As we approach 2011 with lagging record unemployment, more families living at or below poverty levels since the Census Bureau began collecting data on household income, and no shortage of ideas on how to reduce the size of the federal deficit and accelerate the much needed economic recovery, there is a unique opportunity for a new Congress and the White House to marshal the courage and political will to change expectations for the poorest of the poor: people with disabilities.
As National Disability Institue gears up for 2011, we'd like to ask our friends and colleagues to send us any comments or suggestions to info@ndi-inc.org on the following 15 proposed Public Policy Priorities by January 1, 2010. Any feedback will be greatly appreciated.
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Raise the asset limits for individuals on SSI to encourage savings and asset building as an additional incentive to work and increase income production.
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Require all individual plan requirements for youth and adults with disabilities to identify goals and objectives to plan for a better economic future, build assets, and advance economic self sufficiency. Modify federal requirements for youth in transition as part of Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) (Individual Education Plans: IEPs), working age adults with disabilities (individual plans for employment under VR and the Rehabilitation Act, Title I of the Rehabilitation Act and the Ticket To Work Authority), Medicaid beneficiaries under the Home and Community Based Waivers (Individual Person-Centered Plans) and individual recovery plans for persons with behavioral health challenges under Medicaid and other federal funding.
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Include in tax reform the essential elements of the Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act to give individuals with disabilities and/to their families access to a savings account that would allow individual choice and control in the use of the funds and also protect eligibility for means tested federal benefits.
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Raise the Substantial Gainful Activities level for individual recipients of SSDI to encourage income production, savings, and asset building.
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Adopt at SSA, RSA, ADD, CMS, SAMSHA, and Office of Special Education programs (OSEP), a coordinated strategy to implement the recommendations of the Presidential Financial Literacy and Education Commission to improve financial education opportunities over the life span for youth and adults with disabilities. Improve access to training and resource materials and document outcomes regarding financial stability and mobility. (No legislative changes are necessary).
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Require all Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) to expand access to capital to build assets (home and small business ownership, transportation and technology) for people with disabilities and document results. Invest in training and technical assistance to improve CDFI understanding and capacity to serve this market sector.
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Provide additional education, guidance and interpretation of the Community Reinvestment Act requirements for financial institutions to explicitly encourage access to capital and affordable and accessible financial services for people of low income with disabilities, including tribal nations.
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Include in tax reform adoption of the Savings for Working Families Act to expand the number of available Individual Development Savings Accounts (IDAs) by providing incentives for financial institutions to receive reimbursement and a credit for dollars provided to match individual savings. Expand IDA purposes to include purchase of technology and home and vehicle modification.
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Require all SSI recipients to have a plan for achieving self sufficiency with mandatory financial education that encourages work, saving and asset building. Rather than current law offering SSI recipients to opt in to a PASS plan, individuals would have the choice to opt out. This approach would dramatically change the number of individuals participating and raise expectations about education, work, savings, and asset building. The infrastructure of benefits planners funded by SSA and disability resource coordinators by the Department of Labor would need to be substantially increased and be available in all states.
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Establish with a new Administration on Disability (AOD) at HHS the authority and funding for 10 regional economic empowerment centers that expand opportunities for saving, and advance economic self sufficiency for individuals with disabilities nationwide. The new AOD would include state and local independent living authority now in RSA, the Office on Disability and the Administration on Developmental Disabilities within HHS. The new coordinated AOD would encourage public-private partnerships with financial institutions and other asset building groups (AFI grantees, credit counseling organizations), expanded opportunities for financial education, and expand research, training, and technical assistance with disability focused organizations to understand and improve pathways to economic mobility and strength.
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Expand IRS community partnership development and volunteer tax preparation assistance programs to target low-income taxpayers with disabilities to ensure their enhanced access and use of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), financial education and low-cost affordable financial services and products.
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Amend the Small Business Act to include business owners with disabilities as 8A contractors for federal procurement and require all federal contractors under Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act to report annually on their performance in utilizing businesses owned by persons with disabilities.
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Require current and future BankOn grantees funded by Treasury to design and report on outreach activities and results to improve access and use of affordable financial services by low-income individuals with disabilities, including veterans.
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Reauthorize the Medicaid Infrastructure Grants to require all funded states to plan and implement activities that provide comprehensive strategies to advance economic self sufficiency for individuals with significant disabilities.
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Establish an Interagency Federal Task Force on Economic Empowerment for working age adults with disabilities to identify barriers and propose solutions to federal policies that create disincentives to work, saving and asset building.