NEWS

Legislation Introduced to Remove Sunset on Employer Tax Credit for Hiring Individuals with Disabilities

New legislation has been proposed to remove the sunset on the employer tax credit for hiring individuals with disabilities. Senate Bill 167, sponsored by Senator Currie, has a hearing in the Budget and Taxation Committee on Feb, 1st at 3:00 p.m.  As reported in previous newsletters, Maryland Works has been advocating for the renewal of the tax credits for qualifying employees with disabilities every year that it comes up for its annual sunset. This year Maryland Works is working on adding co-sponsors to SB167 in the Senate and a companion bill in the House. 

Legislation Proposed to Remove Some Nonprofits from the MBE Program

The Baltimore Business Journal (BBJ) just released a follow to their Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) program investigation that Maryland Works previously reported on over the summer. The BBJ investigation showed that some nonprofits included in the program are inflating the state’s progress toward meeting the 25 percent goal of state contracting dollars going towards MBE-certified firms.

In the BBJ’s follow up to this initial reporting, they revealed that Del. Barbara Robinson (D) from Baltimore has drafted a bill for the 2012 General Assembly session that would exclude some nonprofits from the state’s MBE program. Robinson is still working with the state’s bill drafters on the language of the legislation, but says her intention is to remove nonprofits from the MBE program that are, “large corporations with millions of dollars, classified and defined as minorities.”

Robinson isn’t alone in her pursuits, a group of mainly women business owners are also working with Robinson, the Maryland Department of Transportation and the Governor’s Office of Minority Affairs to get a legislation proposal developed with the aim of removing the nonprofits and gaining the support of state agencies. The Governor’s Office of Minority Affairs has commented that they have no plans to introduce legislation that would remove nonprofits from the program.

According to the BBJ analysis, nonprofits that qualify for MBE status because they help people with disabilities, account for hundreds of millions of dollars going toward state reported MBE numbers. Eliminating the nonprofits would have a major impact on the state’s progress toward a mandated goal of achieving 25 percent of contracting work designated for minority owned businesses. Out of the $989 million the state spent on MBE contracts in 2009, $373 million was on nonprofits that provide services to Marylanders with disabilities. The BBJ reported that leaders of some of the nonprofits included in this count state that they did not gain MBE status to compete for the 25 percent of contracts, but they are included among the counted MBE firms nonetheless.

Maryland Works is in contact with key legislative and administration leaders to address this issue. Stay tuned for status on the matter in future Newletters.

Source: Baltimore Business Journal

U.S. Department of Labor Launches New Initiative for Employment First

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office on Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) has launched a new initiative to help states that are interested in implementing Employment First strategies. The new initiative will help states through the development of a strategic policy framework, provide provision of technical assistance from experts in the field, and access to mentors from other states who have already demonstrated success in implementing Employment First strategies in their state. ODEP will issue a solicitation during the first quarter of this year to allow interested states the opportunity to apply to be a protégé state.

Source: Disability. Gov

Social Security Beneficiaries to Receive Increase in 2012

The Social Security Administration announced on Wednesday, October 19^th that Social Security beneficiaries will receive a 3.6 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) beginning in 2012, their first increase since 2009.

Approximately, 8 million people who receive Supplemental Security Income will also receive the 3.6 percent COLA. There was no COLA increase in 2010 and 2011 because the rate of inflation was too low, which was the first two years since 1975 that Social Security beneficiaries did not receive an automatic increase.

Source: USA Today

SSI Coalition Seeks to Reform Asset Limit Test

The National Disability Institute (NDI) and the World Institute on Disability has initiated the SSI Asset Limit Reform Coalition, which will advocate for reform of the resource test of the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Program. The SSI Asset Limit Reform Coalition feels that the current asset test used to determine eligibility for SSI hinders a recipient’s economic security because of the outdated SSI asset limit test. The current limit is $2,000 for individuals and $3,000 for couples. The asset limit has not been raised since 1989 and has never been referenced for inflation. There are some recipient’s assets, such as a home or a car that does not count against the asset limit test, however, a recipient’s IRA and 401(k) or 529 college savings accounts can be deemed accessible and held against an individual. The SSI Asset Limit Reform Coalition believes that the asset limits discourage SSI recipients from working, saving and building assets to secure a more financially stable future in order to exist without the SSI benefits.
In January 2010, the federal government recognized a need for asset limit reform for the Medicare Savings Program and increased the asset limits for the full low-income subsidy, as well as indexing the Medicare Savings Program for inflation every year. In 2008, Congress exempted retirement savings and indexed the asset limits in the Food Stamps program. The SSI Asset Limit Reform Coalition seeks to reform the asset limit for SSI based on past asset reforms by the federal government. The coalition will focus on promoting legislation of regulations that propose the following:

•Raise assets limit and index them for inflation;
•Exclude amounts in retirement investment accounts, college education investment accounts and individual development accounts;
•Set caps on retirement accounts up to $50,000 for those under 65, and excluding at least $10,000 in retirement savings for those over 65;
•Remove the requirement that recipients must draw down their retirement savings to qualify; and
•Disregard one-third of the funds drawn down from retirement accounts for those under 65 when calculating household income.

The SSI Asset Limit Reform Coalition believes that reforming the SSI asset limit test will stop SSI beneficiaries from living in fear of losing their benefits and will encourage them to start working, saving and investing in themselves and their financial future.

Source: NDI – Washington Insider Newsletter