Tuesday, November 11, 2008

The Governor's New Proposal

Well, that was fast. The three-month late annual budget lasted six troubled weeks and now the legislature is back in session, ordered by the Governor to redo the math. In the governor's proposal is a 3% payment reduction to regional center vendors and a 3% cut to regional center operations. Vendors and regional centers would be hurt a little. Also on the table are cuts to SSI/SSP, IHSS and MediCal. People with disabilities could be hurt a lot.

What ought to also be considered is how to make some of the cuts less damaging. For vendors and regional centers, that means relaxing some compliance costs. While the transition to genuine and efficient outcomes-based accountability will remain beyond the scope of the special session (and the grasp of the legislators,) authority could be given to DDS to reconsider some of its regulations on a cost-benefit basis. As of right now, regional centers and vendors have the power to reduce some of our more paper-centered activities. While accountability of some form is absolutely critical, there is a conflict between cost and agility on the one hand and compliance on the other. I suspect if we looked more analytically and honestly, we'd find we err far on the latter side. Of course, if we were more analytical and honest, we'd all be bankers.