Honor promise to developmentally disabled

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When Gov. Dave Heineman and other state officials found themselves sitting on the largest cash reserve in history, they pronounced themselves quite happy with the situation.

And they started making plans on what to do with the $547 million.

Noticeably absent from those plans was any hint that they intend to help the approximately 1,700 developmentally disabled Nebraskans who are on a waiting list for services.

That’s unconscionable.

If the state won’t step up to its moral and legal responsibilities to provide adequate care for these vulnerable people when it’s flush with unexpected money, it won’t ever do it.

Now is the time for the state to actually do what it has been promising in law to do since 1991, when the Legislature passed the Developmental Disabilities Act.

Listed among its provisions is the statement, “All persons with developmental disabilities shall have access to a full array of services appropriate for them as individuals.”

The state has never lived up to those words.

In 1994, state senators decided they needed to phase in those services gradually because of the cost.

They set a goal of achieving full funding by 1996.

Later, they moved back the goal to 2000.

Still later, they moved the goal back to 2010.

In fact, instead of improving services to the developmentally disabled, the state’s elected officials ignored the problems. That’s why today they find themselves under court scrutiny because of cruelty and mistreatment at the Beatrice State Developmental Center.

A safety consultant for the U.S. Department of Justice concluded that abuse and neglect at BSDC suggested “a cultural undercurrent that betrays human decency at the most fundamental level.”

In part because of that report, similar to others from different sources, state government has embarked on a serious attempt to improve the situation by improving care at Beatrice and moving some residents to community programs.

That’s commendable.

But it’s not enough.

The state needs to get to work on the waiting list.

Assuredly, the state needs to leave a sizable cushion in the cash reserve, as the Journal Star editorial board has said before. And assuredly, there are many competing demands for state dollars. But last year the state took in at least $100 million more than anticipated. It would cost an estimated $83 million to take care of the waiting list.

Meanwhile, the state’s economy continues to look strong. Earlier this week, the Nebraska Business Forecast Council predicted that the Nebraska economy would outperform the nation’s economy and avoid recession.

Next year, when Heineman and the Legislature work on the budget, the calendar will say 2009. The current promised deadline for providing adequate care to developmentally disabled Nebraskans is 2010. Now is the time to deliver.