[saymaListserv] ALERT: Federal Consent Decree Fairness Act (S. 489/ HR 1229)

[Mike Shell]

Friends,

I heard about this Act for the first time on NPR's All Things Considered this afternoon, and a red flag went up.

If you have not come across this pending legislation yet, you need to investigate it thoroughly.

Its sponsors in both houses--Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO)--claim that its main intent is to save states the cost of consent decrees resulting from Medicaid suits.

However, its actual scope covers ALL consent decrees.  That means mental health, disability, prison reform, etc.

I haven't been able to find much online yet, but here are some of the links I've come across:

American Assoc. of People with Disabilities
http://www.aapd-dc.org/policies/sign-onCDFA.html

American Constitution Society for Law and Policy Blog
http://www.acsblog.org/guest-bloggers-1068-guest-blogger-senate-489-
replacing-phantom-problems-with-real-ones.html

Human Rights Watch: News
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/04/13/usdom10482.htm

I would encourage all of you to look into this.

Thanks for your attention,
Mike