NAMI North Carolina

309 W. Millbrook Rd. Suite 121, Raleigh, NC 27609*919/788-0801

Heard in the Halls

 

Heard in the Halls is an email service of NAMI North Carolina to provide updates on state legislative and policy issues. Heard in the Halls is produced for community advocates at least monthly and more frequently during sessions of the General Assembly. To be added to the Heard in the Halls list send a message to heard@naminc.org with just "subscribe" (no quotes) in the subject. Because of the variety of e-mail servers, Heard in the Halls is sent in plain text and as a formatted attachment.

 

March 12, 2002

COALITION 2001 ACTION ALERT - RESPOND TODAY

STATE BUDGET CRISIS CUTS WILL HURT SERVICES

Background

The state budget crisis is reaching unprecedented levels not only for the current fiscal year, but for the next fiscal year as well. We understand that the Governor will be announcing cuts that will impact on direct services to consumers across the state. The biggest concern is the possibility of a very substantial cut in funding for community services between now and June 30, 2002. If this cut occurs, local programs will have no choice but to cut services. Cuts of this magnitude cannot be handled simply by "reducing administrative expenses", not buying supplies, and eliminating travel budgets.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?!

Contact the Governor and legislative leadership to let them know that cuts in services will have an impact real people who will be hurt. Use the talking points below.

ACTION ALERT - ACT TODAY

Talking Points

  1. Persons with disabilities were on waiting lists long before the budget crisis – they shouldn’t be forgotten, they didn’t cause the problem
  2. $100m was needed this year to get the system going in the right direction – now the system could loose over $80m which means cutting services to real people – consumers and families
  3. North Carolina needs to RAISE REVENUE to create services for people with disabilities in our state
  4. The mh/dd/sa system can’t be reformed when dollars are going "out the back door" because of cuts
  5. Community services need to be developed to be the safety net – ongoing services and supports must be in place to move people to the community

ACTION STEPS

Contact the Governor

E-mail – go to www.governor.state.nc.us and click on Contact Us in the upper right. On the next page click on Governor’s Office and it will bring up a screen you can use to send an e-mail.

Letter – Michael F. Easley, Governor

Office of the Governor

20301 Mail Service Center

Raleigh, NC 27699-0301

Fax – 919/715-3175 or 919/733-2120

Contact your own members of the House and Senate

(An easy way to find out who they are is to log on to www.cpdmi.org and go to the Capital Advantage link on the bottom right – type in your 9-digit zip code and it will give you this information)

Contact the Senate and House Leadership

Name Raleigh Phone Raleigh E-Mail District Phone

Senator Marc Basnight 919/733-7350 Marcb@ncleg.net same as Raleigh

Senator Howard Lee 919/715-3030 Howardl@ncleg.net 919/942-6528 home

Senator Fountain Odom 919/733-5707 Fountaino@nclegnet 704/37707333 office

Senator Aaron Plyler 919/733-5739 Plylera@ncleg.net 704/283-1293 office

Senator Bill Martin 919/715-3042 Billm@ncleg.net 336/373-1530 office

Senator Tony Rand 919/733-9892 Tonyr@ncleg.net 910/485-8871 office

Senator Patrick Ballentine 919/715-2525 Patrickb@ncleg.net 910/336-3336 office

 

 

Speaker Jim Black 919/733-3451 Jimb@ncleg.net 704/377-5936 office

Rep. David Redwine 919/733-5829 Davidr@ncleg.net 910/754-4326 office

Rep. Ruth Easterling 919/733-5900 Ruthe@ncleg.net 704/377-6555 office

Rep. Warren "Pete" Oldham 919/715-2530 Warreno@ncleg.net 336/767-6936 home

Rep. Greg Thompson 919/733-5828 Greggt@ncleg.net 828/765-1998 office

Rep. Beverly Earle 919/733-5747 Beverlye@ncleg.net 704/333-7180 office

Rep. Edd Nye 919/733-5747 Eddn@ncleg.net 910/862-3679 office

Rep. Joe Hackney 919/733-5752 Joej@ncleg.net 919/929-0323 office

Rep. Phil Baddour 919/715-0850 Philb@ncleg.net 919/735-7275 office

Rep. Leo Daughtry 919/733-5868 Leod@ncleg.net 919/934-5012 office

Letters: Name of Representative or Senator

North Carolina General Assembly

Raleigh, NC 27601-1096 for House Members

27601-2808 for Senate members

Media

Write a personal letter to the editor of your local newspaper using the Talking Points. Check your local newspaper’s editorial page for instructions on letter length and how to send it.

Feedback

Give us feedback on whatever response you get from legislators or others.

E-mail feedback to ncpasally@mindspring.com