The Virginia legislature held four virtual hearings Wednesday to hear from the public on what they’d like to see in the budget.
The collection of hearings spanned the Commonwealth, and all took place at the same time; some meetings were still going hours after they began while others ended by noon. But throughout the two hearings I listened to, funding for mental health services and support for the elderly were top priorities.
In a hearing for Northern Virginia residents, Anthony Nunes, who runs an elder care facility called INF Care, said the legislature should increase funding for assisted living services despite increases in the last year.
“We must do more for low-income older adults as this new rate does not cover the cost of assisted living services,” Nunes said.
McLean resident Dennis Finley spoke in favor of a bill from Delegate Irene Shin to change how a deceased parent's Social Security benefits impact their child's disability threshold. It's a situation that impacted Finley's adult son with special needs first-hand.
“Disabled individuals with a waiver may now be able to have a job," Finley told elected officials. "Others who would have lost their waiver entirely won't.”
In another hearing for folks from the western side of the state, Roanoke resident Amanda Adams spoke of the importance of funding the developmental disabilities waiver program. DD waivers, as they're called, help low-income parents with special needs kids by funding at-home support systems. But she said underfunding has forced her family to reduce their income to keep their benefits in line with the program’s needs-based requirement.
“We are tired of being pushed into poverty in order to keep our children on Medicaid,” she said.
Legislators at the end of the meetings said they’d take the public’s concerns into their budget talks when the General Assembly session starts January 10th.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
