Advocates say a bipartisan state budget proposal doesn’t include funding for a program providing independent oversight at group homes for Arizonans with developmental disabilities that was created in the wake of a sex abuse scandal.
The Arizona Legislature created the Compliance, Oversight, Monitoring, and Investigations Team, or COMIT, pilot program in 2022, years after an incapacitated disabled resident at a Hacienda HealthCare facility was impregnated by a nurse who had raped her repeatedly.
And just last year, Arizona lawmakers made the program permanent.
But advocates say those same lawmakers are about to leave COMIT unfunded.
“COMIT is not another service provider; it's not another bureaucracy; it's Arizona's independent set of eyes inside licensed residential settings serving some of our state's most vulnerable citizens,” said Amy Haley, a parent and advocate.
Brandi Coon, another parent and advocate, told lawmakers that a bipartisan budget proposal unveiled this week does not include the money needed to keep COMIT operating.
“Arizona made a commitment after the Hacienda HealthCare tragedy in 2018 that a licensed care setting would not operate without independent oversight,” she said. “COMIT is that commitment kept.”
Both Haley and Coon said the program, operated by nonprofit Disability Rights Arizona, needs $1.2 million.
It’s unclear why Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs and the Republican lawmakers who control the Legislature left the funding out of the budget deal they’ve negotiated over the past month.
“So I don’t know if somebody overlooked it or what,” said Rep. David Livingston (R-Peoria), who chairs the House committee that oversees budget bills.
Democratic lawmakers say they still want to address the issue.
“All I can say for now is we're working on it, and hopefully we'll have more soon,” House Minority Leader Oscar De Los Santos (D-Laveen) said.
Livingston said nothing is off the table until lawmakers take a final budget vote but said it may be difficult to adjust the spending plan at this point.
“I thought I made it very clear to members that it’s going to be very difficult for any changes,” he said. “And if we do any changes, the governor, the Senate president, the speaker have to approve it.”
In a statement, Hobbs’ spokesman Christian Slater said the governor is proud of the bipartisan budget agreement and touted her efforts in recent years to secure adequate funding for the agency that pays for care for Arizonans with developmental disabilities.
But he did not address why the COMIT funding was left out of the deal or if Hobbs is open to finding a way to include it in the budget before a final vote on Thursday.
“Governor Hobbs has fought and secured critical funding for Arizonans with disabilities, including protecting the Department of Developmental Disabilities in the proposed budget, and will work with DES to ensure that the program has the necessary oversight in the coming years,” Slater said.
The Department of Economic Security, which oversees COMIT, did not respond to requests for comment.
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