OLMSTEAD UPDATES

News blog follows implementation of landmark 2014 federal consent decree that requires Rhode Island to remedy violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the U.S. Supreme Court's Olmstead decision. Over ten years, Rhode Island must reinvent state services for citizens with developmental disabilities to give them opportunities for supportive employment and meaningful activities in their communities.

By Gina Macris

Roughly 4,000 people who work with Rhode Islanders challenged by developmental disabilities would get an average pay increase estimated at 44 cents an hour effective July 1, according to Governor Gina Raimondo’s budget proposal for the 2020 fiscal year.

The average entry-level worker now makes $11.36 an hour, according to the Community Provider Network of Rhode Island, a trade association.

The wage increase would represent an additional $6.4 million in federal-state Medicaid funding, including $3 million in state revenue, according to an overall $9.9 billion budget Raimondo submitted to the General Assembly Jan. 17.

The budget plan also includes a 60-cent increase in the minimum wage, which would raise it from the current $10.50 to 11.10 an hour, if the General Assembly approves.

Other budget details involving developmental disability spending are still developing.