Survival Coalition has submitted public comments on the CMS Community Engagement rule (read the rule). This rule outlines what states must do to implement the “prove you’re working or exempt” requirements that were passed as part of HR 1. Public comments on the rule are due July 31st and can be submitted online. Read comments.
Survival Coalition Wisconsin
The Survival Coalition of Wisconsin Disability Organizations is a cross-disability coalition of more than 20 state and local organizations and groups. For more than 20 years, Survival has been focused on changing and improving policies and practices that support people with disabilities of all ages to be full participants in community life.
Updates
Survival Coalition Statement on U.S. DOJ opinion
The U.S. Department of Justice released an opinion last week that argues core civil rights laws—the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act, and the 1999 Supreme Court Olmstead decision–do not require states to integrate people with disabilities into the community. U.S. DOJ’s new opinion is contrary to decades of interpretation and long-standing legal precedent.
“This U.S. DOJ opinion undermines the core civil rights laws that protect all people with disabilities from being forced into institutions,” said Tami Jackson Survival Coalition co-chair. “People with physical disabilities, intellectual and developmental disabilities, people who have acquired disabilities through illnesses or age, people with mental health conditions are all protected by the same laws. An attack on these laws is an attack on all of us.”
For decades, the Olmstead v. L.C. decision has affirmed a simple truth: segregation of people with disabilities is discrimination. The integration mandate is not optional — it is the foundation of disability civil rights, ensuring that people with disabilities can live, work, and participate fully in their communities.
“Federal dollars should be spent in a way that ensures people have access to the promises of the constitution,” said Jason Glozier, Survival Coalition Co-Chair. “People who are institutionalized unnecessarily are fundamentally unable to pursue life, liberty and happiness. We will not be told that the basic expectations every able-bodied person has, to live at home with people they choose, to work, to find joy is out of reach for us because we are disabled.”
“If states decide they don’t want to invest in home care, it’s not only people with disabilities who are impacted,” said Patti Becker, Survival Coalition co-chair. “Make no mistake, home care keeps older adults out of nursing homes, and most home care is paid for by states through Medicaid. Sending a signal to states that they can stop spending on home care for people with disabilities reduces the ability for everyone to get support in their homes and guarantees states will return to spending far more taxpayer dollars to put fewer people in more expensive institutions where they do not want or need to be.” The U.S. DOJ opinion does not change the law, but advocates are concerned federal agencies will now not enforce current law or repeal rules that help people live in the community. This opinion is part of a larger pattern attacking disability rights. A separate legal case Texas v. Kennedy is challenging Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act. The lawsuit wants to overturn that protection and let states decide whether to provide community services and not worry about creating conditions that force people into institutions. Link to press release.
Joint Finance chooses option that can’t guarantee people with disabilities will stop waiting for support to find work.
Many people with disabilities want to work but need help getting a job; Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) is that help. The state budget signed in July 2025 did not invest enough money to cover the costs of the (DVR).
7000 People Waiting
Beginning in December 2025, DVR ran out of money and people with disabilities seeking work began being told they would wait in line for possibly a year to get help. Currently, DWD says there are more than 7600 people waiting, and they estimate 1000 more people will be added to the wait list each month.
13.10 Request to Wisconsin’s Joint Finance Committee for $11M
The Department of Workforce Development (DWD) sent a request (called a 13.10) to Wisconsin’s Joint Finance Committee for $11M to meet demand through June 30, 2027. The additional $11M in state funding would allow Wisconsin to draw in nearly $75 M more in federal funding to support Wisconsin residents with disabilities get jobs.
Instead, the committee voted to provide $7M total, in $600,000 more for the first year of the state biennial budget. This $600,000 in state funding will let Wisconsin draw federal match for 2026 and let DWD have the required state matching funds to compete for an uncertain amount of federal grant funding in July 2026. The current waitlist may be reduced by an unknown number, but it is unlikely the current waitlist will be fully eliminated before June 30, 2027.
For the second year of the budget, DVR remains $4M short of what it needs in state funds to be able to fully draw down an additional 80% in federal formula funds.
Reallotment funds are not a substitute for formula funding.
Each July, states are allowed to compete for federal reallotment funding if they have the required amount of state funds (match). Reallotment funds are awarded as a lump sum and are independent of the formula funds distributed to states. The amount of reallotment funding available and amount granted to states is uncertain.
By not setting aside enough state dollars to fully draw down the federal formula match in the second year of the budget, Wisconsin’s DVR program will start the next state budget process with a$4M shortfall where the funding is not sufficient to meet the needs of all the people who need help funding work. That shortfall means that Wisconsin misses out on significant federal funding which increases the ability for DVR to help people who need services in real time.
The work is not done
DVR says it will start helping people on the waitlist immediately and continue to do so as staffing and resources allow. JFC decision to fund a portion of the requested funds will not make that an easy task. Until DVR receives the amount of state funding needed, people with disabilities may continue to have to wait to work.
Statement on Senate rejection of proposal to spend Wisconsin savings and reduce income state uses to pay bills
Survival Press Alert
Media Contacts: Patti Becker, beckerp@clanet.org; (608) 240-8503
Jason Glozier, jglozier@wcilc.org (608) 422-0525
Tami Jackson, tamara.jackson@wisconsin.gov; (608) 228-7285
Wednesday night the state Senate voted not to pass the special session bill (MY 6 AB 1) that would have spent down state savings and reduced the amount of income the state uses to pay its bills.
Disability advocates were concerned approving this proposal now would put many critical state programs and services at risk of budget cuts in the future.
“This decision puts Wisconsin in a better position to reimagine, reevaluate, and have a vision on how to change the way we invest public dollars so people with disabilities, unpaid caregivers, and the community-based workforce can earn living wages and fully participate in their communities and Wisconsin’s economy,” said Jason Glozier, Survival Coalition Co-Chair. “We cannot continue to do the same things and get a different future. In addition to funding special education services we need to ensure there is an avenue to employment by fully funding the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation and ending the waitlist in addition to new ideas to make real changes that will drive positive outcomes and futures for youth with disabilities and their families.”
Disability advocates remain concerned that federal funding cuts made last year will impact state budgets now and continue into future state budget cycles.
No deal is better than a bad deal. Short-sighted proposal puts state programs at risk next budget
Yesterday, the Governor and Republican State Assembly announced a proposal for a one-time tax rebate and permanent reductions in the amount of money the state collects to support state programs and services in exchange for some increases in education spending. Survival Coalition is concerned that acting on this proposal now puts many critical state programs and services at risk of budget cuts in the future.
During the regular budget process, the legislature chose not to fund many important programs at the level requested and made promises to special education that it didn’t keep. This year, the state budget promised schools would get 42 cents back for every dollar spent on special education but did not set aside enough money to cover actual costs so the reimbursement dropped to 35 cents on the dollar. The legislature could have acted during the regular session to provide the amount of money promised but chose not to do so.
This proposal again promises the same reimbursement rate as passed in July’s budget and sets an aspirational 50% special education reimbursement rate without changing the structural reason why the amount promised to schools for special education never materializes.
“A phantom 50% reimbursement rate is not real unless there is a guarantee that sufficient funding will be provided to cover actual costs,” said Tami Jackson, Survival Coalition co-chair. “This proposal does not change special education from a “sum certain” to a “sum sufficient” appropriation. We have seen this cycle repeat where the amount of money set aside continues to result in special education funding shortfalls. We can’t continue to cheer for empty promises.”
“The legislature did not choose to fully fund the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation when the budget passed in July,” said Jason Glozier, Survival Coalition Co-Chair. “In December, the Department asked for additional money because so many people want to work. The legislature chose not to act. Now people with disabilities who want to work are being told no, you must wait or utilize more costly Medicaid services, and they are being told they will wait at least a year for help. The Governor and Legislature are willing to spend the state’s savings and reduce the pot of money used to support state programs, but they are not willing to make sure the actual needs of people with disabilities are being met now?”
“The disability community has been relentless in its advocacy for better pay and benefits for care workers, better support for unpaid caregivers, and the real-world consequences for people with disabilities and families when there is no one to hire and no one who can fill in the gaps,” said Patti Becker, Survival Coalition Co-Chair. “This proposal does not address the ongoing caregiver crisis or many other supports that keep people living independently in their homes, able to stay in the workforce, and able to stay out of expensive Medicaid funded institutions.”
Since HR 1 passed last July, states have been struggling with SNAP and Medicaid cuts and changes to the Affordable Care Act Marketplaces. HR 1 is already impacting state budgets, threatening disability and home and community based services. Many states have already proposed disability-specific cuts to offset lost federal funding. Disability advocates are anticipating more federal funding cuts in the coming months.
“The states that reduced revenue by making tax cuts in good times are in a worse position to manage federal cuts now,” said Jackson. “State budget surpluses and rainy day funds are not enough to make up for federal cuts, increased costs, or revenue losses. A one-time $300 check now could be paid for in cuts to critical state functions next budget. That’s a high price.” Press release
Senate passes bill that lets hospital pick a decision maker, puts patient’s rights at risk
Today the state Senate passed AB 598, which lets hospitals pick a decision-maker based on a list set in statute (called a Patient’s Representative) if a patient does not have a Power of Attorney for Health Care and becomes unable to make medical decisions.
This bill is broader, and grants much more expansive powers than any other state’s Next of Kin laws.Wisconsin has deliberately designed its statutes and regulations to safeguard the rights of individuals; this bill bypasses those protections.
Patient advocates are concerned the bill will put patients at risk of exploitation and abuse and will create new legal and operational issues.
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