Action DD summer meeting set for June 29th at the Yakima Valley School
May 1, 2013
Olympia – Action DD will recap last year's events and look to the coming year.  Annual elections will be held.
Click here for details.

New Assistant Secretary for Developmental Disabilities Administration.
May 1, 2013
Olympia – Secretary Kevin Quigley announced today that he has appointed Evelyn Perez to serve as Assistant Secretary for the Developmental Disabilities Administration. Evelyn has served as Regional Administrator for the Developmental Disabilities Administration in DSHS Region 1 based in Spokane for more than five years. She has worked in the field of developmental disabilities since 1984 and for the Division of Developmental Disabilities since 1986. She once worked at Lakeland Village in Medical Lake.

Only two of the bills Action DD is watching made it to the Governor's  desk
April 29, 2013
Action DD
Olympia — Of the 16 bills Action DD is following, only 2 cleared the legislature: Substitute Senate Bill 5630 implementing recommendations of the adult family home quality assurance panel, and Senate Bill 5692 concerning standby guardians and limited guardians.  Both await the governor's signature. 
      All of the DD task force bills failed as well as those put forward by Action DD.  Some of these bills may be picked back up in the 2014 legislature. 
      Continuum of care services were left as is with the Yakima Valley School still on track for closure.  Much needed services for people on Washington's 15 thousand person waiting list will have to continue waiting. 
      A special session begins May 13 to approve a state budget.  Some program increases are expected for the Basic Plus home and community-based waivers, as well as for the Individual and Family Support Program.
      A list of the bills are on the Bills Page of this website.

Bill preserving New Jersey's state institutions for disabled passes Assembly
April 29, 2013
By Susan K. Livio/The Star-Ledger
Trenton – State institutions for people with developmental disabilities would be preserved in four regions of the state under a bill the state Assembly approved today.       ...Read more.
 

Attempt fails to revive bill to downsize, close developmentally disabled center
March 21, 2013
AP
HELENA Montana — The state Senate has rejected an attempt to revive legislation to downsize or even close a state-run center for the developmentally disabled.
      Senate Bill 254 dealing with the Montana Developmental Center had been tabled in committee but Democratic Sen. Mary Caferro of Helena attempted to bypass the committee and move it to the Senate floor. The Senate rejected it Thursday 26-23.
      Bill supporters say center staffers have shown a "pattern of abuse" underlined in 2010 when a staffer pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a center resident. They say the center is a remnant of a time past and its residents should be integrated into community centers.
      Opponents of the bill say the center serves people with serious behavior problems. They question the capability of smaller facilities to adequately serve them.

DSHS: With more need in Valley, local staff larger than other areas
April 28, 2013
By Mike Faulk Yakima Herald-Republic
Yakima – The Department of Social and Health Services is one of the largest employers in Yakima County and by far the biggest state employer in the area with 919 employees.
      The Aging and Disability Services Administration includes the Yakima Valley School, a residential nursing facility for people with developmental disabilities that has been operating in Selah since 1958.
       ...Read more.

Pilot Shoreline police program seeks to head off troubling encounters with mentally ill
April 20, 2013
By Jennifer Sullivan Seattle Times
Seattle – The King County Sheriff’s Office, which patrols Shoreline, has launched a new program in the city designed to connect deputies with the mentally ill and developmentally disabled in an attempt to avoid confrontations with police.
       ...Read more.