BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1041
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 16, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Mark Stone, Chair
AB 1041 (Chesbro) - As Introduced: February 22, 2013
SUBJECT : Developmental services: Employment First Policy
SUMMARY : Creates a statewide Employment First Policy and sets
forth requirements related to the inclusion of employment
opportunities and services in a regional center consumer's
individual program plan (IPP).
Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires a regional center planning team to consider the
Employment First Policy, as specified, when developing an IPP
for a transition age youth or a working age adult.
2)Defines "competitive employment" as work in the competitive
labor market that is performed on a full-time or part-time
basis in an integrated setting and for which an individual is
compensated at or above the minimum wage, as specified.
3)Defines "microenterprises" as small businesses, which may be
considered integrated competitive employment, that are owned
by individuals with developmental disabilities who have
control and responsibility for decision-making and overseeing
the business, as specified.
4)Defines "self-employment" as an employment setting in which an
individual works in a chosen occupation, for profit or fee, in
his or her own small business, with control and responsibility
for decisions affecting the conduct of the business.
5)Creates a statewide Employment First Policy, which establishes
that opportunities for integrated, competitive employment
shall be given the highest priority for working age
individuals with development disabilities, regardless of the
severity of their disabilities.
6)Requires implementation of the Employment First Policy to not
infringe upon the rights of people with developmental
disabilities to make informed choices with respect to the
services and supports they need through the IPP process.
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7)Provides that integrated competitive employment shall be the
first option considered by planning teams for working
individuals, but individuals may choose goals other than
integrated competitive employment.
8)Requires that the Employment First Policy not be construed to
expand the existing entitlement to services for persons with
developmental disabilities or alleviate schools of their
responsibility to provide transition services to individuals
with developmental disabilities.
9)Requires regional centers to ensure that consumers, beginning
at 16 years of age, as well as their parents, legal guardians,
or conservators, as appropriate, are provided information in a
language the consumer or appropriate representative
understands, pertaining to the following:
a) The Employment First Policy;
b) Options for integrated competitive employment; and
c) Services and supports, including postsecondary
education, available to enable the consumer to transition
from school to work and to achieve the outcomes of
obtaining and maintaining integrated competitive
employment.
10)Grants the Department of Developmental Services authority to
request information from regional centers pertaining to a
regional center's current and planned activities related to
the Employment First Policy.
EXISTING LAW
1)Establishes an entitlement to services for individuals with
developmental disabilities under the Lanterman Developmental
Disabilities Services Act (Lanterman Act).
2)Authorizes the Department of Developmental Services (DDS) to
contract with private non-profit regional centers to provide
case management services and arrange for, or purchase,
services that meet the needs of individuals with developmental
disabilities, as defined.
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3)Grants all individuals with developmental disabilities, among
all other rights and responsibilities established for any
individual by the United States Constitution and laws and the
California Constitution and laws, the right to treatment and
habilitation services and supports in the least restrictive
environment.
4)Requires the development of an Individual Program Plan (IPP)
for each regional center consumer, which specifies services to
be provided to the consumer, based on his or her
individualized needs determination and preferences, and
defines that planning process as the vehicle to ensure that
services and supports are customized to meet the needs of
consumers who are served by regional centers.
5)Requires that the planning processes to create an IPP include:
a) A statement of the individual's goals and objectives, a
schedule of the type and nature of services to be provided
and other information and considerations, as specified;
b) Review and modification, as necessary, by the regional
center's planning team no less frequently than every three
years; and
c) Statewide training and review of the IPP plan creation,
as specified.
1)Requires the State Council on Developmental Disabilities to
form a standing Employment First Committee to identify
strategies and recommend legislative, regulatory, and policy
changes to increase integrated employment, as defined,
self-employment, and microenterprises for persons with
developmental disabilities, as specified.
2)Defines "habilitation services" as community-based services
purchased or provided for adults with developmental
disabilities, including services provided under the Work
Activity Program and the Supported Employment Program, to
prepare and maintain them at their highest level of vocational
functioning, or to prepare them for referral to vocational
rehabilitation services.
3)States the Legislature's intent that habilitation services for
adults with developmental disabilities be planned and provided
in a manner that enables persons with developmental
disabilities to approximate the pattern of everyday living
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available to nondisabled people of the same age.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown.
BACKGROUND
The Lanterman Act guides the provision of services and supports
for Californians with developmental disabilities, including
intellectual disabilities, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and autism.
Each individual under the Act, typically referred to as a
"consumer," is legally entitled to treatment and habilitation
services and supports in the least restrictive environment.
Lanterman Act services are designed to enable all consumers to
live more independent and productive lives in the community.
The Department of Developmental Services (DDS) contracts with 21
regional centers, which are private nonprofit entities, to carry
out many of the state's responsibilities under the Act.
The regional center caseload includes over 250,000 consumers who
receive services such as residential placements, supported
living services, respite care, transportation, day treatment
programs, work support programs, and various social and
therapeutic activities. Approximately 1,600 consumers reside at
one of California's four Developmental Centers-and one
state-operated, specialized community facility-which provide
24-hour habilitation and medical and social treatment services.
According to the State Council on Developmental Disabilities,
over 125,000 regional center consumers are of working age.
Services provided to consumers with developmental disabilities
are determined through an individualized planning process.
Under this process, planning teams-which include, among others,
the consumer, his or her legally authorized representative, and
one or more regional center representatives-jointly prepare an
Individual Program Plan (IPP) based on the consumer's needs and
choices. The Lanterman Act requires that the IPP promote
community integration and maximize opportunities for each
consumer to develop relationships, be part of community life,
increase control over his or her life, and acquire increasingly
positive roles in the community. The IPP must give the highest
preference to those services and supports that allow minors to
live with their families and adults to live as independently as
possible in the community.
Employment opportunities for individuals with developmental
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disabilities
Regional center consumers in California work in a variety of
settings. Some consumers participate in Work Activity Programs,
which provide work adjustment and supported habilitation
services in a sheltered workshop setting in which consumers are
paid at a daily per capita rate based on productivity.
Consumers may also participate in Supported Employment Programs,
in which they might work in the community with support services
and on-the-job training provided by job coaches, and are paid
directly by the employer.
According to data from DDS and the California Employment
Development Department (EDD), only 14% of working age
Californians with developmental disabilities are employed,
compared to 74.3% of the general population. Additionally, EDD
data related to Californians in the workforce with all
disability types show that disabled persons are nearly twice as
likely to be working part time for non-economic reasons as
persons without disabilities. Individuals with developmental
disabilities continue to experience higher unemployment and
underemployment rates than people in the workforce without
disabilities, and the number of opportunities they have for
gainful employment in integrated settings continues to be
woefully low.
Employment First
The primary goal of Employment First is to ensure people with
significant disabilities are fully included in their communities
and in the workplace. Rather than limiting opportunities for
individuals with disabilities to programs that don't include
employment, or even work placements that limit tasks and wages,
Employment First policies drive meaningful participation of
people with disabilities in typical, integrated workplace
settings where they are paid directly by an employer and earn at
least minimum wage. Employment First recognizes that providing
services and supports that enable people with disabilities to
earn a living wage is a legitimate state priority and makes
integrated employment the first option for employment for
working-age youth and adults with disabilities.
In August 2011, the State Council on Developmental Disabilities
released an Employment First Report outlining goals and
objectives to improve integrated employment outcomes. This bill
adopts the language in that report which proposes to define the
state's Employment First Policy as "integrated, competitive
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employment is the priority outcome for working age individuals
with developmental disabilities." It defines certain key terms
and requires regional center planning teams to consider
employment first as they create IPPs with consumers of working
age. The report also includes the objectives of interagency
collaboration, transition planning for students in secondary
education, obtaining and maintaining employment, and the impact
of employment on public benefits. The report notes that,
"Employment First is about focusing on real jobs, real wages,
and real business settings for individuals with developmental
disabilities to have the ability to increase their income and
benefits, accrue assets and build wealth." Recommendations in
the report are the subject of this bill and prior identical
legislation.
COMMENTS
As employment opportunities increase for individuals with
developmental disabilities, the state should be mindful of the
types of jobs and support services that also increase in
availability. On March 27, 2013, the United States filed a
Motion to Intervene in a pending class action lawsuit against
the State of Oregon ( Lane v. Kitzhaber) , which challenged
segregated workshop placements under the Olmstead decision,
which requires the placement of people with disabilities in
community settings, rather than institutions, whenever
appropriate. The United States also alleged violations of the
ADA and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act for unnecessarily
segregating individuals with intellectual and developmental
disabilities in sheltered workshops when they could be served in
integrated employment settings. The details and requirements of
the Employment First policy in this bill reflect a process for
community integration and fair wages that is consistent with the
spirit of this lawsuit and many other efforts that emphasize
equality and choice, and increase opportunities for community
integration for consumers.
Need for the bill:
According to the author:
"For the last 40 years it has been the policy of the State
of California, through the Lanterman Developmental Services
Act, that people with developmental disabilities be
supported 'to approximate the pattern of everyday living
available to people without disabilities of the same age,?
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to be integrated into the mainstream of life in their home
communities' and receive services and supports that enable
them to live 'more independent, productive, and normal
lives.' (WIC Section 4501) However, the state has failed
to adequately support people with developmental
disabilities to achieve one of the central elements of
leading a normal, productive life - employment? This
legislation seeks to re-orient the provision of
developmental services by making employment opportunities
the priority of the state."
The State Council on Developmental Disabilities states:
"?based on EDD data, only about 14% of working age people
with developmental disabiliti8es are employed.
Unfortunately, this includes many people working very few
hours a week, making sub-minimum wage, and working in
segregated facilities. These appalling employment
statistics represent wasted talents, deferred dreams, and
hundreds of millions in unnecessary costs to the state
supporting people in non-work day services?The policy
embodied in AB 1041 represents a shift in emphasis, and a
change of direction for regional center services."
RELATED LEGISLATION :
AB 954 (Maienschein) restores the hourly job coach rate and
employment service fees that are paid for by regional centers to
2006 levels, which were decreased by 10% in 2008-09.
AB 1112 (Ammiano) removes the statutorily indicated rates and
fees that apply to job coaching and supported employment
services, and instead replaces them with a cross-reference to
rates set by the Department of Rehabilitation.
SB 577 (Pavley) requires DDS to establish a pilot program for
young adults with ASD to help them find pathways to financial
independence through work.
PRIOR LEGISLATION :
AB 2338 (Chesbro, 2012) was identical to this bill. Died in
Senate Appropriations Committee.
AB 287 (Beall) Chapter 231, Statutes of 2009, required the State
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Council on Developmental Disabilities to form a standing
Employment First Committee and required the Committee to
implement an Employment First Policy to identify best practices
for increasing integrated, gainful employment opportunities for
people with developmental disabilities.
AB 2424 (Beall 2008) would have established an employment first
policy. Unlike this bill, AB 2424 also made significant changes
to the IPP process and imposed responsibilities on regional
centers and DDS related to the development of materials, the
provision of information, and the conduct of IPP meetings. AB
2424 also addressed non-employment-related integrated
activities. AB 2424 was held in the Senate Appropriations
Committee.
SB 1270 (Chesbro), Chapter 397, Statutes of 2006, established a
process to receive public input on ways to expand opportunities
for people with developmental disabilities in the areas of
employment and community participation.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Association of Psychiatric Technicians
California State Council on Developmental Disabilities (SCDD)
The Arc and United Cerebral Palsy in CA - (Sponsor)
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Myesha Jackson / HUM. S. / (916)
319-2089