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Pennsylvania House of Representatives
05/30/2024 12:45 AM
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=H&SPick=20230&cosponId=42107
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House of Representatives
Session of 2023 - 2024 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted: February 13, 2024 03:55 PM
From: Representative Tarik Khan and Rep. Jason Ortitay, Rep. Dan L. Miller, Rep. Jamie L. Flick
To: All House members
Subject: Updates to Act 139 of 1994 – the Independent Living Services Act
 
In 1994, the PA General Assembly created the Independent Living Services Act, which in turn created State Independent Living Centers. As the name suggests, these crucial centers provide services for people with disabilities to live independent lives in the least restrictive setting. While this landmark law assisted many people with disabilities to thrive independently, it has now been nearly three decades years since the Independent Living Services Act became law. Pennsylvania’s disability population has more than doubled since the creation of this law, and more funding is needed to support the requirements under this Act. It is time to update and modernize this groundbreaking Act to correspond with changes that were made on the Federal level.

To that end, we will soon be introducing legislation that will make necessary updates and changes to Act 139 of 1994 to modernize the act’s language and bring congruence with the Federal Workforce Investment Opportunity Act.
 
These changes include:
  • Updated guidance on Pennsylvania Statewide Independent Living Council board composition
  • Updated guidance on the role of the Designated State Entity with the Pennsylvania Statewide Independent Living Council and Centers of Independent Living
  • An addition of a fifth core service for Centers of Independent Living for transition services (youth, institutional settings) which will empower individuals with disabilities to transition into community life (which is required under federal standards)
  • A new base level for funding of $350,000, indexed to inflation
 
These updates are critical to ensure we are properly serving the estimated two million residents of our Commonwealth with disabilities. We hope you will join us in co-sponsoring this critical piece of legislation!