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Dear Community Partners,
On Dec. 17, Governor Inslee released his proposed Operating and Capital budgets for consideration during the 2025 legislative session. With a projected $12 billion deficit over the next four years, it is a challenging financial time for the state government. We need to reduce spending to balance revenue projections. I am grateful Governor Inslee made it a priority to minimize the impact on our clients, providers and staff as much as possible.
Below are items from the Governor’s budget proposal impacting DDA.
- Investments
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Caseload and use adjustments: $410 million for growth in caseloads.
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Transfer to community capacity: $24 million to support clients transitioning from residential habilitation centers to community settings.
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Waiver provider rates: $33 million for Home and Community-Based Services waiver services, including crisis diversion services for children and adults. A 15% rate increase for crisis diversion beds (including mobile diversion) and the state-funded Overnight Planned Respite Services for adults, and a 30% rate increase for Enhanced Respite Services for children, matching rates of other community residential providers.
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Adjust Consumer Directed Employer Rates: $102.7 million to support the proposed Consumer Directed Employer Rate Setting Board labor and administrative rates. This helps Medicaid clients stay in the community instead of more restrictive and expensive locations.
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Community Residential Nursing: $964,000 to cover the rising costs and use of nursing services and supports from Supported Living providers. This helps care for clients with high acuity needs and lower their chances of hospitalization.
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Day habilitation program support: $1.4 million for day habilitation services, including community inclusion, respite, and community employment. A 15% rate increase and a four-hour increase to the maximum available hours for community respite are funded to attract a larger pool of providers and offer more hours to eligible individuals.
- Reductions
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Close Yakima Valley School: $9.6 million. YVS is certified as a nursing facility and, by statute, is currently set to close when certain criteria are met. This proposed facility closure would allow DDA to focus resources on community services and still retain two residential facilities in Eastern and Western Washington.
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Close Rainier School: $31 million. Rainier is certified as an intermediate care facility. It is challenging to maintain certification requirements on aging buildings with high maintenance costs and renovation demands. Similar to YVS, this proposed facility closure would allow DDA to focus resources on community services and still retain two residential Eastern and Western Washington facilities.
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Individual and Family Service waiver use: $16 million. The Individual and Family Service waiver offers services for people with developmental disabilities who live with their families and are age 3 and older. Using these services is voluntary and depends on provider’s availability. This one-time reduction accounts for the actual cost of the IFS waiver, which has been decreased due to lower use.
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Reduce Non-Paid Services caseloads: $7 million. This reduction would remove the requirement to manage caseloads for clients not receiving services and would not impact paid client services.
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Savings - administrative: Reduction reflects administrative savings for position vacancies.
The governor’s proposed budget is a first step in the legislative process. The Legislature will introduce its priorities, consider proposals and pass a final budget. As we move through this process, we will continue to meet and be informed by clients, families and community partners. We will keep you updated on the budget status. More details can be found at the OFM Budget website.
Sincerely,
Dr. Tonik Joseph
Assistant Secretary, Developmental Disabilities Administration
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