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MAIN
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A Joint Project of the Maine
Association of Interdependent Neighborhoods |
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Volume 8 No. 2 |
June 2004 |
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MAIN
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|
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A Joint Project of the Maine
Association of Interdependent Neighborhoods |
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Volume 8 No. 2 |
June 2004 |
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DHS - BDS Reorganization
(They're not merged yet!)In May 2003, Governor Baldacci established the "Advisory Council for the Reorganization and Unification of the Department of Human Services and the Department of Behavioral and Developmental Services." The Council met over the summer and fall and adopted principles for the merger of the two departments. Go to the Advisory Council's Final Report.
In February, Gov. Baldacci appointed John Nicholas to head the new Department, and on May 6, 2004, the Governor signed legislation creating a new "Department of Health and Human Services."
The law creating the new Department is very general; it does not even say how many Bureaus or Regional Offices there will be. Instead, the new law requires the Commissioner to figure out how to best combine the two departments and to give his recommendations to the Governor and Legislature by January 31, 2005. The law protects the public in two important ways:
It requires the Commissioner to meet with the Legislature's Health and Human Services Committee, at least three times before October, in order to brief the legislative committee and to allow consumers, providers, advocates, and other members of the public to be heard regarding any problems or concerns with the implementation process; and
It requires the Commissioner to set up "advisory working groups" between July 2004 and January 2005, to advise him about how to merge the two departments.
MEJP lawyer Patrick Ende will be following this process. He can be reached for questions or comments by email: pende@mejp.org or by phone 1-866-626-7059 ext. 202.
