California Budget Cuts to Home Services May Violate Due Process

US District Judge for the Northern District of California, Claudia Wilken, has issued a brief opinion supporting a TRO against California's SB73, reducing most In Home Support Services (IHSS).

Judge Wilken wrote that the proposed notices regarding the reductions "raise serious questions of violations of the federal Due Process Clause," as well as violations of several federal statutory schemes by " by placing IHSS recipients at imminent risk of unnecessary and unwanted out-of-home placement, including in institutions such as nursing homes, board and care facilities, and psychiatric hospitals; by discriminating on the basis of type of disability; and by using methods of administration that will exclude individuals with disabilities from IHSS."

Judge Wilken concluded that the "balance of equities strongly favors Plaintiffs because Defendants’ only interest is fiscal, whereas the plaintiff class faces life or death consequences."   She set a briefing schedule, with a hearing most likely to be held on December 15.

An excellent discussion contextualizing the TRO by Marty Omoto of the California Disability Community Action Network is available here.

RR
[image: Disabled professional surfer Christiaan "Otter" Bailey of Santa Cruz, Ca.  via]