We're all speaking, at least. Right now, the issue seems to be "Whom shall we blame?" Maybe the Governor, maybe the Feds, maybe the City and County. (How about Enron for overcharging our state? At least there'd be a target we could agree on.) Here's what's happening.

Support for Families hosted a Budget Information Night February 20th at John O'Connell School, with invited guests from The Arc, the California Community Advocacy Network, Golden Gate Regional Center, the San Francisco Board of Education and the San Francisco Department of Public Health. Guests each gave a brief presentation; took a few questions; and left us with things to do and ways to contact them. Here are the contacts: The Arc: http://www.arccalifornia.org/ or 800-698-6619; California Community Advocacy Network: martyomoto [at] rcip [dot] com or 916-446-3204; Board of Education 415-241-6427; Department of Public Health: 415-554-2507; Golden Gate Regional Center: 415-546-9222. You can reach Support for Families at 415-469-4518.

We were given a fact sheet with an overview of budget proposals. Included were cuts to MediCal that will suspend payment for adult dental care, medical supplies, podiatry, acupuncture, chiropractic, psychology, independent rehabilitation, occupational therapy, optical and optical lab, optometry, hearing aids, hospice, prosthetics, orthotics, speech/audiology, and physical therapy. Reduction of provider payment rates by 10% now and another 5% in July will insure that providers who now accept MediCal will no longer do so.

The State's portion of Supplementary Security Income (SSI) to indigent recipients of Social Security payments will be reduced. There will be a 43% cut in Community College classes and services for people with disabilities in San Francisco. These include cuts to the computer centers.

The Regional Centers, which serve developmentally disabled children and adults, have had funds cut through the state. Golden Gate Regional Center, which serves 6,000, has been cut by two million, and told to expect a four million dollar cut next year. There is no question that community-based services are by far the cheapest way to serve this population, many of whom can hold jobs in supported situations, reduce their dependency, and pay back into the tax funds that have helped them.

The City and County of San Francisco has suffered a decline in tourism which has cost it 50 million dollars in revenues. Its vehicle license fees have been cut by 105 million (the state collects fees, and normally gives a part of them back to the city and county). The Mayor has asked for a 10% reduction in the money from the General Fund that goes to the Department of Public Health. Its highest costs go to San Francisco General Hospital, Laguna Honda Hospital, and Children's Services. Cuts will be drastic.

Everybody hopes you want to know about all this. I hope you do, too. Term limits have given us a situation where legislators in Sacramento are mostly pretty new to this. Parents, you're the experts. Believe it. Many suggestions were aired about what to do and how to do it, and a few of them seemed pretty appealing: here they are.

Take pictures of people you care about who will be affected by these changes. Make photocopies. Write one paragraph that begins, "I'm the parent of a child who..." or "I'm part of the family of a person who..." or "I'm the friend of a person who..."Add information on which cuts will affect the person, and what you expect will be the impact of that. Add one concluding sentence that seems appropriate to you. Photocopy the letter. Sign each copy.

Go to http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html and type in your zip code. You'll get the names of your legislators. Address each one as "The Honorable _____" Put the letter in an envelope with a photo. Do one for Governor Gray Davis. Address each envelope to the State Capitol, Sacramento CA 95814. Stamp them and send them.

If you can consider a phone call, settle for one of the legislative aides. All Senate offices begin 916-445. For Burton's office call 1412; for Sher 6747; for Speier 0503. All Assembly offices begin 916-319. For Leno's office call 2013; for Mullin 2019; for Nation 2006; for Similian 2021; for Yee 2012. Your job is to educate: be strong and patient.

Then try to take some of your precious family time to stay in touch with Support for Families, so you will know what's happening. The Legislative Budget Subcommittee will be having hearings March through May. After that the Governor will revise his proposals; there will be (you hope!) time for public testimony; there will be a Senate version of the budget and an Assembly version of the budget. Some version gets approved by both houses and sent to the Governor by June 15, then he exercises his line-item veto and signs it by June 30. It goes back to the Legislature (where they sometimes override his vetoes) and then becomes law.

Thanks for staying awake: this is your democracy at work. You wouldn't like the alternatives. If you can still stand maybe doing one more thing, information about similar efforts by parents across the country can be found at http://www.nationalparentcenters.org/ Check it out!