$3 billion bankroll highlights chronic failure by Legislature

Texans are voting on Proposition 14, a constitutional amendment proposed by Senate Joint Resolution 3 that would create the Dementia Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (DPRIT) and the Dementia Prevention and Research Fund to provide money for research into dementia, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s diseases. If approved by voters, it also would authorize the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts to transfer $3 billion from the state general revenue fund as initial funding for the Institute.

My father passed away from complications caused by vascular dementia after more than seven years of his life devastated by the disease, including the last 2½ years in hospice. I am a supporter of research into these diseases so that fewer people might have to experience what my father went through.

But $3 billion ... on Day 1? Just like that. Plus, up to $300 million guaranteed annually in additional funding, bypassing much of the normal legislative appropriations process. This is the part that infuriates me.

In the last session of the Texas Legislature, a statewide coalition of thousands of individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD), their families, provider agencies and advocacy organizations, including Time to Care Texas (www.timetocaretx. org), asked legislators for $313 million out of the state general revenue fund over the biennium to raise wages for community-based direct support professionals (DSPs) from $10.60 to $17.50 per hour. We got $13/hour, or roughly $100 million ... out of a state budget of $338 billion.

Disgraceful. Why is this important? Because a crisis of care exists today. Right now. In Boerne, Kendall County, and statewide.

Community-based DSPs are not babysitters. They are trained staff who provide essential daily assistance for many individuals with IDD living away from their family home, including activities of daily living such as bathing, grooming, housekeeping, meal preparation, medication administration and transportation, often 24/7/365 — all with the goal of supporting Texas sons and daughters with IDD to live and enjoy their fullest lives possible.

There are more than 700,000 Texans with IDD, and more than 170,000 of them are 18 and older. Their diagnoses include autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy and Fragile X syndrome. If you don’t have a child or sibling in your family with IDD, you likely know someone who does.

Tell me, would you work for $13 per hour? Would you want your son or daughter with IDD to depend on essential life care and supports from someone paid only $13 per hour?

Starting wages at Bill Miller, McDonald’s and Walmart are at $16. Even they can’t get decent workers for $13 per hour.

DSPs are the backbone of the community-based IDD supports system, often working 60, 80, 100 hours per week performing a wide range of often challenging duties. Without proper community- based supports, individuals with IDD can end up languishing in their family homes until their parents die, or in nursing homes in their 30s and 40s, in jail, or homeless.

Chronic underpayment of DSPs is not sustainable. The crisis is accelerating as more than 250 group homes in Texas have closed in the last 12 months because of staffing vacancies and annual staff turnovers approaching 100 percent.

Adults with dementia, Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s diseases deserve the therapies, medicines and maybe even cures that hopefully will emerge from the future work of the Dementia Prevention and Research Institute.

Individuals with IDD deserve the same respect and support to live their best lives, today, and through their lifespans.

Mark Olson, the father of two developmentally disabled adult daughters, is President & CEO of LTO Ventures ( www. ltoventures. org), and a Boerne resident.