Lawmakers look to help disabled Arkansans

LITTLE ROCK - A bill proposed in the Arkansas House might provide some relief for disabled adults and children waiting for needed services.

House Bill 1033, filed by state Rep. Andy Mayberry, would appropriate $8.5 million in tobacco settlement funds to the Arkansas Medicaid Fund. The proposed legislation calls for the money to be used to expand medical assistance, as well as home- and community-based services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Rep. Dan Sullivan, R-Jonesboro, and Jimmy Gazaway, R-Paragould, signed on as co-sponsors of the bill. Sullivan calls the bill a "good first step" toward addressing a big issue.

"We have lots of folks with high needs, and this bill moves us in the right direction," Sullivan said. He also noted that he's planning to listen to any concerns and debate when the bill makes it to the House floor.

"One of the things I campaigned on was increased funding for those with developmental disabilities, especially children," Gazaway said. "I intend to stay true to that promise."

Tom Masseau is the executive director for Disability Rights Arkansas, a nonprofit that has been advocating for disabled Arkansans since 1977. Masseau said the bill is needed to provide resources to some of the 3,000 people on the state's waiting list.

"Any money that we can put toward reducing and eliminating the waiting list is a good spend and beneficial to the families," Masseau said. "Right now, you have families receiving no services and still trying to make ends meet."

Masseau said one of the biggest challenges right now is the lack of resources for disabled Arkansans in rural areas of the state. He hopes if House Bill 1033 passes and the state begins to spend the new dollars, service providers across the state will expand.

"I think over time the reduction in the waiting list will expand the availability of resources to people in rural areas," Masseau said.

Proponents of the bill note that if the state allocates $8.5 million new dollars to the Arkansas Medicaid Program, an additional $20 million in new money will come to Arkansas. The combined resources of state tobacco settlement money and new federal dollars could take 800 to 900 people off the waiting list, according to some estimates.

House Bill 1033 does not prescribe exactly how the new funds would be distributed to participants on the waiting list. Masseau said that decision will likely be left up to the Department of Human Services, but he's hoping groups like his will have an opportunity to weigh on that decision.

"I think everybody is going to have to be involved as to what that looks like," Masseau said.