Families praise budget funding for DDD and ALTCS, urge continued support for lifetime services
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Summary
Parents of Arizonans with developmental disabilities told the Senate Appropriations Committee that proposed FY2026 funding for the Division of Developmental Disabilities and ALTCS is life‑changing. Family witnesses described services including habilitation, occupational and speech therapy and the provision of augmentative and alternative
Parents and caregivers testified in support of proposed funding for the Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD) and the Arizona Long‑Term Care System (ALTCS), telling senators the services funded through the budget are essential to daily life and long‑term care.
"My son would not be alive without DDD ALTCS access," Amanda Lugo said, describing her son Caden as medically fragile and saying DDD services provide the specialists and care needed to sustain his life. Lugo thanked lawmakers for a bipartisan budget that she said preserved funding for DDD and ALTCS.
Rachel Lack, a mother of a 13‑year‑old with profound, nonverbal autism, described habilitation and augmentative and alternative communication devices (AAC) funded through DDD. "This device...gave him his voice. This was life changing for us," she said, describing an iPad with a touch‑chat app provided through DDD that enabled her son to communicate basic needs.
Both witnesses asked the committee to maintain and expand funding so children and adults with developmental disabilities can access therapies, housing supports and services that many families expect will be needed for life. "Disabilities do not stop at 18," Lack told the committee, urging lawmakers to consider the long‑term care needs of adults.
The committee heard multiple family testimony panels over the hearing; the DDD and ALTCS funding discussion was part of the broader appropriations hearings that also included health, education and human services funding requests.
No independent appropriation was enacted during the testimony; families addressed members ahead of the committee's pending decisions on the FY2026 appropriations package.