AUGUSTA, Maine — Families and caregivers of people with autism and intellectual disabilities urged lawmakers Wednesday to reject a bill that would give the Department of Health and Human Services’ authority to change rules affecting their care and funding without public legislative hearings.
“We have feelings. We are people and individuals,” Anna McDougal, a Wiscasset woman with intellectual disabilities, said to the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee. “Right now, families and individuals have the right to advocate and to have a voice at public hearings. Don’t take that away. Transparency is vital to ensuring the best outcomes for individuals, their families and our community. Secrecy breeds abuse.”
LD 1236, sponsored by Republican Sen. Eric Brakey of Auburn, would allow DHHS to make changes to support services for people with intellectual disabilities or autism under a process known as routine technical rulemaking. Currently, the department is required to use major substantive rulemaking, which must include a public hearing with a legislative committee and approval by the full Legislature.
Brakey said late Wednesday afternoon he doesn’t support the bill, even though he is its primary sponsor.
“I oppose the bill as it currently stands,” Brakey said in a written statement. “I believe that these decisions should be in the hands of the Legislature. … I have sponsored several bills at the request of DHHS so that we can have a vehicle to debate the proposals. As a committee chairman, this is a traditional courtesy for the department, and it does not stop me from opposing this bill.”
Samuel Senft, the state’s director of MaineCare policy, said the proposed change is necessary to ease the logistical burden on DHHS in trying to alter multiple related rules — with different statutory hearing processes — at the same time. He said the public would retain the opportunity to provide input on rule changes directly to the department.
“Processing these rules separately is an administrative and financial burden on the department,” Senft said. “Relief from separate rulemakings will be administratively efficient and reduce noticing and printing costs. Providers would have a better opportunity to offer comments that will affect the rule.”
Brakey’s bill comes amid a change in the way the department calculates how much support a person is entitled to, based on his or her disability. Several people who testified Wednesday said they feared major funding cuts could be implemented without the opportunity for feedback or the backstop of elected officials weighing in.
Deborah Dionne of Georgetown has a daughter with intellectual disabilities, including the inability to communicate verbally.
“Without this public input, I believe there will be serious ramifications for my daughter and others like her,” Dionne said. “This would be due to possible cuts to the rates for those services she so desperately needs and currently receives in all parts of her life. If (reimbursement rates for service providers) change, Kate will get far less support and I believe her safety will become severely compromised.”
