(Cross-posted from The COFAR Blog) Due to what appears to be an open-ended provision in a bid document in 2008, the Department of Developmental Services dropped contractual work requirements and yet increased administrative fee payments … [Read more...]
‘Real Lives’ contract with private firm raises questions
(Cross-posted from The COFAR Blog) As part of a push toward so-called self-directed services for the developmentally disabled, the state has established a payment system for those services that has exclusively benefited a Boston-based … [Read more...]
The Sherlock Holmes-style mystery of the secret switch of the ‘Real Lives’ bill versions
(Cross-posted from The COFAR Blog) How exactly does it happen in the state Legislature that a good piece of legislation gets "lost" just as a bad piece of legislation has been substituted for it? That seems to be exactly what … [Read more...]
The ‘Real Lives’ bill gets more real
(Cross-posted from The COFAR Blog) A redraft of a bill that calls for “self-determination” in services for persons with developmental disabilities in Massachusetts no longer calls for creation of a fund that would subsidize corporate … [Read more...]
‘Real Lives’ bill proponents are abandoning the democratic process
(Cross-posted from The COFAR Blog) It appears the supporters of the flawed 'Real Lives' bill are trying an end-run around the normal democratic process for getting bills enacted in the state Legislature. Their latest strategy has been … [Read more...]
The ‘Real Lives’ bill hasn’t gotten any more real
(Cross-posted from The COFAR Blog) Last year, we raised a number of questions and concerns about the "Real Lives" bill, which its supporters claim would give people with intellectual disabilities more choice in the services they … [Read more...]