On May 6, United Way of King County convened individuals from about 30 organizations to discuss the implications of GAU reform, now known as “Disability Lifeline”, for homelessness in King County.  Robin Zukoski from Columbia Legal Services did an excellent job of describing the major components of the reform bill as passed by the legislature while local Department of Social and Health Services representatives spoke briefly on how they were planning to implement these changes.

Overall, the bill hopes to achieve cost savings by moving…

Yesterday,  Governor Gregoire signed into law E2SHB 2782, the “Disability Lifeline” bill that preserved most of what was formerly known as General Assistance Unemployable (GAU). Although the program underwent some significant cuts and the end result is not exactly what many homelessness advocates wanted to see, most of the essential components of GAU–including healthcare for our community’s most vulnerable populations–were preserved. This is an especially noteworthy feat considering our state’s budget mess had prompted many state lawmakers to push for disbanding GAU altogether.…

Another Special Session in Olympia

The 60-day 2010 Washington State legislative session may have technically ended more than two weeks ago, yet lawmakers are still working on several important issues with immediate implications for top United Way priorities. For the second consecutive year, state policymakers faced unprecedented fiscal challenges which have proven very difficult to resolve. The House, Senate, and Governor introduced three different budgets with corresponding revenue packages, reflecting three very different approaches to balancing the budget. The result was a gridlock on the…

Note: This piece was originally published in the Seattle P-I five years ago. Unfortunately, the GAU program is on the chopping block again. The arguments put forth by United Way CEO Jon Fine and United Way board member Dan Brettler are still true today and powerful reasons to preserve GAU. Take action to save GAU by contacting your senator. More info is at the bottom of the post.

Darren Branning lived under a bridge in Renton and did his best to stay as far…

Governor Christine Gregoire is scheduled to release her budget December 9 at 9:00 a.m. You can view the press conference at http://www.tvw.org/index.cfm?bhcp=1. With the state facing a projected $2.6 billion shortfall in the coming fiscal year (beginning July 1, 2010), it will be a “cuts only” budget requiring elimination of entire programs and services unless new revenue sources are identified. Details of the Governor’s budget will be available after 9:00 am at http://www.ofm.wa.gov.

The programs most at risk are those that are…