SB 720, SPONSOR STEPHEN WISE, AND COMPANION HB 797, SPONSOR DONALD DAVIS PASSED.

     This bill is intended to generate money for spinal cord injured attendant care and relaxes strict standards on attendant care. This is the same bill that was killed due to leadership and sponsor infighting in 2004. In 2004, A ten day effort to save the bill from the infighting failed at the close of that legislature. The bill text did pass as it was cleverly hidden in the 2004 appropriations bill by Senator Wise. The effort to save the actual bill was also a diversion to keep the leadership's eyes off the appropriations bill language. The bill, in 2005, moved through all the committees and house and senate floor easily as there was new leadership in the House and Senate. The Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, which is part of the bill, was a no show at all of the committees. Tom Delila, Director of the Bureau of Brain and Spinal Cord Trust never missed a meeting. He was the spokesperson and was backed up with the Florida Paraplegic

Association presence. Rep. Don Davis did a great job in presenting the bill in the House committees as did Senator Wise and even his legislative aide at one committee.
 

22         Section 1.  Paragraph (c) of subsection (10) of section

23  400.506, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:

24         400.506  Licensure of nurse registries; requirements;

25  penalties.--

26         (10)

27         (c)  A registered nurse shall make monthly visits to

28  the patient's home to assess the patient's condition and

29  quality of care being provided by the certified nursing

30  assistant or home health aide.  Any condition which in the

31  professional judgment of the nurse requires further medical


                                  1

 1  attention shall be reported to the attending physician and the

2  nurse registry. The assessment shall become a part of the

3  patient's file with the nurse registry and may be reviewed by

4  the agency during their survey procedure.

5         Section 2.  Section 413.402, Florida Statutes, is

6  amended to read:

7         413.402  Personal care attendant pilot program.--The

8  Florida Association of Centers for Independent Living, in

9  conjunction with the Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Program in

10  the Department of Health, shall develop a pilot program to

11  provide personal care attendants to persons who are eligible

12  pursuant to subsection (1). The association and the Department

13  of Health shall jointly develop memoranda of understanding

14  with the Department of Revenue, the Brain and Spinal Cord

15  Injury Program in the Department of Health, the Florida

16  Medicaid program in the Agency for Health Care Administration,

17  the Florida Endowment Foundation for Vocational

18  Rehabilitation, and the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation

19  of the Department of Education.

20         (1)  Persons eligible to participate in the pilot

21  program must:

22         (a)  Be at least 18 years of age and be significantly

23  disabled due to a traumatic spinal cord injury;

24         (b)  Require a personal care attendant for bathing,

25  dressing, bowel and bladder management, and transportation;

26  Have been determined eligible for training services from the

27  Division of Vocational Rehabilitation of the Department of

28  Education; and

29         (c)  Require a personal care attendant to maintain

30  substantial gainful employment;

31 


                                  2

 1         (d)  Be able to hire and supervise a personal care

2  attendant; and

3         (e)(c)  Meet one of the following requirements Either:

4         1.  Live in a nursing home; or

5         2.  Have moved out of a nursing home within the

6  preceding 180 days due to participation in a Medicaid home and

7  community-based waiver program targeted to persons with brain

8  or spinal cord injuries; or.

9         3.  Presently be employed but, because of a loss of a

10  caregiver, will lose employment and potentially return to a

11  nursing home.

12         (2)  The association shall develop a training program

13  for training persons selected to participate in the pilot

14  program that will prepare each person to manage his or her own

15  personal care attendant.

16         (2)(3)(a)  The association, in cooperation with the

17  Department of Health and the Florida Endowment Foundation for

18  Vocational Rehabilitation, shall develop a program to recruit,

19  screen, and select candidates to be trained as personal care

20  attendants.

21         (b)  The services of a nurse registry licensed pursuant

22  to s. 400.506 may be utilized to recruit and screen candidates

23  and to operate as a fiscal intermediary through which payments

24  are made to individuals performing services as personal care

25  attendants under the pilot program. The Department of Health

26  and the Agency for Health Care Administration shall seek any

27  federal waivers necessary to implement this provision.

28         (3)(4)  The association and the Department of Health,

29  in cooperation with the Florida Endowment Foundation for

30  Vocational Rehabilitation, shall develop a training program

31  for personal care attendants.


                                  3

 1         (4)(5)  The association, in cooperation with the

2  Department of Health and the Florida Endowment Foundation for

3  Vocational Rehabilitation, shall establish procedures for

4  selecting persons eligible under subsection (1) to participate

5  in the pilot program.

6         (6)  The association, in cooperation with the Division

7  of Vocational Rehabilitation of the Department of Education,

8  shall assess the selected participants and make

9  recommendations for their placement into appropriate

10  work-related training programs.

11         (5)(7)  The association, in cooperation with the

12  Department of Revenue, the Brain and Spinal Cord Injury

13  Program in the Department of Health, the Florida Medicaid

14  program in the Agency for Health Care Administration, a

15  representative from the state attorney's office in each of the

16  judicial circuits counties participating in the pilot program,

17  the Florida Endowment Foundation for Vocational

18  Rehabilitation, and the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation

19  of the Department of Education, shall develop a plan for

20  implementation of the pilot program.

21         (6)(8)  The Department of Health shall establish an

22  oversight workgroup for the personal care attendant program to

23  oversee the implementation and administration of the program.

24  The workgroup shall be composed of one representative from the

25  Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Program in the Department of

26  Health, one representative from the Department of Revenue, one

27  representative from the Florida Medicaid Program in the Agency

28  for Health Care Administration, one representative from the

29  Florida Endowment Foundation for Vocational Rehabilitation,

30  one representative from the Florida Association of Centers for

31  Independent Living, one representative from the Division of


                                  4

1  Vocational Rehabilitation of the Department of Education, and

2  two members who are persons with traumatic spinal cord

3  injuries or are family members of persons with traumatic

4  spinal cord injuries. No later than March 1, 2003, the

5  association shall present to the President of the Senate and

6  to the Speaker of the House of Representatives the

7  implementation plan for the pilot program, a timeline for

8  implementation, estimates of the number of participants to be

9  served, and cost projections for each component of the pilot

10  program. The pilot program shall be implemented beginning July

11  1, 2003, unless there is specific legislative action to the

12  contrary.

13         Section 3.  Section 413.4021, Florida Statutes, is

14  amended to read:

15         413.4021  Pilot Program participant county selection;

16  tax collection enforcement diversion program.--The Department

17  of Revenue, in coordination with the Florida Association of

18  Centers for Independent Living and the Florida Prosecuting

19  Attorneys Association, shall select judicial circuits four

20  counties in which to operate the pilot program. The

21  association and the state attorneys' offices in Duval County

22  and the four pilot program counties shall develop and

23  implement a tax collection enforcement diversion program,

24  which shall collect revenue due from persons who have not

25  remitted their collected sales tax. The criteria for referral

26  to the tax collection enforcement diversion program shall be

27  determined cooperatively between the state attorneys' offices

28  in those counties and the Department of Revenue.

29         (1)  Notwithstanding the provisions of s. 212.20, 50 25

30  percent of the revenues collected from the tax collection

31  enforcement diversion program shall be deposited into the


                                  5

 1  operating account of the Florida Endowment Foundation for

2  Vocational Rehabilitation, to be used to administer implement

3  the personal care attendant pilot program and to contract with

4  the state attorneys participating in the tax collection

5  enforcement diversion program in an amount of not more than

6  $50,000 for each state attorney.

7         (2)  The pilot program shall operate only from funds

8  deposited into the operating account of the Florida Endowment

9  Foundation for Vocational Rehabilitation. The Florida

10  Endowment Foundation for Vocational Rehabilitation shall

11  select the entity to administer the personal care attendant

12  program.

13         (3)  The Revenue Estimating Conference shall annually

14  project the amount of funds expected to be generated from the

15  tax collection enforcement diversion program.

16         (4)  For the 2004-2005 fiscal year only and

17  notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1), 50 percent

18  of the revenues collected from the tax collection enforcement

19  diversion program shall be deposited into the operating

20  account of the Florida Endowment Foundation for Vocational

21  Rehabilitation, to be used to implement the personal care

22  attendant pilot program and to contract with the state

23  attorneys participating in the tax collection enforcement

24  diversion program in an amount of not more than $50,000 for

25  each state attorney. This subsection expires July 1, 2005.

26         Section 4.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2005.
 

SB 642, SPONSOR NAN RICH & REP. BENDROSS-MINDINGALL,COMPANION HB 925 PASSED

  This bill related to service dogs at intersections requiring vechicles to come to a complete stop. Most importantly, this item will get into the Driver's License Manual and onto the rotating drivers license questions. Rep. Bendross-Mindingall, like all representatives, only had 6 bills they could file. And as luck would have it, was her only bill to pass the legislature. Because she used up one of these slots we are doubly grateful to her. She had a special interest she disclosed, that as a young child she had led her blind grandfather all the time. It was her greatest hope that he was looking down and seeing her at work on this issue. Both Senator Rich and
Rep. Bendross-Mindingall were great at doing the necessary things to pass the bill. Hopefully, they will take on some of our 2006 legislative priorities.
 

  This bill has a section that stops the automatic issuing of DESTRUCTION CERTIFICATES on vehicles customized for wheelchair access. The language was written at the direction of Senator Sebesta and his remarkable aide David  Winiski by the Highway Safety & Motor Vehicles staff at the direction of Fred Dickinson, Director.

Dave Winiski said when the Senator presented the bill on the floor of the Senate he carefully mentioned the disabled’s destruction certificate language. This was a big bill and our section was only a few lines. Senator Sebesta was clearly proud of this section.

  Florida is the first state to enact such sensible legislation and will lead to a push for a federal such law.

  When the problem was presented initially by phone at the legislature by Rick Goff, former Florida Paraplegic Association President, it took us by surprise, but once we got it, David got the issue moving, and the language into SB 454, which was amended onto HB 1697 the last day of the session. Initially we asked Rep. Evers to insert the language, and his aide gave us a list of items to get a sign off on, including the companion sponsor. We were delighted to see it was Senator Sebasta.

  Rick says that these vehicles were being stripped as quick as they were issued the DESTRUCTION CERTIFICATE, with thousands of dollars of vehicle modifications, which were generally paid for by Divisions of Vocational Rehabilitation. These vehicles are now more likely to be "captured and evaluated" for repair and resale to people with disabilities at an affordable rate. For more information on this resale business call Ricky at 252-728-9593.

  For this bill to really work, great administrative changes in Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) must be accomplished. They do not have good solutions to make clients competitive on the job market. A person doing hiring cannot call DVR and get a person with a disability who needs a job. DVR tells the caller to call the Employment Office, which is often the last place such a person in hiring wants to call.
 

3.5 MILLION FOR VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION YIELDS $13 MILLION MORE IN MATCHING FEDERAL MONEY = $16.5 MILLION

  While the Florida Paraplegic Association, Inc. was leading the effort to add this money, we are not happy with the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation. We could have got more money but the stated shortfall for the full federal match was $4.2 million. Late in the session the real shortfall was announced on April 12, to be $9.2 million. The FPA has asked Chairmen Pickens and Alexander to have DVR studied by Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability. (OPPAGA), (also located in a building that does not have restrooms for people in wheelchairs.)

Currently, DVR clients are denied services that will lead to making them competitive on the job market. DVR practices and rules make a rehabilitation plans failed. Most of the rules are designed to deny practical services that are needed.

An example, is clients have to have a fight to get a laptop computer, when lap top computers should be a first in most cases. Firstly, it is a paper trail manner to communicate with their VR Counselor. It is efficient and saves counselor and client time and can minimize the expensive repetitive visits to the DVR Office, which in many cases is not ADA Accessible.
 

  SB 442 A BUILDING CODE BILL, OUR AMENDMENT

  This simply made sure that a member of a council being set up was the person with a disability on the Building Code Commission. The bill as presented, did not have that language.

21         (2)  There is created the Building Code Education and

22  Outreach Council to coordinate, develop, and maintain

23  education and outreach to ensure administration and

24  enforcement of the Florida Building Code.

25         (3)  The Building Code Education and Outreach Council

26  shall be composed of the following members:

27         (a)  Three representatives of the Florida Building

28  Commission, one of whom must be a member of a Florida-based

29  organization of persons with disabilities or a nationally

30  chartered organization of persons with disabilities having

31  chapters in this state, selected by the commission;


                                  46

1         (b)  One representative of the Florida Building Code

2  Administrators and Inspectors Board, selected by that board;

3         (c)  One representative of the Construction Industry

4  Licensing Board, selected by that board;

5         (d)  One representative of the Electrical Contractors

6  Licensing Board, selected by that board;

7         (e)  One representative of the Florida Board of

8  Professional Engineers, selected by that board;

9         (f)  One architect representative of the Board of

10  Architecture and Interior Design, selected by that board;

11         (g)  One interior designer representative of the Board

12  of Architecture and Interior Design, selected by that board;

13         (h)  One representative of the Board of Landscape

14  Architecture, selected by that board;

15         (i)  One representative from the office of the State

16  Fire Marshal, selected by that office; and

17         (j)  One representative with experience and expertise

18  in K-12 public school construction.

19 

20  Each member of the board shall be appointed to a 2-year term

21  and may be reappointed at the discretion of the appointing

22  body. A chair shall be elected by majority vote of the council

23  and shall serve a term of 1 year.

24         (4)  The Building Code Education and Outreach Council

25  shall meet in Tallahassee no more than semiannually. The

26  council may meet more often but not more than monthly, and

27  such additional meetings shall be by telephone conference

28  call. Travel costs, if any, shall be borne by the respective

29  appointing entity. The Department of Community Affairs shall

30  provide administrative support to the council; however, the

31  department may contract with an entity that has previous


                                  47

 1  experience with building code training, development, and

2  coordination to provide administrative support for the

3  council.

4         (5)  The Building Code Education and Outreach Council

5  shall:

6         (a)  Consider and determine any policies or procedures

7  needed to administer ss. 489.109(3) and 489.509(3).

8         (b)  Administer the provisions of this section.

9         (c)  Determine the areas of priority for which funds

10  should be expended for education and outreach.

11         (d)  Review all proposed subjects for advanced courses

12  concerning the Florida Building Code and recommend to the

13  commission any related subjects that should be approved for

14  advanced courses.

15         (6)  The Building Code Education and Outreach Council

16  shall maintain, update, develop, or cause to be developed:

17         (a)  A core curriculum that is prerequisite to the

18  advanced module coursework.

19         (b)  Advanced modules designed for use by each

20  profession.

21         (c)  The core curriculum developed under this

22  subsection must be approved by the commission and submitted to

23  the Department of Business and Professional Regulation for

24  approval. Advanced modules developed under this paragraph must

25  be approved by the commission and submitted to the respective

26  boards for approval.


 

WHERE WE FAILED:

  Our efforts to pass legislation that would have gotten quadriplegics out of nursing homes failed. The Staff Director on Sen. Atwater's Committee pulled a point of order on the germanity of the issue.This got the amendment to a senate bill that passed the legislature. The amendment clearly was germane. The bigger issue was the staff director and his relationship with the Department of Revenue who did not fully support the issue, and placed a $2.5 million appropriation on the amendment, which would have generated up to a quarter of a billion dollars for quadriplegics.

  The second part of this effort, was a loss to move money around in the Health Department so that their Bureau, The Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Trust 3.5 million to do quadriplegic med waivers from the over a billion dollars Medicaid nursing home line item appropriation. Several Senators and Representatives on the Health Conference Committee really let people with disabilties, namely quadriplegics down. One powerful committee chairman Rep. Bean said if this happened nursing home doors would close. Another more powerful chairman, Rep. Negron, said that the nursing home bed would just be filled up with another Medicaid recipient.

  Our tax amendments failed when Chairmen Rep. Brummer would not agenda a disabled tax bill and Sen. Bennett would not agenda the companion to be tax bill. Rep. Brummer tried to kill our tax notification bill in his committee and failed. It would be killed in the next committee with Chairman Sorenson leading the kill the amendment charge.

  Our building code amendments also failed due to Rep. Bennett's refusal to all them on his building code bill.

  Our condominium amendment just had a history of bad luck, the main vehicle died in committee, efforts to amend another bill were dumped when the legislature bogged down the last day. In the above failure, the Speaker of the House did not help, the President of the Senate did not help, nor did the Governor or the Governor's staff people. So our failure had a lot of help, including some deliberate attempts of actual thwarting of our legislation.

  The many barriers of the Capitol, and written reports about them did not help. There are enough "good old boys, like the Sergeant of the Arms in both chambers, who will insure that barriers for people with disabilities are not modified. These two people play some ugly games and dirty tricks on people with disabilities. The are retained by the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House.

  At the legislature there are many, aides, receptionists, Sprint Telephone personnel,  Sergeant of Arms staff and committee staff that are on the side of people with disabilities. There are also a great bunch of former legislators and other lobbyists who are definitely on our side. Down days are always filled with encouragement from these lobbyists. Some even get involved. A long time lobbyist hearing the nonsense coming from Rep. Bean went to his office and confronted the Representative on behalf of quadriplegics. People up there care about people with disabilities. Unfortunately, they are not always the people in the right positions.

  However, I Denny R. Wood, take full responsibility for the failures, and give the legislature and our advocates at the legislature full credit for the above mentioned successes.

  The next session will be interesting as the Florida Paraplegic Association, in the interim, is about to embark on some highly interesting advocacy issues that will unfold on the www.dignity4disabled.com and www.flpa.net web sites.

Prepared by Denny R. Wood