Governor Drops Cuts for Disabled

In a startling reversal, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose proposed budget cuts in services for the developmentally disabled had caused a statewide outcry, agreed Wednesday to abandon the plan.

The governor said he did not think the cuts would be “consistent with my record as an advocate for the developmentally disabled.” Schwarzenegger is an international representative of Special Olympics, a Kennedy family member and a recognized advocate for children and people with mental and physical disabilities.

Schwarzenegger sent shockwaves through the Legislature and the developmentally disabled population when, a few days after taking office Nov. 17, he singled out these Californians for his first round of cuts aimed at saving about $274 million over 18 months.

A torrent of angry protests by the disabled, their supporters, care providers and advocates greeted the proposal for cuts. Among the protests were a demonstration at the Capitol last month by thousands of protesters and a second demonstration of several hundred Tuesday in Los Angeles.

Administration officials denied that outside pressure had caused the governor to reverse himself. They told The Times that he had taken a second look at the cuts and told his administrators to abandon them and come back with alternatives.

In a statement, the governor said he wanted to “find a thoughtful way to bring efficiencies to these services without capping the programs and shutting out families in need.” He said he believed he had found a “better solution,” but did not divulge it.

Under a civil rights law known as the Lanterman Act, which Gov. Ronald Reagan signed in 1969, developmentally disabled Californians are guaranteed certain civil rights and services. Services include in-home care provided by trained specialists, musical and equestrian therapies, arts and crafts, recreation and respite care for parents who care for their children at home.

In an unprecedented move, Schwarzenegger also had proposed freezing future enrollments in the rapidly growing and increasingly expensive programs at current levels of about 185,000 recipients. He also had proposed creating waiting lists for newcomers, such as newborn babies with Down’s syndrome. Typically, recipients are adults and children with autism, cerebral palsy or mental retardation.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Kimberly Belshe said Schwarzenegger is committed to resolving the state’s $14-billion budget shortage and ordered his administrators to keep looking for savings in the Lanterman Act programs but not to reduce “necessary services,” which she said constitute the core features of the Lanterman Act.

Affected by his order Wednesday, she said, would be cuts that would have totaled about $77 million in the next six months and $197 million in the fiscal year starting July 1. “They are off the table,” she said.

Critics had suggested that the proposed cuts had been sent to the Legislature without Schwarzenegger’s personal knowledge. Belshe said that was not true and that he had endorsed them during the hectic first days of his administration.

Belshe said the governor’s change of mind represented an “evolution in his thinking.”

Senate President Pro Tem John L. Burton (D-San Francisco), who had warned that the cuts stood virtually no chance of being approved by the Legislature, welcomed the governor’s reversal. He said a waiting list would have meant that newcomers would not be admitted until current recipients had died.

“I think, upon realization of what those cuts meant, he reconsidered,” Burton said. “I think that, by and large, they may have been sold to him without the fullest explanation.”

The governor’s about-face also won praise from providers of services and their advocates, including Diane Anand, director of the Frank Lanterman Regional Center in Los Angeles, one of 21 such centers that approve and arrange services for the disabled, and Marty Omoto, director of the California Disability Community Action Network.

“They came out of the gate too fast without any consultation,” Anand said of the proposed cuts. “We can save money, but not by this huge axing approach. There are good and reasonable alternatives, if the governor’s office wants to consult on these things.”

Omoto, who organized the protest demonstrations, said members of the disabled population and their advocates were “more than happy to work with the administration” to reach a middle-ground settlement. He called the governor’s retreat “obviously a good sign for families across the state.”