So far, 43 have testified in two hours
So far, 43 people have testified in two hours to JFAC on Health & Welfare funding this morning, including disabled people who receive services, their advocates, parents and other family members, and numerous providers, ranging from dentists to those who provide psycho-social rehabilitation services to people with mental illness. Here, members of JFAC, who have been joined by several members of both the House and Senate Health & Welfare committees, listen as Shiloh Blackburn of Rexburg testifies; in her wheelchair, she's partially hidden behind the podium. Blackburn urged lawmakers to consider raising revenue rather than cutting services for Idahoans with disabilities. A recurring theme among those testifying is that those cuts will actually cost the state more, by forcing more people into costly institutionalization.