Commission on Non-Profit Health and Human Services

Minutes

Commission on Non-Profit Health and Human Services

March 29, 2011

10:00 a.m.

State Capitol, Room 310

Hartford, CT

Members present: Co-Chairman Robert Dakers, Co-Chairman Peter DeBiasi, Representative Abercrombie, Deputy Commissioner Claudette J. Beaulieu, John Brooks, Cindy Butterfield, Cinda Cash, Doreen DelBianco, Marcie Dimenstein, Patrick J. Flaherty, Steven A. Girelli, Raymond J. Gorman, William J. Hass, Joel R. Ide, Patrick J. Johnson Jr., Barry Kasdan, Lisa A. Mazzeo, Daniel J. O’Connell, Commissioner Peter H. O’Meara, James G. Palma Jr., David Pickus, Maureen Price-Boreland, Michael J. Purcaro, Anne Ruwet

Members Absent: Dr. James H. Gatling, Donna Grant, Melodie Peters, Jessica Sacilowski

Guest: Deborah Heinrich

I.  Call to Order

Co-chairs Dakers called the meeting to order at 10:05 a.m. A motion was made by Joel Ide (2nd: Palma) to approve the agenda with the addition of review of March 15 minutes. Motion passed unanimously.

II.  Approval of Minutes of the March 15, 2011 Meeting

A motion was made by Joel Ide (2nd: Johnson) to approve the minutes from the March 15, 2011 meeting. Motion passed unanimously on a voice vote.

III.  Discussion of the Commission’s Future

Co-chairs Dakers and DeBiasi thanked the Commission members and the Workgroups for their hard work and the large volume of work completed in such a short time. They spoke of the need for an ongoing and focused commitment along with prioritization to implement the many recommendations of the Commission.

Deborah Heinrich indicated that the Governor is considering the creation of a group to continue the work and efforts made by this Commission.

Co-chair DeBiasi reported that legislation to mandate some of the recommendations has been proposed and favorably reported out of the Human Services Committee as of this date.

IV.  Final Commission Report: Review and Action

Members of the Commission, following a motion from Mr. Purcaro (2nd: Dimenstein) to approve the report, reviewed and discussed the draft Final Report. A number of motions were made to amend the report as follows. All were approved unanimously by member vote:

·  (Motion: Ruwet, 2nd: Cash) - To create a new recommendation number one using the language on page 8 regarding an “...ongoing body to tackle the issues before us”......

·  (Motion: Ide, 2nd: Purcaro) - To amend new recommendation to remove the language on “Executive Orders or additional legislation”.

·  (Motion: Palma, 2nd: Johnson) - Add language to the new recommendation regarding the inclusion of recipients of health and human services in the list of those who should be represented in the ongoing body.

·  (Motion: Palma, 2nd: Beaulieu) - Remove “DOIT” from the language in draft recommendation #14 on page 10.

·  (Motion: Purcaro, 2nd: Beaulieu) - Add the word “state” to draft recommendation #3 on page 14.

·  (Motion: Kasdan, 2nd: Purcaro) Add the following statement to the conclusion on page 50 and on the last page of the report: “For the state to save money there will need to be a carefully planned phase-down of institutional beds as spending on community services grows”.

·  (Motion: Brooks, 2nd: Gorman) Allow the co-chairs to edit the report for any grammatical and non-substantive errors.

Co-chair Dakers indicated that he will be voting in favor of the overall report, but he noted continuing concerns with the unknown costs and implications of the recommendations of the Cost Comparisons - Private and State Services Workgroup.

There being no other discussion or amendments, the members voted unanimously to approve the motion to accept the report and recommendations as amended.

Co-chairs DeBiasi and Dakers again thanked the members of the Commission, as well as all the non-commission members who served on work groups, for all of their efforts and excellent work that went into to developing the report. The commission thanked Sue Simmat and Wanda Dupuy for their assistance as well.

V.  Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 11:10 am.