News and Alerts

CPR’s executive director, Cathy Costanzo, issues statement following the 2024 presidential election results.

October 2024 Newsletter

In September 2024, CPR joined a national coalition of disability organizations in supporting the bipartisan “Transformation to Competitive Integrated Employment Act” (TCIEA) (S. 533 / H.R.1263).  TCIEA would expand individuals’ opportunities for competitive integrated employment, provide grants and technical assistance to support the transformation of segregated employment settings, and gradually sunset the federal subminimum wage program under Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act. 

After the federal court approved the comprehensive Settlement Agreement in Marsters v. Healey on June 18, 2024, CPR launched its implementation initiative entitled Bringing People Home. The project will initially focus on implementing this Agreement, but soon will be expanded to include other efforts to promote integration, end unnecessary institutionalization, and allow people to come home to their families, neighbors, and communities. The project will engage people with diverse experiences and expertise, so that CPR’s legal successes can be implemented with and by affected communities.

On October 1, 2024, CPR, its co-counsel, and a number of state officials met for the first quarterly meeting required by the Agreement. Secretaries, Commissioners, and senior staff from all relevant agencies presented status updates on each program required by the Agreement.

On August 28, 2024, CPR Staff Attorney Megan Rusciano presented alongside Judge Paula Carey, retired Chief Judge of the Massachusetts Trial Court, and Elizabeth Moran, Executive Director of The Arc of Colorado, at a plenary session of the National Association of Presiding Judges and Court Executive Officers (NAPCO) conference in Denver, Colorado.  The presentation topic was “Breaking Barriers: Ensuring Effective Communication for Individuals with Disabilities in Court.”

CPR collaborated with the Monorom Family Support Program of the Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association (CMAA) on a workshop for families in Lowell, Massachusetts. The topic was  Supported Decision-Making (SDM) and other alternatives to guardianship. This workshop was part of an initiative designed to increase access to SDM in linguistically, ethnically, and culturally diverse communities in the State. This interactive hybrid workshop – with participants both on-line and in-person–was held on August 24, 2024. It represented the culmination of a series of planning sessions with community leaders and advocates at CMAA over a number of months to ensure that the training’s approach, format, and materials would meet the needs of the audience.

From July 2023 through June 2024, the Center for Public Representation (CPR), in collaboration with key community partners and with the financial support of the Massachusetts Developmental Disabilities Council (MDDC), designed and implemented an innovative “gap-filling” initiative to make Supported Decision-Making (SDM) more available to linguistically, ethnically, and culturally diverse communities in Massachusetts. This final report summarizes the project, its approach, lessons learned, and promising practices.

Following a fairness hearing on June 17, 2024, at the United States District Court in Boston, Judge Nathaniel Gorton entered a final order on June 18, 2024 approving a landmark cross-disability Settlement Agreement in Marsters v. Healey.  The Marsters case is a disability rights class action lawsuit brought against the Commonwealth on behalf of tens of thousands of individuals with disabilities who are unnecessarily institutionalized in nursing facilities. “This case is all about bringing people home. The Court’s approval of the Settlement Agreement will allow thousands of people with disabilities who are segregated in nursing facilities to come home to their communities, where we all want and deserve to live,” said Steven Schwartz, Special Counsel for CPR.

On April 23, 2024, federal Judge Nathaniel Gorton preliminarily approved the Settlement Agreement in Marsters v. Healey.  The court also provisionally certified a class of people with disabilities in nursing facilities, and approved a notice that will sent to all people in nursing facilities in Massachusetts. 

On April 22, 2024, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a comprehensive and compelling Statement of Interest opposing dismissal of a Class Action Complaint filed by CPR and partners on January 3, 2024. 

Today, CPR and Massachusetts signed a landmark Settlement Agreement that will provide residential programs so that thousands of people with disabilities who are unnecessarily segregated in nursing facilities can return to their families and communities.

The Center for Public Representation, a national legal advocacy organization for people with disabilities, today announced the appointment of Kathryn L. Rucker as legal director. A longtime senior attorney at CPR, Rucker is succeeding Steven J. Schwartz, CPR’s founder, who has served over the decades as executive director and legal director. He will remain on staff as senior counsel.

CPR, Disability Rights Center of Kansas (DRCK), and the AARP Legal Foundation developed an Olmstead/PASRR lawsuit to challenge the unnecessary segregation of persons with psychiatric disabilities in specialized mental health nursing facilities.  

The Center for Public Representation is saddened and angered by the killing of Ryan Gainer, a 15-year-old Black youth with autism, by police officers in Southern California nine days ago.

On January 3, 2024, CPR and its co-counsel team filed litigation on behalf of Medicaid-eligible children in Georgia who are being deprived of the mental health services they need to treat their conditions and to remain at home with their families.

On November 17, 2023, CPR submitted written testimony in support of legislation that would ban the use of aversive interventions in Massachusetts, including contingent electric shock, and urged the legislature to expand the bill’s protections to all people with disabilities.  

On November 13, 2023, CPR joined other members of the Consortium of Constituents with Disabilities (CCD) in commenting on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) proposed update to its regulations implementing Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which prohibits disability discrimination by recipients of federal funding.

Read important updates on CPR's work in our October newsletter.

At two sessions with the senior leadership of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, including Assistant Attorney General Kristin Clarke, CPR’s Legal Director, Steven Schwartz, discussed several key ADA enforcement priorities for people with disabilities.

The Center on Youth Voice, Youth Choice (CYVYC) is delighted to announce its selection of three additional State Teams to join its national Community of Practice to promote alternatives to guardianship for youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). Nineteen teams from 15 States and the District of Columbia applied. The quality of the applications was excellent and revealed a deep interest in and commitment to Supported Decision-Making and its importance in the lives of transition-aged youth. 

After months of negotiation, CPR and its partners, the Disability Rights Center (DRC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ), have reached a new settlement agreement to provide community residential alternatives to class members who are institutionalized at the Glencliff Home, New Hampshire’s only publicly-operated nursing facility.  

Six people with disabilities who are unnecessarily institutionalized in nursing facilities, joined by the Massachusetts Senior Action Council, filed a class action lawsuit today in federal district court in Boston. Their complaint claims that Governor Charlie Baker and other state officials have failed to provide community residential services and supports, and this failure has forced thousands of people with disabilities to live in segregated nursing facilities rather than in the community. The Commonwealth’s failure violates the Americans with Disabilities (ADA) and the Medicaid Act and disproportionately impacts people of color.

On 8/12/22, Judge John Acosta of the United States District Court issued a final decision in Lane v Brown, finding that the State had substantially complied with all requirements in the Settlement Agreement and dismissing the case.

Judge John Acosta of the United States District Court has scheduled a final hearing to determine if the State of Oregon has complied with its obligations under the Settlement Agreement in Lane v. Brown.

On April 17, 2022, the district court found the State of New Mexico finally achieved compliance with a 2019 settlement agreement and dismissed the case of Jackson v. Los Lunas Community Program.  The class action litigation was originally filed in 1987 on behalf of hundreds of persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities who lived in the state’s two public institutions.

On February 4, 2022, CPR responded to MassHealth’s RFI on health equity and proposed strategies for the collection and use of social risk factor data.  CPR’s submission pointed to the intersection between poverty, race, age, and disability as factors that can create multiple, compounding barriers to care. 

Morgan Whitlatch, CPR’s new Director of Supported Decision-Making Initiatives, has been elected as co-chair of the Rights Task Force of the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (soon to be renamed “Consortium for Constituents with Disabilities”) (CCD).  CCD is the largest coalition of national organizations working together to advocate for federal public policy that ensures the self-determination, independence, empowerment, integration, and inclusion of people with disabilities in all aspects of society. 

Based upon its successful ADA class action litigation in Oregon, CPR partnered with Disability Rights North Carolina (DRNC) to pursue an initiative and potential litigation to expand supported employment services and eliminate reliance on segregated sheltered workshops in North Carolina. 

In April 2021, the Syracuse Law Review convened a Symposium to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the ADA.  Several disability practitioners and professors presented papers and prepared articles for a special volume of the Review.  CPR’s Legal Director, Steven Schwartz, and Managing Attorney, Kathryn Rucker, authored a seminal article on class certification under the ADA titled: The Commonality of Difference: A Framework for Obtaining Class Certification in ADA Cases After Wal-Mart.

Fueled by the publicity surrounding Ms. Spears’ case, the U.S. Senate Judiciary’s Subcommittee on the Constitution announced its intention to hold a hearing to look at due process problems associated with guardianship and to explore possible solutions. CPR, Quality Trust, the ACLU, and a number of other organizations and allies worked over a six-week period to influence the focus of the hearing and to ensure that there was ample testimony by people with disabilities and their families about the difference that Supported Decision-Making has made in the lives of people.

On September 27, 2021, Judge Michael Ponsor approved the Joint Motion for Dismissal in Hutchinson v. Patrick, finding the defendants to be in substantial compliance with the 2013 Amended Settlement Agreement.  This Order concludes a 14-year class action lawsuit which dramatically expanded outreach, transition planning, and home and community-based services for individuals with Acquired Brain Injuries (ABI) in Massachusetts.

On Monday, October 18th, Morgan Whitlatch will assume her new role as Director of CPR’s Supported Decision-Making initiatives. She is succeeding Michael Kendrick, who has overseen CPR’s myriad SDM pilots and monitored the SDM virtual resource library since 2016. 

On August 24, 2021, CPR joined Massachusetts officials in requesting dismissal of Hutchinson v. Patrick, an ADA class action lawsuit which dramatically expanded outreach, transition planning, and home and community-based services for individuals with Acquired Brain Injuries (ABI).  Originally filed in 2007, the Hutchinson case was brought on behalf of thousands of persons with ABI who were unnecessarily institutionalized in nursing and long-term rehabilitation facilities.

CPR and its partners, the Disability Rights Center of Kansas, AARP Foundation, and the law firm Shook, Hardy & Bacon, have reached an agreement with the State of Kansas to expand mental health services and provide more community residential options for individuals living in, or at risk of being admitted to, Nursing Facilities for Mental Health (NFMHs).

In a 2-1 decision, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated a 2020 FDA rule banning the use devices that deliver electric shocks to individuals with self-injurious and aggressive behaviors. he devices at issue, also known as Graduated Electronic Decelerators (GEDs), are manufactured and used in only one program – the Judge Rotenberg Center based in Canton, Massachusetts. 

The Sixth Circuit of Appeals has upheld a Settlement Agreement in this class action brought on behalf of thousands of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities who expressed an interest in moving from Intermediate Care Facilities (ICF) to integrated community programs.

On June 19, 2021, Judge Richard Stearns issued an opinion in our longstanding children’s mental health case, Rosie D. v. Baker, finding the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in compliance with the court’s 2007 remedial order

Statement from CPR along with other disability justice and supported decision-making advocates, as Britney Spears' testimony shined a national spotlight on the problems of guardianship systems and the damaging and potentially devastating impact they can have on people’s lives.

Today, The Center for Public Representation along with partners worked in close collaboration with the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announce the approval of revised crisis standards of care.

With financial support from Massachusetts Healthy Decisions, CPR has compiled information to assist Massachusetts residents with disabilities and their allies in locating and requesting reasonable accommodations within the Commonwealth’s vaccination program.

We joined the nation’s collective sigh of relief when the Hennepin County jury in Minnesota found a veteran Minneapolis police officer guilty of the murder of George Perry Floyd. Finally, a police officer was convicted of taking a Black life.

On March 30, 2021, CPR joined Disability Rights Nebraska, the Arc, the National Federation for the Blind, and a coalition of Nebraska stakeholder organizations in filing a supplemental complaint with the federal Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights concerning TestNebraska, the State’s COVID-19 testing program.

With generous support from Massachusetts Health Decisions, CPR has produced an informational resource on COVID-19 vaccine safety and access.  This plain language Q&A responds directly to questions posed by a diverse group of individuals with disabilities and family members during six listening sessions hosted by CPR in the winter of 2021.

On March 9th, 20201, we held our "COVID-19 & The Disability Community" webinar where participants had the opportunity to hear from several panelists and have their questions answered about the COVID-19 vaccine.

CPR along with our partners, Mass Advocates Standing Strong, The Arc of Massachusetts, The Boston Center for Independent Living, The Disability Policy Consortium, The Massachusetts Association for Mental Health, The Massachusetts Developmental Disabilities Council and Mass Families Organizing for Change held multiple virtual listening sessions the disability community's questions and concerns about the COVID-19 vaccine. 

CPR Joins the ACLU and over 150 organizations in a letter to President Biden to end federal Funding of police in schools. Rather, asking for the issuance of an executive order directing the Department of Justice to shift its funding away from supporting the use of school-based police and toward the use of much needed mental health professionals in our schools.

The Department of Health & Human Services Office for Civil Rights (HHS OCR) has resolved a disability discrimination complaint against the MedStar hospital system. Complainant William King is a 73-year-old man with communications-related disabilities, who was refused access to his designated support person during a lengthy hospital stay.

CPR and Partners announce the release of a new report: “Examining How Crisis Standards of Care May Lead to Intersectional Medical Discrimination Against COVID-19 Patients.” The report provides an explanation of crisis standards of care policies implemented by states and hospital systems and how they may discriminate against marginalized individuals and communities, the principles that should apply to prevent discrimination, the relevant civil rights legal framework, and recommended strategies to ensure that crisis standards do not discriminate during the pandemic or in the future.

On February 1, 2021, CPR provided written testimony as part of a public hearing convened by the Massachusetts Health Equity Task Force.  The Task Force is charged with recommending short and long term responses to health inequality in the Commonwealth. In order to dismantle barriers to health care, and to redress these harms going forward, the Center offered short and long term recommendations.

The Center, together with a broad cross section of the disability, aging, and civil rights organizations, urged the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to take specific steps to ensure individuals at high risk of complications from COVID-19 have equitable access to the vaccines.

North Carolina is the latest state to follow suit and improve medical rationing protections for people with disabilities as COVID-19 outbreaks continue to surge throughout the nation. Disability Rights North Carolina (DRNC) and The Arc of North Carolina filed a complaint alleging the state's scarce medical resource plan illegally deprioritized people with disabilities in the allocation of lifesaving care. CPR was proud to partner with these organizations and our national coalition of disability advocates such as The Arc of the United States, Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, Autistic Self Advocacy Network and Samuel Bagenstos. In response to the complaint, North Carolina revised its “Protocol for Allocating Scarce Inpatient Critical Care Resources in a Pandemic” to comply with federal disability rights laws and ensure that people with disabilities will not encounter discrimination. Together, we continue to protect and guarantee equitable access to life-saving care to individuals with disabilities.

Today, amidst an unparalleled rampant spread of COVID-19 infection throughout the country and the looming specter of care rationing as hospitals become overwhelmed, civil rights groups, working closely with two Texas regional health groups and the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced the approval of revised crisis standard of care guidelines

The case of Wilkes v. Lamont was filed in response to COVID-19 deaths and unsafe conditions in two of Connecticut’s state psychiatric hospitals, Connecticut Valley Hospital and Whiting Forensic Hospital.  In the spring COVID-19 surge, five patients died and scores of patients and staff were infected. The Plaintiffs, five hospital patients, asked the U.S. District Court to require state officials, including the Governor, to improve infection control at the hospitals, limit admissions, and accelerate discharges.

CPR along with the Disability Law Center announce an updated guide to crisis standards of care for individuals with disabilities, their families, and health care agents titled:  Health Care Rationing and Accommodations: What Massachusetts Patients with Disabilities Need to Know During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

On December 21, Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which includes both general government funding and coronavirus relief provisions. While the coronavirus relief provisions include some urgently needed aid, Congress once again failed to meet the needs of people with disabilities. The government funding portion of the bill, however, does extend funding for the Money Follows the Person (MFP) program for three years, along with spousal impoverishment protections.

The Center, together with a broad cross section of the disability, aging, and civil rights organizations, urged the Commonwealth to prioritize individuals with disabilities, older adults, and others at higher risk of death from the virus, in its vaccine allocation strategy, and to work with these constituencies in the ongoing development and implementation of those plans. 

Following several months of coordinated advocacy by CPR and an impressive, diverse group of stakeholders, Massachusetts released a third, revised version of its Crisis Standards of Care (CSC).

CPR received the Mary Lou Maloney award from the Massachusetts’ Disability Policy Consortium at its 8th annual event on November 13, 2020. The award, which honors a person or organization that serves people with disabilities through systemic policy and research, recognized CPR’s innovative and intersectional advocacy to redress discriminatory practices during the pandemic. 

First Circuit agrees Plaintiffs' are eligible for an award of attorney's fees and costs in longstanding Massachusetts Medicaid EPSDT case on behalf of thousands of children with SED .

CPR has joined with a broad coalition of advocates and medical professionals to submit public comments on the most recent revisions to the Massachusetts Crisis Standards of Care (CSC).

The expedited nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court is one that has prompted much concern in the disability community. As with any other judicial nominee, we must consider Judge Barrett’s record and hers raises significant concerns for issues important to the disability community, including healthcare and disability rights, in cases that she would be hearing if confirmed as a Supreme Court Justice. We urge everyone to please contact your Senators. Now’s the time to make our voices heard!

Today, CPR joined more than 50 other national, state, and local disability advocacy organizations in a letter sent to Senate leadership and Senate Judiciary committee leadership in opposition to the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court to fill the seat left open by the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Judge Barrett’s record raises significant concerns for the disability community, yet despite her concerning record, her nomination has been extraordinarily rushed. A nomination that, if confirmed, would result in a lifetime appointment, should be considered carefully and given appropriate scrutiny.

The Center for Public Representation mourns the loss of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who passed away on September 18 at the age of 87. Throughout her life, Justice Ginsburg was a champion for justice and equality for all, including people with disabilities. Her work has and will continue to better the lives of people with disabilities around the country for years to come.

Today, the US Commission on Civil Rights (USCCR) released its report regarding Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which allows people with disabilities to be paid subminimum wages, often pennies on the dollar, in segregated settings where they don’t interact with their nondisabled peers. We commend the Commission for its recommendation to end the use of Section 14(c) and expand access to competitive integrated employment – jobs in the community where people with disabilities work alongside, are paid the same wages, and have the same opportunities as their co-workers without disabilities.

Today, amidst rampant spread of COVID-19 infection throughout the country, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced the resolution of a federal complaint filed by CPR and partners against Utah. Today’s resolution sets a national precedent, with OCR building off earlier resolutions of complaints regarding plans in Alabama, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee and weighing in on the discriminatory impact of a number of provisions common in many states’ rationing plans. 

Join us today, August 4, for a call-in day to urge the Senate to include funding for home and community-based services (HCBS) in the coronavirus relief bill being negotiated. Even if you’ve called or emailed before, or shared your HCBS story on social media, please contact your Senators again. They need to hear from all of us and they need to hear from us NOW!

The Senate has released a new coronavirus relief package, the HEALS Act, that fails to address the disability community’s most urgent priorities. We need everyone to take action and push your Senators to include our priorities in the relief package that ultimately passes the Senate, so please contact them now!

CPR, together with a coalition of national and state disability and civil rights advocacy groups, has filed complaints with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) challenging the crisis standard of care plans in Arizona and Texas, two states hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a State Medicaid Director letter announcing another delay in the timeline for states to fully implement the Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) Settings Rule, extending the deadline by one year to March 2023. We oppose delaying the March 2022 deadline – still over 20 months away – by another year at this time. The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the risks of large congregate settings and made the Rule’s focus on more individualized supports in smaller and non-disability specific settings more important than ever.

Today, a coalition of nearly 50 advocacy groups and state legislators, led by the Center for Public Representation, The Arc of the United States, The Arc of Virginia, and the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, sent a letter calling on Virginia Governor Northam to right a decade of unjust treatment in a criminal justice system infected with systemic racism and ableism faced by Reginald “Neli” Latson, a young Black man with autism and intellectual disability.  The letter demands that Governor Northam grant Mr. Latson a full pardon, commit to continue funding his disability services in Florida where he and his family now reside, and issue a public apology to Mr. Latson and his family.

Today, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced the resolution of a federal complaint filed against Tennessee, one of nearly a dozen complaints filed by CPR, together with a coalition of national disability advocates, challenging states’ plans for rationing medical care during the COVID-19 pandemic as discriminating against people with disabilities.

CPR’s seminal analysis of informed choice for institutionalized persons with disabilities has just been published in Volume 40, No.1 of the Journal on Law and Medicine (2020). The article - Realizing the Promise of Olmstead: Ensuring the Informed Choice of Institutionalized Persons with Disabilities to Receive Services in the Most Integrated Setting – traces the history of the issue of choice under the Supreme Court’s decision in Olmstead v. L.C., and proposes a legal analytical framework for ensuring that persons with disabilities can make an informed choice about whether to live and work in an integrated setting rather than remain in a segregated institution.

Today, CPR and partners filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) over Nebraska’s ongoing failure to provide access for Nebraskans with disabilities to TestNebraska. The State’s COVID-19 testing program currently requires the ability to access and use the internet and then the ability to drive to a testing site.

The Connecticut Legal Rights Project, Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law and Center for Public Representation this week filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in a class action case challenging Connecticut’s failure to take adequate steps to protect residents of two state psychiatric hospitals from contracting and dying from COVID-19.  

Today, in response to the first federal complaint challenging discriminatory hospital “no-visitor” policies, filed by CPR and partners last month, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services announced a resolution making clear that federal law requires hospitals and the state agencies overseeing them to modify policies to ensure patients with disabilities can safely access the in-person supports needed to benefit from medical care during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We stand with protesters in communities across the country -- including in the Twin Cities, Atlanta, Louisville, Columbus, New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Portland, and Washington, D.C.-- demanding justice and accountability for the murder of George Floyd. The institutional racism that has long infected this country cannot stand. We need to do more as allies. We are listening. As disability lawyers fighting for change, we have a responsibility to change a system that has repeatedly failed to deliver justice for all. We commit to working to understand and address our own implicit bias, to address racism in our work, and to be better allies – to listen, to hear, and to act.

Keeping people out of nursing facilities is especially important now, with COVID-19 ravaging nursing facilities around the country, yet the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed weakening the Preadmission Screening and Resident Review (PASRR) rules designed to help keep people with mental illness or intellectual or developmental disabilities from being unnecessarily placed in Medicaid-funded nursing facilities and to help nursing facility residents transition back to the community. CPR submitted comments on May 18 opposing the proposed rule and created templates to help organizations and individuals submit comments opposing the rule.

On May 18, 2020, CPR and its co-counsel asked the full Court of Appeals for the First Circuit to grant a new hearing in the appeal of the District Court’s decision in Rosie D. v. Baker. On May 4, 2020, a panel of the First Circuit allowed the termination of all court monitoring and reporting obligations in the case, despite continuing federal Medicaid law violations.

Around the country, hospitals and other health care facilities have enacted strict no-visitor policies to contain the spread of COVID-19 that don't include exceptions for people with disabilities who need support from family members or staff to have equal access to medical treatment. To help combat the discrimination people with disabilities are facing as a result of these policies, CPR, together with CommunicationFirst, The Arc, Autistic Self Advocacy Network, Bazelon Center, and DREDF, has released Evaluation Framework for Hospital Visitor Policies.

Today CPR, along with 18 other national disability rights organizations, filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court defending the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which provides important protections for people with disabilities. In March, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in the case, formerly known as Texas v. US and now known as California v. Texas, which it will hear next term.

Keeping people out of nursing facilities is especially important now, with COVID-19 ravaging nursing facilities around the country. But right now, in the middle of this pandemic, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is proposing a rule that would weaken PASRR, making it easier for people to be admitted to nursing facilities and harder for them to transition from these facilities back to the community. Comment by May 20 to oppose the proposed rule!

COVID-19 has affected all of us, but it has been particularly devastating for people with disabilities. In the face of these extraordinary challenges, CPR is committed to ensuring that the needs of people with disabilities are centered in the response to this pandemic. But we can’t do our work without your support! We’re participating in #GivingTuesdayNow, which supports the work of advocates like CPR during this crisis, and we need your help to spread the word!

CPR and partners filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights (HHS OCR) today regarding the failure to provide people with disabilities with reasonable accommodations to hospital no-visitor policies in effect during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is the first OCR complaint filed regarding a state’s hospital visitor policies during this pandemic, and follows several other complaints filed by CPR and partners regarding states’ discriminatory medical rationing policies.

On April 24, 2020, the federal district court in Ball v. DeWine approved a comprehensive Settlement Agreement designed to increase access to integrated home and community-based services and provide individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities a meaningful, informed choice between Intermediate Care Facilities (ICFs) and community services.

CPR and a coalition of more than 20 interested organizations and individuals respond to the recently revised Massachusetts Crisis Standards of Care

CPR and its partners propose changes to the Massachusetts Crisis Standards of Care and share response and recommendations in a follow-up letter to state hospital associations and the Massachusetts Medical Society.

Many states and hospitals are relying on the use of Crisis Standard of Care plans to inform providers how to make decisions on the allocation and re-allocation of scarce medical resources. These plans should be carefully scrutinized to ensure that people with disabilities are not subject to discrimination. CPR, together with The Arc, Bazelon Center, Autistic Self Advocacy Network, Visiting Scholar Ari Ne’eman, and Professor Sam Bagenstos, developed an evaluation framework to assist stakeholders in evaluating Crisis Standards of Care in their states.

The next coronavirus bill is currently being developed so now is our chance to make sure the next bill includes the critical disability priorities that were missing in the CARES Act. Read more for information on the weeks of action organized by the disability community to bring attention to these issues using the hashtag #WeAreEssential.

Today, in response to a complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) by CPR and partners, the state of Alabama has withdrawn its discriminatory ventilator rationing policy and instructed hospitals across the state that they cannot discriminate against people with disabilities in accessing treatment.

The Center for Public Representation supported partners in Pennsylvania and Utah in complaints filed with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights (HHS OCR) regarding illegal disability discrimination in treatment rationing protocols being developed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Center for Public Representation, together with The Arc of the United States, the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund, and Professor Samuel Bagenstos, released critical guidance to states and healthcare providers about how to avoid discriminating against people with disabilities if rationing access to COVID-19 treatment becomes necessary. The guidance is endorsed by 90 national disability and health advocacy organizations.

Today, CPR and other advocates urged leaders at the Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association, the College of Boston Teaching Hospitals, and the Massachusetts Medical Society to ensure that life-saving medical care is allocated consistent with federal disability law and recent directives from the Office of Civil Rights.

The US Department of Labor (DOL) is hosting an online dialogue right now that ends this Friday, April 10 to gather ideas it will use in developing its guidance, resources, tools, and outreach related to changes in paid leave made by the Families First Act in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We encourage everyone to please comment! Instructions and template comments, drafted together with our friends at The Arc, are below.

CPR, Disability Rights Center of Kansas, Topeka Independent Living Resource Center, and partners filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Civil Rights (OCR) today regarding illegal disability discrimination in treatment rationing protocols being developed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We also, along with Disability Rights Tennessee, The Arc, and other partners, filed a complaint regarding illegal disability discrimination in treatment rationing today in Tennessee.

Today, CPR and 18 Massachusetts disability and legal services organizations urged Governor Baker to immediately adopt and disseminate mandatory statewide guidelines to ensure that life-saving care is not illegally withheld or removed from disabled residents due to discriminatory resource allocation or altered standards of care.

We need to make our voices heard NOW to ensure the coronavirus response package currently being negotiated addresses disability community priorities. We need you to contact your members of Congress and Congressional leadership now to tell them that their response must address the needs of people with disabilities. This cannot wait.

The Center for Public Representation, Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program, The Arc, and partners filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Civil Rights (OCR) today regarding illegal disability discrimination in treatment rationing protocols being developed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. A similar complaint was filed in Washington state yesterday.

The Center for Public Representation, Disability Rights Washington, The Arc, and partners filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Civil Rights (OCR) this morning regarding illegal disability discrimination in treatment rationing protocols being developed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. CPR and our partners call on HHS OCR to take immediate action to provide guidance on what health care providers must do to comply with federal laws protecting the rights of all patients, including those with disabilities, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now is the time for Congress to act to protect people with disabilities, who are particularly at risk as the coronavirus pandemic spreads. Late yesterday, Congress passed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act and President Trump signed it into law. The bill is an important first step, with increased Medicaid funding, emergency paid leave, increased funding for food assistance, and free coronavirus testing. But more must be done to support people with disabilities throughout this crisis. We need to make our voices heard NOW to ensure future legislation already in the works responding to the COVID-19 crisis addresses the needs of people with disabilities.

A federal judge denied the Motion to Dismiss in State of Georgia v. The Georgia Advocacy Office, the case filed by CPR and its partners alleging that the State of Georgia discriminates against thousands of public school students with disabilities by providing them with a separate and unequal education via the Georgia Network for Educational and Therapeutic Supports Program (GNETS). As a result, we can now move ahead in our efforts to demonstrate that the GNETS system violates the rights of students with disabilities under the ADA, Section 504, and the U.S. Constitution.

The Center for Public Representation submitted comments in opposition to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s proposed rule weakening regulations that help remove barriers to fair housing for people with disabilities and other protected groups. In response to those barriers, in 2015, HUD issued the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) Rule to strengthen the process for developing plans to address housing barriers, but HUD is now trying to weaken that rule, by, among other things, removing important language about community integration for people with disabilities.

The outbreak of COVID-19 is having a disproportionate impact on people with disabilities. Take action today to ensure Congress acts quickly to ensure essential supports are available to the disability community.

Today the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a long-awaited final rule banning the use of electrical stimulation devices (ESDs) on people with disabilities to control self-injurious or aggressive behaviors, finding that the devices present an “unreasonable and substantial” risk of serious harm to the people subjected to them. Today’s landmark victory is the culmination of years of advocacy by the disability community to end this dangerous and harmful practice.

The Supreme Court has granted certiorari in the Affordable Care Act case, formerly known as Texas v. US and now known as California v. Texas, meaning that the fate of the ACA is in its hands. However, a decision is not expected until next year, as the Court declined to expedite its decision and hear the case this term.

Today, the Department of Homeland Security’s discriminatory public charge rule goes into effect. The rule will exclude many people with disabilities from this country and discourage those already in the US from using critical public benefits, including Medicaid-funded home and community-based services on which many people with disabilities rely to fully participate in their communities. Although the rule is now in effect, efforts to overturn it continue and CPR and other disability organizations have supported those efforts, filing several amicus briefs in the litigation.

Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia unanimously upheld the decision reached by a federal district court last year overturning HHS’ approval of Arkansas’ Medicaid waiver, that, among other things, imposed work requirements. The court found that approval of the waiver violated the Administrative Procedure Act because HHS did not consider how the waiver would further “the principal objective of Medicaid,” providing access to healthcare.

CPR joined Disability Rights California and 6 other disability advocacy organizations in an amicus brief filed today in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in opposition to President Trump’s proclamation issued in October, requiring visa applicants from abroad to buy certain approved health insurance or have the financial means to cover foreseeable medical expenses. Amici argue that the proclamation will not only fail to accomplish its purported purpose, reducing uncompensated care costs, but will do so in a way that illegally discriminates against people with disabilities.

Today, CMS issued a guidance allowing states to use waivers to block grant their Medicaid expansion population (a large portion of which are people with disabilities), reframing block grants as “Healthy Adult Opportunity.” CPR and other disability advocates have fought against prior attempts by Congress to block grant Medicaid and are very concerned by this latest effort by the Administration. 

Today, the US Supreme Court issued a decision overturning the nationwide injunction against the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) public charge rule, meaning DHS can now implement the rule while the Courts of Appeals review whether it is illegal. The rule will exclude immigrants with disabilities from this country and discourage those already in the US from using critical public benefits, including the Medicaid-funded home and community based services many disabled people rely on to fully participate in their communities.

CPR, the ACLU, and 17 other disability advocacy organizations represented by Latham & Watkins filed an amicus brief in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals opposing DHS’ appeal seeking to overturn the preliminary injunction issued by a federal district court in California in October, applying to plaintiff states.

CPR and other members of the HCBS Advocacy Coalition, with support from the Community Living Policy Center, released a white paper to assist states and stakeholders in tracking progress and outcomes from implementation of the Medicaid Home and Community Based (HCBS) Settings Rule, available here: https://hcbsadvocacy.org/2020-outcomes-paper.

The Social Security Administration has proposed new rules that would create unnecessary administrative barriers to disability benefits, limiting access for people with disabilities. Take action today!

The brief urges the Court of Appeals to affirm the district court’s decision finding that Massachusetts continues to violate the Medicaid Act when it fails to promptly provide critical home-based services.

Today CPR submitted a brief to the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts on behalf of C.R., a person with a psychiatric disability who was confined for almost a week in a hospital emergency department. 

The Center for Public Representation is extremely concerned by today’s decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Texas v. US that puts the healthcare of tens of millions of people at risk. The Court ruled that the individual mandate of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is unconstitutional and sent it back in the hands of the district court judge – who has already once struck down the entire ACA as unconstitutional – to decide whether to invalidate the entire law.

Today we filed a brief in the federal court of appeals in our Massachusetts children’s mental health case, on behalf of 30,000 children with serious emotional disturbance (SED). We argued that the court should not end monitoring and oversight of its remedial order designed to address ongoing violations of the Medicaid Act. Since children are still waiting weeks, if not months for intensive home-based services, that enable them to remain in their own homes and communities, the state is not in compliance with either federal law or the remedial order.

During 2019 we fought for the rights of people with disabilities to live in their communities, to have access to healthcare, to be paid fair wages for real employment, and to make decisions about their own lives. From courtrooms and legislative hearings to organizing the disability community and establishing a national technical assistance center, we’ve worked to promote and preserve choice for individuals with disabilities. We need your help to pursue this work. Learn more about our work in 2019 and plans for 2020.

CPR, the ACLU, and 17 other disability advocacy organizations represented by Latham & Watkins filed an amicus brief in the Second Circuit opposing the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) motion to stay the preliminary injunction issued by the district court last month against the public charge rule.

CPR, through its work with Collaboration to Promote Self-Determination (CPSD), submitted a letter to the new Acting Assistant Secretary of the Department of Education’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services (OSERS) opposing the Department’s expressed intent to reopen the implementing regulations of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA).

Today, CPR released new materials detailing what the Department of Homeland Security’s public charge rule will mean for immigrants with disabilities if it goes into effect, including a fact sheet reviewing the basics of the rule and its impact on people with disabilities and a more in-depth explanation of the rule and the lawsuits challenging it.

The Center for Public Representation joined a coalition of disability, education, and other civil rights groups in an amicus brief submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, asking the Court to affirm the decision of the Montana Supreme Court, which invalidated Montana’s private school tax-credit scholarship program.

On November 15, CPR’s Director of Advocacy, Alison Barkoff, will present testimony to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (USCCR) for the Commission’s public briefing, “Subminimum Wages: Impacts on the Civil Rights of People with Disabilities.” USCCR is also accepting public comments until December 15 that, along with the briefing, will help shape a forthcoming report analyzing the use of the 14(c) program and making recommendations.

CPR and its co-counsel have reached a settlement with the State of Ohio in Ball v. DeWine, an ADA/Olmstead case filed in 2016 on behalf of thousands of people with intellectual disabilities who were unnecessarily segregated in large, congregate Intermediate Care Facilities (ICFs).

Yesterday, CPR submitted comments urging the State Department to reconsider its efforts to implement a presidential proclamation issued October 4, 2019 mandating that visa applicants abroad buy certain approved health insurance or have the financial means to cover foreseeable medical expenses.

CPR is pleased to have contributed to a new report by the National Council on Disability (NCD) evaluating federal agencies’ implementation and enforcement of disability rights laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and enforcement of the Olmstead decision. The report provides not only key findings regarding agencies’ progress, but recommendations for improvement.

CPR is advancing policies to end the unfair and discriminatory payment of subminimum wages to people with disabilities and to expand opportunities for community jobs at fair pay.

Tomorrow (Wednesday, October 30th), we’re joining with CPSD and other organizations for a call-in day to help make the Transformation to Competitive Employment Act a reality, which would provide resources for competitive integrated employment to states and providers and end the subminimum wage. This is our chance to tell elected officials what TCEA would mean for the disability community and we need your help!

Over 20 member organizations of the Coalition for Smart Safety, including CPR, have released a letter addressing concerns with the RESPONSE Act, which was introduced today by Sen. Cornyn. While we support efforts to reduce mass violence, the coalition opposes any legislation that ties those efforts to mental health reform. Doing so will only serve to "fuel prejudice, fear, and marginalization of individuals with mental health disabilities."

The Center for Public Representation celebrates the nationwide preliminary injunctions issued today by federal courts in New York and Washington state, preventing the Administration from implementing its cruel and discriminatory public charge rule and finding the rule could discriminate against people with disabilities.  These decisions are a clear victory for disabled immigrants and their families. 

CPR joined a coalition of 38 organizations including leaders and allies in disability rights, civil rights, education, and privacy communities to issue a joint statement affirming that mental health disabilities are not predictors of gun violence and that people with mental health disabilities must not be scapegoated for the acts of mass gun violence in this country.

The right to bring a claim in a public court of law is essential to maintaining transparency about what occurs in nursing facilities.

CPR assisted on two amicus briefs filed on behalf of former members of Congress and by numerous disability rights organizations that discussed the importance of federal enforcement of the ADA.

CPR and other disability organizations filed an amicus brief in litigation challenging the new "public charge" rule, which would prevent people with disabilities from entering this country or becoming legal residents, alleging illegal disability discrimination.

CPR and other disability organizations filed an amicus brief stressing the importance of ride sharing technologies and the need for them to make necessary accommodations for persons with disabilities. 

The Center for Public Representation (CPR) joins other disability, immigration, civil rights, and health care organizations in condemning the Department’s Homeland Security’s new “public charge” rule.

In the wake of the mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, President Trump has called for building new institutions to involuntarily commit people with mental health disabilities and has suggested that mental illness is the primary cause of gun violence. CPR condemns these blatantly untrue and stigmatizing statements. 

The Office of Civil Rights of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has issued a new proposed rule that would significantly weaken the current rules interpreting Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  Section 1557 prohibits discrimination by health programs or facilities that receive federal funds from discriminating based on race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex.  The public can submit comments before August 13th.  It is critical that you make your voice heard opposing these rollbacks in the ACA’s discrimination protections.

Last week, the House passed the Raise the Wage Act.  This federal minimum wage bill makes clear that EVERYONE deserves a fair and living wage; it would eliminate subminimum wages to people with disabilities under Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Let’s keep the momentum going!  Every Tuesday this summer, ask your members of Congress to support and co-sponsor the Transformation to Competitive Employment Act (TCEA).

A coalition of stakeholders issued a statement opposing a reinterpretation by the Department of Education of the least restrictive environment (LRE) provisions of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

After months of work and support from our participants and partners, we are excited to announce that CPR's re-designed Supported Decision-Making Website is live. We hope the site will help you learn about SDM, understand how SDM transforms lives, and inspire you to become a participant, supporter, or advocate.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently issued a new proposed rule that would significantly weaken the current rules interpreting Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  Section 1557 prohibits discrimination by health programs or facilities that receive federal funds from discriminating based on race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex. 

On June 21, 2019, the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico gave its final approval to a new Settlement Agreement in the longstanding community integration case, Jackson v. Los Lunas.

Last night the House passed H.R. 3253, the Empowering Beneficiaries, Ensuring Access and Strengthening Accountability Act.  This bill funds the Money Follows the Person program through the Fiscal Year 2023.  It also extends the HCBS spousal impoverishment protections through March 31, 2024....We now need the Senate to act!  Join our national call-in day and ask your Senators to #FundMFP.

This week the Department of Labor announced its new website, “the Section 14(c) National Online Dialogue.”  The purpose of the website is to collect comments from the public about the impact of paying subminimum wages to people with disabilities under section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Input from people with disabilities, families, employment providers and employers is important.  Share your perspective online before Friday, June 21st.

Today, Tuesday, May 21, 2019, at 10:15 am, the US House of Representatives will hold a hearing on barriers to employment, including for people with disabilities.

Over 25 national organizations, including the Center for Public Representation, formed the Coalition to Advance Competitive Integrated Employment.

A final settlement requires New Mexico to implement new policies and waiver standards designed to protect the health and safety of class members, to ensure timely and appropriate investigations of incidents and deaths, and to improve the quality and capacity of service providers. 

On April 1, 2019, CPR joined a number of national disability organizations to file a brief in the Texas v. US case, asking the Court of Appeals to reverse the district court’s ruling declaring the ACA unconstitutional.

CPR submits comments urging SSA to withdraw proposed rule Removing Inability to Communicate in English as an Education Category, RIN: 0960-AH86. The rule seeks to eliminate the inability to communicate in English as a factor to be considered by the agency at Step 5 of the disability analysis.

CPR and 39 other education, privacy, disability rights, and civil rights organizations released ten principles to protect all students’ safety, privacy, and right to an equal education.

CPR and our partners in the HCBS Advocacy Coalition issued a statement regarding the CMS HCBS Settings Rule Guidance on Heightened Scrutiny Reviews

The current Money Follows the Person (MFP) funding will run out soon. Join us on March 6th to urge Congress to support community living and fund MFP.

CPR submitted comments strongly discouraging weakening current privacy protections under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rules.  The Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services is considering possible changes to the way protected health information of people with psychiatric disabilities or substance use disorders can be shared. 

In a strongly-worded decision, Judge Michael Ponsor denied defendant’s Motion for Substantial Compliance, refusing to terminate active court oversight and monitoring of the Massachusetts’ home-based service system created under Rosie D. v. Baker.

This bill will phase out subminimum wage for individuals with disabilities while providing additional funding for competitive integrated employment.

Over 3,600 Texans with disabilities are warehoused in nursing facilities in Texas. They're isolated from the community and denied the basic services and supports they need.

CPR Supports the Raise the Wage Act of 2019 that would phase out of subminimum wage for people with disabilities. 

CPR was proud to join our disability and aging advocacy colleagues to celebrate the reintroduction of the Disability Integration Act today.

In 2018 CPR led a five week trial fighting for the rights of 3,600 people with disabilities stuck in nursing facilities in Texas. We advocated in Congress for national policies to ensure that people with disabilities don't lose the services they need to live and participate in their communities. We worked to further initiatives that enable people with disabilities to express choices and make decisions about their own lives. Learn more about our work in 2018 and plans for 2019.

CPR strongly condemns the recent events of hatred and violence.  We are committed to equality, diversity and social justice for all. Disability rights are civil rights and civil rights are disability rights. We stand together with all people seeking equality and the right to live in the community free from discrimination.  

Join the disability community and Protecting Immigrant Families this week to oppose and stop this rule.

CPR submitted comments to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on their advance notice of proposed rulemaking to oppose potential changes that could weaken the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing regulations.  Affordable, accessible housing is key to people with disabilities being able to live in the most integrated setting in the community.  

A new “public charge” rule was published in the federal register.  The rule would discriminate against immigrants with disabilities and their families seeking to enter the U.S. or get a green card.  Please comment!

CPR opposes the nomination of Judge Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court. Read our statement to learn about Judge Kavanaugh’s record and what his confirmation could mean to the disability community.

As part of CPSD, together with almost 40 other national disability organizations, CPR sent a letter to Secretary DeVos opposing any efforts by the Department of Education to weaken or open existing regulations implementing the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA).

CPR submitted comments to the U.S. Department of Education (ED) opposing a proposed two year delay in requiring compliance with regulations that address racial disproportionality in special education.

Governor Kay Ivey announced on Friday that Alabama has set aside $11 million in its recently passed budgets for the Alabama Department of Mental Health to expand behavioral health services for Medicaid-eligible children and youth.

Massachusetts has begun accepting new applications for its MFP Residential Supports waiver, in anticipation of new waiver capacity becoming available on April 1, 2018.

More than 200 disability organizations have signed on to a letter from the disability community to the Department of Justice expressing concern about the recent withdrawal of Olmstead Guidance.

On December 21, the U.S. Department of Justice rescinded its Statement on Application of the Integration Mandate of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Olmstead v. L.C. to State and local Governments’ Employment Service Systems for Individuals with Disabilities.

The State of Alabama has signed a Settlement Agreement to provide a range of intensive home-based services to thousands of Medicaid-eligible youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or Serious Emotional Disorder (SED). 

CPR filed a class action lawsuit in federal court alleging that the State of Georgia has discriminated against thousands of public school students with disabilities by providing them with a separate and unequal education.

Read the latest updates and learn more about our advocacy work to protect our Medicaid.

The Center for Public Representation condemns the hateful racism, bigotry and anti-Semitism that occurred over the weekend in Charlottesville.