Schwartzenegger wants to freeze expenditures on home care for low income elderly

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today ignored the voices of Californians whoare elderly and have disabilities, their home care workers andadvocates and proposed a devastating state funding freeze, which willlock in low wages for home care workers and make it harder for thepeople who need long term services to find and keep good workers. . Thefreeze would cap state sharing in In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS)home care worker wages and benefits and shift even more financialresponsibility to counties. The Governor’s proposal would triple countycosts to maintain the program and put a chill on collective bargainingfor the workers, which takes place at the county level.  The Governor’s spending proposal also takes away cost-of-livingadjustments (COLA) to those extremely low-income Californians whoreceive cash assistance under the Supplemental Security Income (SSI)and State Supplementary Payment (SSP) programs. SSI/SSP recipientscurrently live off monthly stipends of $850 for individuals and $1,494for couples.

Source:  California Progress Report, http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/2007/05/gov_schwarzeneg.html