BILL NUMBER: AB 287 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 231
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE OCTOBER 11, 2009
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR OCTOBER 11, 2009
PASSED THE SENATE SEPTEMBER 3, 2009
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 9, 2009
AMENDED IN SENATE SEPTEMBER 2, 2009
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 17, 2009
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 10, 2009
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 21, 2009
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 13, 2009
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Beall
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Blumenfield, Buchanan, Chesbro, Eng,
Fuentes, Krekorian, Portantino, and Yamada)
(Coauthor: Senator Alquist)
FEBRUARY 13, 2009
An act to add Chapter 14 (commencing with Section 4868) to
Division 4.5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to
developmental services.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 287, Beall. Persons with developmental disabilities:
employment.
Existing law, the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services
Act, grants persons with developmental disabilities the right to
receive services and supports to meet their needs. Existing law
requires that the State Department of Developmental Services contract
with private nonprofit corporations for the operation of regional
centers to obtain services and supports for an individual with a
developmental disability in accordance with his or her individual
program plan (IPP).
Existing law establishes an independent State Council on
Developmental Disabilities to, among other things, develop and
implement the state plan required by the federal government.
This bill would encourage the individual program planning team to
discuss school-to-work opportunities for consumers commencing at 14
years of age.
This bill would require the State Council on Developmental
Disabilities to form a standing Employment First Committee, as
specified, to implement an Employment First Policy by July 1, 2011,
and annually thereafter, report to the Legislature and the Governor
describing the committee's work and recommendations.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) Working age people with disabilities are among the most
unemployed and underemployed members of society.
(b) People with developmental disabilities are an important and
largely untapped employment resource.
(c) Research demonstrates that wages and hours worked increase
dramatically as individuals move from facility-based to integrated
employment, and suggests that other benefits include expanded social
relationships, heightened self-determination, and more typical job
acquisition and job roles.
(d) Recent data indicate that, with 13 percent of working age
individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities in
competitive or supported employment, California ranks 41st when
compared with other states.
(e) Because the likelihood of individuals with developmental
disabilities obtaining employment is greater if they move directly
from school to work, education programs should prepare transition age
students for employment in community settings.
(f) Increasing integrated and gainful employment opportunities for
people with developmental disabilities requires collaboration and
cooperation by state and local agencies, including, but not limited
to, the State Department of Developmental Services and regional
centers, the State Council on Developmental Disabilities, the
Department of Rehabilitation, the State Department of Education and
local school districts, and the Employment Development Department.
(g) The Legislature places a high priority on providing supported
employment and other integrated employment opportunities for
working-age adults with developmental disabilities.
(h) In developing the individual program plan pursuant to Section
4646.5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, planning teams are
encouraged to discuss school-to-work opportunities during individual
program plan meetings beginning when a consumer reaches 14 years of
age, and regional center representatives are encouraged to inform the
consumer, parent, legal guardian, or conservator that the regional
center is available, upon request, to participate in the consumer's
individualized education plan meetings to discuss transition
planning.
SEC. 2. Chapter 14 (commencing with Section 4868) is added to
Division 4.5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read:
CHAPTER 14. EMPLOYMENT
4868. (a) The State Council on Developmental Disabilities shall
form a standing Employment First Committee consisting of the
following members:
(1) One designee of each of the members of the state council
specified in subparagraphs (B), (C), (D), (F), and (H) of paragraph
(2) of subdivision (b) of Section 4521.
(2) A member of the consumer advisory committee of the state
council.
(b) In carrying out the requirements of this section, the
committee shall meet and consult, as appropriate, with other state
and local agencies and organizations, including, but not limited to,
the Employment Development Department, the Association of Regional
Center Agencies, one or more supported employment provider
organizations, an organized labor organization representing service
coordination staff, and one or more consumer family member
organizations.
(c) The responsibilities of the committee shall include, but need
not be limited to, all of the following:
(1) Identifying the respective roles and responsibilities of state
and local agencies in enhancing integrated and gainful employment
opportunities for people with developmental disabilities.
(2) Identifying strategies, best practices, and incentives for
increasing integrated employment and gainful employment opportunities
for people with developmental disabilities, including, but not
limited to, ways to improve the transition planning process for
students 14 years of age or older, and to develop partnerships with,
and increase participation by, public and private employers and job
developers.
(3) Identifying existing sources of employment data and
recommending goals for, and approaches to measuring progress in,
increasing integrated employment and gainful employment of people
with developmental disabilities.
(4) Recommending legislative, regulatory, and policy changes for
increasing the number of individuals with developmental disabilities
in integrated employment, self-employment, and microenterprises, and
who earn wages at or above minimum wage, including, but not limited
to, recommendations for improving transition planning and services
for students with developmental disabilities who are 14 years of age
or older. This shall include, but shall not be limited to, the
development of an Employment First Policy, the intended outcome of
which is a significant increase in the number of individuals with
developmental disabilities who engage in integrated employment,
self-employment, and microenterprises, and in the number of
individuals who earn wages at or above minimum wage. This proposed
policy shall be in furtherance of the intent of this division that
services and supports be available to enable persons with
developmental disabilities to approximate the pattern of everyday
living available to people without disabilities of the same age and
that support their integration into the mainstream life of the
community, and that those services and supports result in more
independent, productive, and normal lives for the persons served. The
proposed Employment First Policy shall not limit service and support
options otherwise available to consumers, or the rights of
consumers, or, where appropriate, parents, legal guardians, or
conservators to make choices in their own lives.
(d) For purposes of this chapter, "integrated employment" shall
have the same definition as "integrated work" as defined in
subdivision (o) of Section 4851.
(e) The committee, by July 1, 2011, and annually thereafter, shall
provide a report to the appropriate policy committees of the
Legislature and to the Governor describing its work and
recommendations. The report due by July 1, 2011, shall include the
proposed Employment First Policy described in paragraph (4) of
subdivision (c).