns at DDA – but we have a responsibility to the intellectual and developmental disabilities community to fix them.”
But advocates argue that people with disabilities should not be made to suffer for those budget miscalculations.
“We should not have to suffer for the mistakes of the Department of Health,” said Mat Rice, executive director of People on the Go Maryland. “We should not be victims of accounting errors.”
Advocates for people with disabilities are urging lawmakers to intervene on their behalf but say they haven’t gotten a sense that the administration is listening. Moore did not mention the DDA cuts in his recent State of the State address, despite their being among the most significant reductions in his budget proposal.
Now, the community is actively reaching out to lawmakers to plead their case. Hundreds gathered at Lawyer’s Mall outside the State House last week to protest the proposed cuts. Among the activists was 15-year-old Isra’El Winston, who has autism.
“I am asking for the legislators of the state of Maryland to be my heroes and to invest in my future and the lives of all individuals with disabilities,” Winston said to the crowd. “Invest in me now so I can be a hero because I am the future of Maryland.”
Rice criticized Moore for targeting disability services in the budget cuts.
“It’s not fair for Governor Moore to ask me and 3,500 other people in self-directed services, as well as provider-supported services, to take budget cuts, and we will not stand for it,” Rice said.
Sen. Craig Zucker, a Democrat representing Montgomery County, was the only lawmaker to speak at the rally. He pledged to bring the advocates’ message to the State House and push lawmakers to act.
“I’m gonna continue being an ally of yours. I’m gonna continue making sure, along with my colleagues, that your voice is heard within the State House,” Zucker said. “And to make sure that not only is the State House in front of you, but we’re gonna be walking right next to you.”
Howell echoed that statement to Capital News Service, emphasizing the need for lawmakers to prioritize disability services.
“Our leaders have to look at what is most important, and if providing the care and support that people with disabilities need isn’t a priority, that’s just wrong,” Howell said.