WHAT'S HAPPENING

$1.7 TRILLION SPENDING BILL BOOSTS SPECIAL ED, DISABILITY PROGRAMS, BANS SHOCK TREATMENTS

More funding for special education, the expanding access to ABLE accounts, and restricting the use of electric shock on people with disabilities are included in the newly approved $1.7 trillion federal spending bill.

WELCOME ADJUSTMENTS: The bill allocates almost $773 billion for domestic programs, like education, healthcare and affordable housing.

The legislation was signed by President Joe Biden on December 29th and funds the government through September. The White House said Thursday that the bill "caps off a year of historic bipartisan progress for the American people."

The spending plan Congress approved includes over $15 billion for special education, a $904 million jump over last year, and it extends Money Follows the Person, a Medicaid program that helps people with disabilities move from institutions to community-based living, through September 2027.

The new bill includes a welcome adjustment to the age at which an individual is eligible to open an Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) account.

ABLE accounts permit people with disabilities to save up to $100,000, tax-free, without fear of losing certain federal disability benefits.

Previously, you could only set up such an account if you had become disabled prior to age 26. Starting in 2026, you will be eligible for an ABLE account if you became disabled before age 46.

The higher age limit, which is expected to make an additional 6.2 million people eligible, had been long sought by disability advocates and others in order to broaden access and increase the number of ABLE accounts opened to help ensure that the program is sustainable.

In addition, the Housing for Persons With Disabilities Program has received an increase in funding of $8 million. This program seeks to aid people with disabili-

-ties with very limited income in living independently within their community by securing housing that is within their means and offers supportive services.

"The measure increases the eligibility age for ABLE accounts, allowing people with disabilities a way to save more money without jeopardizing their government benefits."

The legislation also creates guidelines that will allow the Food and Drug Administration to ban what are known as electrical stimulation devices, which send shocks through electrodes attached to the skin in order to condition people not to engage in self-injurious or aggressive behaviors. According to the FDA, these devices are used at the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center in Canton, Mass., which serves children and adults with developmental disabilities as well as those with behavioral and emotional problems, the last institution in the U.S. known to engage in such therapy.

With the new legislation, Congress has

clarified that the FDA has the right to institute such a ban. For years, advocates have pushed to end the practice and in 2020 the FDA finalized a ban on electrical stimulation devices citing an "unreasonable and substantial risk of illness or injury." The regulation was overturned, however, when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit determined that the agency had overstepped its authority.

Now, "This opens the door for FDA to pass another ban without fear that it will be struck down on the same grounds," said Autistic Self Advocacy Network director of advocacy Zoe Gross, describing the development as "a step forward."

Congress did not elect to increase asset limits for Supplemental Security Income recipients within the government funding measure despite a strong bipartisan push. Currently, individual SSI beneficiaries can have no more than $2,000 in assets at any given time under limits that have remained static for decades.

"It's very disappointing that Congress didn't take the opportunity to help lift people with disabilities out of poverty, by simply bringing the SSI asset limit out of the 1980s into this century. We will continue to push for this change in the new year." said Peter Berns, CEO of The Arc.