Tennessee Council on Developmental Disabilities
Wanda Willis, Executive Director

The Council is committed to accurate and unbiased education and dissemination of information, as requested, to local, state, and national leaders.

The Council has been committed to educating legislators about the need for services for people with developmental disabilities other than intellectual disabilities. For more information on the campaign on this topic called Fulfill the Promise, click here.

For more information on the Council's legislative activities, contact us at tnddc@tn.gov.

The Family Support Program administered by the Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (DIDD) that is so important to many persons with disabilities has been funded the last three years with temporary federal and state funding. The program’s annual budget is slightly over $7,300,000, with all but $200,000 being provided through those temporary funds, also known as nonrecurring funds. Nonrecurring funds can be committed for only one year at a time, so the use of that funding structure has required people to advocate each year for the program to be funded for the following fiscal year.

In his initial budget submitted in January of this year, Governor Haslam proposed to provide the program with $4,500,000 in recurring (or ongoing) funds. If approved by the legislature, that amount, along with the $200,000 of current recurring funding, would have granted the program $4,700,000. However, in his April budget amendment, Governor Haslam included an additional $1,000,000 in nonrecurring funds for the program. Late in the legislative session, the legislature approved the Governor’s proposed funding but also passed a budget amendment that added over $1,600,000 in nonrecurring funds to give the program full funding for the fiscal year beginning on July 1.

Families and advocates have been working since the summer and fall of 2011 to accomplish this outcome. We are very grateful to Governor Haslam and the legislature for providing the program with $4,700,000 in recurring funding and $2,600,000 in nonrecurring funds to fully fund the program for FY 2012-2013. This will ensure that the families currently supported by the program do not lose those services during the coming fiscal year.