The FY25 State Budget was released the evening of Thursday, July 18. The Arc is grateful to the Governor and the entire Legislature for investments in the workforce and services, programs, and supports for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and autism and their families.
We are equally grateful to our community for their many months of strong advocacy! This budget will help bring human services workers to a median average of $20 per hour. We still need a higher rate of pay, but this investment is an important foundation.
All of our budget “asks” were successful:
✅We have a historic increase in human services workforce rates.
✅Increases in DDS line items for programs and services.
✅The legislature turned around PCA cuts.
✅ Language to allow transferability within DDS line items
✅ Language to study rates of pay and the parity between community providers and state operated providers
✅We have earmark funding for important programs and provider training.
This is great news for our community, but we are still in crisis times, with thousands waiting for services. There is an urgent need to continue this momentum. More analysis and details around the budget will be coming soon.
