The Congressional Budget Office released an evaluation of the Budgetary and Econ omic Effects of S.2488, The Raise The Wage Act Of 2023. Since this bill includes a provision to phase out and eliminate 14(c) compensatory wages, the report includes a section on the negative effects of this provision.

VOR's Jane Anthony recently unearthed a video that VOR members made 25 years ago, promoting the need for intermediate care facilities as an important component of a full continuum of care and service options.  The year was 1999, right around the time that the Supreme Court submitted its historic ruling in Olmstead, promoting community integration for those who desire it, while protecting Choice for families of people who require higher levels of care.

The Department of Health and Human Services has issued a proposed rule "Discrimination on the Basis of Disability in Health and Human Service Programs or Activities", intended to update, clarify, and strengthen the implementing regulation for Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

VOR contends that the policies of HHS, notably the actions taken over the years by the Administration for Community Living and several of the organizations they subsidize (including State P&As and DD Councils, University Centers for Excellence, and the National Disability Rights Network) have regularly committed acts of discrimination against those with the most severe and profound intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families.

VOR has recently started our second Legislative Initiative, sending documents outlining our families' concerns for the ongoing critical shortage of Direct Support Professionals and voicing our opposition to the movement to eliminate Section 14(c) employment opportunities.