BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 368|
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 368
Author: Liu (D)
Amended: 7/14/11
Vote: 21
SENATE HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE : 7-0, 4/12/11
AYES: Liu, Emmerson, Berryhill, Hancock, Strickland,
Wright, Yee
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 8-0, 5/26/11
AYES: Kehoe, Walters, Alquist, Lieu, Pavley, Price,
Runner, Steinberg
NO VOTE RECORDED: Emmerson
SENATE FLOOR : 40-0, 6/1/11
AYES: Alquist, Anderson, Berryhill, Blakeslee, Calderon,
Cannella, Corbett, Correa, De León, DeSaulnier, Dutton,
Emmerson, Evans, Fuller, Gaines, Hancock, Harman,
Hernandez, Huff, Kehoe, La Malfa, Leno, Lieu, Liu,
Lowenthal, Negrete McLeod, Padilla, Pavley, Price, Rubio,
Runner, Simitian, Steinberg, Strickland, Vargas, Walters,
Wolk, Wright, Wyland, Yee
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 8/25/11 (Consent) - See last page
for vote
SUBJECT : Developmental services: decision making
SOURCE : Public Counsel
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DIGEST : This bill gives courts the authority to appoint
an authorized representative to assist a minor child who
has developmental disabilities in ensuring that his/her
needs are met by their regional center, and is modeled on
statutes establishing court-appointed "educational rights
holders."
Assembly Amendments give a court-appointed developmental
services decisionmaker the right to access the minor's
information, to participate in the individualized program
plan process, and to participate in the fair hearing
process, and add double jointing language with SB 146
(Wyland).
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1. Gives the juvenile court the authority to limit a
parent's right to make educational decisions about their
child and to appoint an "educational rights holder" to
make those decisions.
2. Assigns to probation departments the responsibility to
consider identifying a person to make educational
decisions for the child when the parents of a ward of
the court are unable to unwilling to make those
decisions.
3. Provides authority to the juvenile court to appoint an
education rights holder to make educational decisions
for a dependent or ward of the court.
4. Provides access to records and information of a minor
with developmental disabilities to a parent, guardian,
conservator, or limited conservator, under specific
circumstances.
5. Establishes a system of regional centers to provide
case management and purchase of services to individuals
found to have one of several specific developmental
disabilities before their 18th birthday.
6. Directs regional centers to establish an individualized
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program plan (IPP) with each client detailing needs and
services.
7. Establishes processes by which clients of regional
centers can share information contained in the IPP with
other person and can identify those who can represent
them in the writing of an IPP.
8. Establishes a legal process for the appointment of an
"authorized representative," defined as "the conservator
of an adult, Ýor] the guardian, conservator, or parent
or person having legal custody of a minor claimant" who
is a client of a regional center, to assist a client in
a fair hearing procedure for resolving conflicts with a
regional center or to assist an area board for
developmental disabilities in its pursuit of legal,
administrative, or other appropriate remedies to ensure
the protection of the legal, civil, and service rights
of person who require services or who are receiving
services in the area.
This bill:
1. Adds to the definition of an "authorized representative"
of a client of a regional center to include a
responsible adult, appointed by a court order, who the
court determines is an appropriate representative for
the minor.
2. Provides to the juvenile court and to probation
departments the authority to include decision about
developmental services when appointing an education
rights holder or a person to make educational decision
for a child.
3. Gives to court-appointed "educational rights holders,"
in general, the authority to make decisions about
developmental services as well as about education when
the child in question is a client of the regional
center.
4. Gives a court-appointed developmental services
decisionmaker the right to access the minor's
information, to participate the IPP process, and to
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participate in the fair hearing process, and adds
double-jointing language with SB 146 (Wyland).
Comment
This bill gives court-appointed authorized representatives
the right to have access to a child's information and
records, including the child's regional center case file,
the right to participate in the IPP process, and the right
to provide written consent for the child in dealings with a
regional center that include assessment, eligibility, and
the creation of an IPP.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, costs are
related to the fact that "children would now have someone
specifically appointed to aid them in making decisions
related to their developmental disabilities where they did
not have one under current law."
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/23/11)
Public Counsel (source)
California Probation, Parole and Correctional Association
Children's Law Center
County Welfare Directors Association of California
Developmental Disabilities Area Board 10
Disability Rights California
State Council on Developmental Disabilities
The Executive Committee of the Family Law Section of the
State Bar of California
Youth Law Center
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : Public Counsel, this bill's
sponsor, notes that adoptive cases processed through the
county dependency system are frequently not receiving
regional center services, despite eligibility, and the
children's caregivers have no access to the child's
regional center records, including the IPP. In these
cases, court-appointed educational rights holders do not
have access to the regional center records and may be
denied status as the child's representative when seeking
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regional center services.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 8/25/11 (Consent)
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall,
Bill Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bradford, Brownley,
Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos, Carter,
Cedillo, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Davis, Dickinson,
Donnelly, Eng, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani,
Beth Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gatto, Gordon, Grove,
Hagman, Halderman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Roger
Hernández, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones,
Knight, Lara, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mansoor,
Mendoza, Miller, Mitchell, Monning, Morrell, Nestande,
Nielsen, Norby, Olsen, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel Pérez,
Portantino, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Swanson,
Torres, Valadao, Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada,
John A. Pérez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bonilla, Gorell
CTW:kc 8/26/11 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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