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:  9/2/11
          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  :  Not available


           SUBJECT  :    Developmental services:  decision making

           SOURCE  :     Public Counsel


           DIGEST  :    This bill gives juvenile courts the authority to 
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          limit a parent or guardian's right to make decisions about 
          the regional center and other developmental services for a 
          child with developmental disabilities, and to appoint a 
          developmental services decisionmaker.

          NOTE:  This bill previously passed both houses of the 
          Legislature this session, but prior action was rescinded in 
          order to add clean-up language to clarify Department of 
          Developmental Services Trailer Bill language related to the 
          ability of the court to determine eligibility for regional 
          center and developmental center services.
           
          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), clarify that, in cases where the juvenile court 
          steps in to make developmental services decisions on behalf 
          of a child at risk of abuse or neglect, and the child 
          receives services from a regional center, the court's 
          decisions regarding developmental service must be 
          consistent with the child's individual program plan, and 
          make other changes described below.

           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.


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           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 
             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. Includes changes to provisions of AB 104 (Assembly 
             Budget Committee), Chapter 37, Statutes of 2011, related 
             to how the juvenile court will determine whether a minor 
             is competent enough to participate in juvenile court 
             proceedings based on a determination of whether the 
             minor is developmentally disabled. 

          2. Includes technical clean-up to SB 1115 (Senate Public 
             Safety Committee), Chapter 178, Statutes of 2010, 
             including changes to add authorized representatives to 

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             the individuals permitted to request confidential 
             records or information, related to minors with 
             developmental disabilities, and add surgeons and 
             clinical counselors to the list of professionals not 
             required to reveal this confidential information.

          3. Changes provisions of AB 104 (Assembly Budget 
             Committee), Chapter 37, Statutes of 2011, related to how 
             the juvenile court will determine whether a minor is 
             competent enough to participate in juvenile court 
             proceedings based on a determination of whether the 
             minor is developmentally disabled as follows:  

             A.    Delete langue stating that the court shall appoint 
                the director of a regional center or his/her designee 
                to evaluate the minor and make a determination, in 
                writing, about whether the minor is developmentally 
                disabled.

             B.    Direct the court to appoint an expert to evaluate 
                whether the minor has a developmental disability and 
                whether the developmental disability impairs the 
                minor's competency.

             C.    Direct the court, if the expert believes the minor 
                is developmentally disabled, to appoint the director 
                of a regional center or his/her designee to evaluate 
                the minor and determine, in writing, whether the 
                minor is eligible for services under the Lanterman 
                Developmental Disabilities Services Act (Lanterman 
                Act). 

             D.    Delete language allowing the court to make orders 
                for services that may assist the minor in attaining 
                competency consistent with the Lanterman Act.

             E.    Allow the court to make orders for services to 
                assist the minor in attaining competency and that, in 
                ordering services to assist the minor in attaining 
                competency, the court is not authorized to place an 
                incompetent minor in a developmental center or 
                state-operated community facility without a 
                determination by the regional center director or 
                his/her designee that the minor has a developmental 

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                disability and is eligible for services under the 
                Lanterman Act.

             F.    Clarify that the director of the regional center 
                or his/her designee is not authorized by these 
                provisions to make determinations regarding the 
                minor's competency.

             G.    Specify that the expert opinion that a minor is 
                developmentally disabled does not supersede an 
                independent determination by the regional center 
                regarding eligibility for Lanterman Act services.

           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 Assembly Appropriations Committee analysis 
          of this bill as amended July 14, 2011, costs associated 
          with this bill should be minor and absorbable within 
          existing resources.

           SUPPORT  :   (Verified  9/7/11)

          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


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           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 
          regional center services.


          CTW:kc  9/7/11   Senate Floor Analyses 

                         SUPPORT/OPPOSITION:  SEE ABOVE

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