BILL ANALYSIS �
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1041
Author: Chesbro (D), et al.
Amended: 9/3/13 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE : 5-1, 6/25/13
AYES: Yee, Emmerson, Evans, Liu, Wright
NOES: Berryhill
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 6-1, 8/30/13
AYES: De Le�n, Gaines, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg
NOES: Walters
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 68-7, 5/29/13 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Developmental services: Employment First Policy
SOURCE : State Council on Developmental Disabilities
DIGEST : This bill establishes an Employment First Policy and
requires each regional center to consider the policy when
developing an individual program plan (IPP) for a transition age
youth or working age adult. This bill also requires regional
centers to provide consumers aged 16 and older with information
about the Employment First Policy, options for integrated
competitive employment, and services and supports, including
postsecondary education, that are available to enable the
consumer to transition from school to work, and to obtain and
keep an integrated competitive job. This bill requires the
State Council on Developmental Disabilities (SCDD) to develop an
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informational brochure and Web site information about options
for integrated competitive employment.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1. Establishes the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities
Services Act, which states that California is responsible for
providing an array of services and supports sufficiently
complete to meet the needs and choices of each person with
developmental disabilities, regardless of age or degree of
disability, and at each stage of life and to support their
integration into the mainstream life of the community.
2. Establishes a system of nonprofit regional centers to
provide fixed points of contact in the community for all
persons with developmental disabilities and their families,
to coordinate services and supports best suited to them
throughout their lifetime.
3. Declares legislative intent that agencies serving persons
with developmental disabilities produce evidence that their
services have resulted in consumer or family empowerment and
in more independent, productive, and normal lives for the
persons served.
4. Establishes the IPP process as the central planning process
for services and supports of an individual, defines steps
that the process must include, states that the plan is
developed through individualized needs determination,
requires that an individual and, when appropriate, parents or
legal guardian, participate in the IPP process.
5. Requires that within the IPP planning process, a regional
center must create statement of goals, based on the needs,
preferences, and life choices of the individual with
developmental disabilities, and a statement of specific,
time-limited objectives for implementing the person's goals
and addressing his or her needs.
6. States that these goals and objectives should maximize
opportunities for the consumer to develop relationships, be
part of community life in the areas of community
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participation, housing, work, school, and leisure, increase
control over his or her life, acquires increasingly positive
roles in community life, and develop competencies to help
accomplish these goals.
7. Establishes within the SCDD a standing committee entitled
the Employment First Committee and specifies its duties and
composition.
8. Includes among those duties the requirement to recommend
legislative, regulatory, and policy changes to increase the
number of individuals with developmental disabilities in
integrated employment, self-employment, and microenterprises,
and who earn wages at or above minimum wage. Requires that
this include development of an Employment First Policy.
9. Requires that public schools provide an individualized
education plan (IEP) for children with exceptional needs that
identifies the student's academic needs, sets goals and
defines progress toward achieving those goals, and, beginning
at age 16, sets appropriate measurable postsecondary goals.
10.Defines "integrated work" as the engagement of an employee
with a disability in work in a setting typically found in the
community wherein the employee interacts with individuals
without disabilities other than those who are providing
services to those individuals, to the same extent that
individuals without disabilities in comparable positions
interact with other persons.
This bill establishes a state Employment First Policy for
individuals with developmental disabilities, under the Lanterman
Act. Specifically this bill:
1.Declares that it is the policy of the state, to be known as
the Employment First Policy, that opportunities for
integrated, competitive employment be given the highest
priority for working age individuals with developmental
disabilities, regardless of the severity of their
disabilities.
2.Requires implementation of the policy to be consistent with,
and not infringe upon, the rights of people with developmental
disabilities to make informed choices with respect to services
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and supports through the Individual Program Plan process.
3.Provides that integrated competitive employment is intended to
be the first option considered by planning teams for working
age adults, but individuals may choose goals other than
integrated competitive employment.
4.Adds to the Employment First Committee's responsibilities by:
A. Requiring it to identify existing sources of consumer
data that can be used to provide demographic information
for individuals, including, but not limited to, age,
gender, ethnicity, types of disability, and geographic
location of consumers, and that can be matched with
employment data to identify outcomes and trends of the
Employment First Policy.
B. Recommending goals for measuring employment
participation and outcomes for various consumers within the
developmental services system.
1.Requires a regional center planning team to consider the
Employment First Policy, as specified, when developing an
Individual Program Plan for a transition age youth or working
age adult.
2.Provides that provisions of this bill not be construed to
expand the existing entitlement to services for persons with
disabilities.
3.Provides that provisions of this bill will not alleviate
schools of their responsibility to provide transition services
to individuals with developmental disabilities.
4.Requires SCDD to develop an informational brochure about the
Employment First Policy, translate it into various languages,
and to post it on its Web site.
5.Requires regional centers to provide consumers, beginning at
16 years of age with information about the Employment First
Policy.
Background
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According to the Senate Human Services Committee analysis,
employment of individuals with developmental disabilities is a
state and national priority. Historically in California, DDS
consumers have worked in a range of settings. Those requiring
supported employment settings may participate in the Work
Activity Program, where services are provided in a sheltered
work environment and reimbursed at a daily per capita rate.
Consumers also may participate in supported employment work in
the community with support services provided by on the job by
community rehabilitation programs.
However, people with developmental disabilities remain
significantly under-represented in the workforce. According to
the State Council on Developmental Disabilities, data indicates
that just 13% of working age individuals with developmental and
intellectual disabilities were in competitive or supported
employment in 2010. This equates to an unemployment rate of 87%
for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities in
California, making the state 41st in the nation for the
employment of this portion of our population.
In recent years, efforts have been made to move more consumers
into competitive or supported employment. AB 287 (Beall,
Chapter 31, Statutes of 2009) required that the state establish
an "Employment First" committee in the State Council on
Developmental Disabilities to identify strategies to increase
the number of people with developmental disabilities who are
employed and earning at least minimum wage.
In August 2011, the council released an Employment First report
outlining goals and objectives to improve integrated employment
outcomes. Objectives include interagency collaboration,
transition planning for students in secondary education,
obtaining and maintaining employment and assessing the impact of
employment on public benefits. The report notes on page 4 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."
A subsequent annual report released in 2012 identified critical
next steps, including passage of a bill establishing an
Employment First Policy for the state. Should this bill pass,
according to SCDD, California would become the nineteenth state
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with such a policy.
Prior Legislation
AB 2338 (Chesbro, 2012) was virtually identical to this bill.
That bill was held on the Senate Appropriations Committee's
suspense file.
AB 254 (Beall, 2011) was substantially similar to this bill and
required a regional center to be guided by the Employment First
policy in developing the IPP of a transitional-age youth.
AB 287 (Beall, Chapter 231, Statutes of 2009) established the
Employment First Committee as a standing committee of the SCDD
to identify strategies and best practices for significantly
increasing the numbers of people with developmental disabilities
in competitive integrated employment and the number who earn
wages at or above minimum wage.
AB 2424 (Beall, 2008) would have established an employment-first
policy and 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. It was held by the Senate
Appropriations Committee.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Unknown potential increase in demand for supported employment
services by regional centers (General Fund and federal funds).
By making competitive employment the highest priority for
individuals with developmental disabilities, it is likely that
there will be increased demand for the services that assist
individuals with developmental disabilities in successfully
attaining competitive employment, such as supported employment
services. Some regional center consumers may require
additional supported employment services, while continuing to
receive day program or sheltered workshop services, until the
consumer is ready for competitive employment. In the short
run, this is likely to increase overall program costs.
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Unknown potential increase in demand for pre-vocational
training services by special education local plan areas
(General Fund). Under current law, school-age individuals
with developmental disabilities are entitled to certain
special education services, including services to assist the
individual with the transition from school to employment.
Under an Employment First Policy, there may be additional
demand for pre-vocational services.
Unknown potential long-term savings due to reduced demand for
sheltered workshop services or day program services. To the
extent that the Employment First Policy is successful in
assisting regional center consumers with achieving long-term
competitive employment, there is likely to be a reduction in
the demand for other services. It is important to note that
regional centers spend, on average, about $4,100 per consumer
per year on individual supported employment services, while
the regional centers spend on average $5,300 for sheltered
workshop services and $11,700 for day programs.
SUPPORT : (Verified 9/3/13)
State Council on Developmental Disabilities (source)
Alameda County Developmental Disabilities Planning and Advisory
Council
The Alliance
The ARC California
California State PTA
Developmental Disabilities Area Board 10
Disability Rights California
East Bay Developmental Disabilities Legislative Coalition
East Bay Innovations
Self-Advocacy Board of Los Angeles County
State Independent Living Council
Tarjan Center at UCLA
United Cerebral Palsy
USC University Center for Excellence in Developmental
Disabilities
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The author states that AB 1041 would
prioritize opportunities for integrated competitive employment
for working age individuals with developmental disabilities,
regardless of the severity of their disabilities. For the last
40 years it has been the policy of the State of California,
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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 ? to be integrated into the
mainstream of life in their home communities" and to receive
services and supports that enable them to live "more
independent, productive, and normal lives." However, the author
states that California has failed to adequately support people
with developmental disabilities to achieve one of the central
elements of leading a normal, productive life: employment.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 68-7, 5/29/13
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom,
Blumenfield, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown,
Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Ch�vez, Chesbro, Cooley,
Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Garcia,
Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray, Grove, Hagman,
Hall, Roger Hern�ndez, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder,
Lowenthal, Maienschein, Medina, Mitchell, Morrell, Mullin,
Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel
P�rez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner, Stone,
Ting, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, John
A. P�rez
NOES: Allen, Donnelly, Beth Gaines, Harkey, Logue, Melendez,
Wagner
NO VOTE RECORDED: Conway, Holden, Mansoor, Patterson, Vacancy
JL:AL:nl 9/3/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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