State sued over services to disabled

Advertiser Staff

The Hawai'i Disability Rights Center has filed a federal class-action lawsuit against the state, alleging the state Health Department failed to provide services to hundreds of developmentally disabled children and adults.

The lawsuit, filed Monday with the U.S. District Court on behalf of more than 300 people with developmental disabilities, also alleges that the department's Developmental Disabilities Division misused more than $5 million that the Legislature appropriated specifically for services that allow disabled people to live in the community.

The lawsuit also alleges the division violated state law that requires federal money to be used before state money on programs and services.

Department of Health spokeswoman Janice Okubo said department officials had not yet been served the lawsuit, but the department is continuing to reduce the waiting list for community and home-based services for people with developmental disabilities.

She said the state had complied with the Makin settlement, which required the state to provide Medicaid-funded, community-based services to 700 developmentally disabled people on the waitlist by June 30 and to develop a plan to keep the list moving at a reasonable pace.

But Gary Smith, president of the Hawaii Disability Rights Center, said the center's yearlong investigation had determined the state was not in compliance. He said about 300 of 700 people on a waitlist were still not served.

Smith said the division either misused or returned to the state's general fund about $5 million appropriated specifically for community services for developmentally disabled people in the 2002 fiscal year. During that time, approved slots for services were left vacant, he said.