BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE HUMAN
SERVICES COMMITTEE
Senator Leland Y. Yee, Chair
BILL NO: AB 1112
A
AUTHOR: Ammiano
B
VERSION: April 18, 2013
HEARING DATE: June 11, 2103
1
FISCAL: Yes
1
1
CONSULTANT: Mareva Brown
2
SUBJECT
Developmental services: habilitation
SUMMARY
The bill would require that a program provider, under
specified circumstances, be paid a one-time fee of $700 for
employment preparation services provided to a consumer
prior to placement in an integrated job. This bill also
would require that providers of individualized and
group-supported employment services be paid the rates
provided in existing law or rates established by the
Department of Rehabilitation (DOR), whichever is greater.
ABSTRACT
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
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degree of disability, and at each stage of life and to
support their integration into the mainstream life of
the community (WIC 4500, et seq.)
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. (WIC
4620)
3) Defines "habilitation services" to mean
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. (WIC 4851 (a))
4) Defines a Work Activity Program to include
sheltered workshops or work activity centers,
certified community-based work activity programs or
similar programs accredited by the Rehabilitation
Accreditation Commission. (WIC 4851 (e))
5) Defines the Supported Employment Program to include
placement of an adult with a developmental disability
in a fully integrated job in the community in which
the consumer interacts with individuals without
developmental disabilities in the course of their
work. The individual is provided ongoing services
necessary for the individual to retain employment
including job development, on-the-job training and
support including advocacy or intervention on behalf
of the consumer as needed, and other one-to-one or
group services, as needed to maintain employment.
These services are intended to decrease over time as
the individual maintains job stability. (WIC 4851 (n)
et seq.)
6) Requires a regional center to authorize appropriate
habilitation services for a consumer while he or she
awaits service authorization from the DOR if the
regional center has referred that consumer to the DOR
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for vocational rehabilitation services, and the
consumer is put on a waiting list. (WIC 4855)
7) Establishes the following rates and fees to be paid
to interim providers of rehabilitation services that
are authorized by the regional center for the period
during which a consumer is on a waiting list for
vocational services from DOR:
a) A rate of thirty dollars and
eighty-two cents ($30.82) per hour for
supported employment services provided to
consumers receiving individualized or group
services;
b) A three-hundred-sixty-dollar ($360)
fee to be paid to a program provider upon
intake of a consumer into a supported
employment program;
c) A seven-hundred-twenty-dollar ($720)
fee to be paid upon placement of a consumer in
an integrated job, as specified; and
d) A seven-hundred-twenty-dollar ($720)
fee to be paid after a 90-day retention of a
consumer in a job, as specified. (WIC 4860. (a)
(1))
This bill :
1) Adds to the established fees for services paid to
interim providers of habilitation services a $700 fee
to be paid to the program provider for employment
preparation services provided to a consumer prior to
placement in an integrated job.
2) Stipulates that the $700 fee shall not be paid if
that consumer completed an employment preparation
process with the same supported employment program
within the previous 12 months.
3) Requires that the regional center pay the rates
established in statute, or rates established by the
Department of Rehabilitation (DOR), whichever are
greater, as specified.
FISCAL IMPACT
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An Assembly Appropriations Committee analysis concluded
that this legislation will likely have no fiscal impact on
DDS and DOR. DDS only pays the fees contained in this bill
when DOR is under an Order of Selection and has to place
DDS consumers on waiting lists. DOR has only done this
once in the last 25 years.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
Purpose of the bill
The author states that while services within the Department
of Rehabilitation include a work preparation category for
clients who are not referred by the regional centers, the
same work preparation component is not available to clients
who have developmental disabilities. This bill provides
parity with others receiving work preparation services.
The author states that this bill is necessary to equalize
the systems to ensure that all persons who provide
employment services to the disabled are adequately
reimbursed for those services and provide job seekers with
developmental disabilities greater access to employment
opportunities. With an over 80 percent unemployment rate
for people with Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities it
is important that they have equal access to the full array
of employment support services, the author states.
This bill also would align the hourly rate structure with
that of services provided by the Department of
Rehabilitation, if applicable.
Developmental Services
A developmental disability is defined as one that
originates before the age of 18, is expected to continue
indefinitely, and constitutes a substantial disability for
that individual. It includes intellectual disabilities,
cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and autism spectrum disorders
(ASD), but not conditions that are solely psychiatric or
physical in nature.
Services for individuals with developmental disabilities in
California are established in the Lanterman Developmental
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Disabilities Services Act and administered by the state
Department of Developmental Services (DDS). The Lanterman
Act, as it is commonly called, confers an entitlement to
services and supports as laid out in a consumer's
individual program plan (IPP). These services are designed
to enable a consumer to live independently and in the least
restrictive environment possible. Direct responsibility for
providing supports to consumers within the DDS system lies
within 21 nonprofit regional centers which contract with
DDS to provide intake and assessment, case management,
development of the IPP and provision of services either
directly or through vendors. More than 260,000 DDS
consumers live in community placements, including their own
homes, or residential placements. Another approximately
1,600 consumers live in state-operated Developmental
Centers or a smaller, state-run community facility.
The Lanterman Act requires that the services and supports
provided to consumers enable them to approximate the
pattern of everyday living available to people without
disabilities of the same age (WIC 4500 et seq). It requires
that the IPP 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
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 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
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indicates that just 13% of working age individuals with
developmental and intellectual disabilities are in
competitive or supported employment.
This equates to an unemployment rate of 87% for
people with developmental and intellectual
disabilities in California, ranking California
41st in the nation for the employment of this
portion of our population. (Policy 2010-02,
SCDD)
In recent years, efforts have been made to move more
consumers into competitive or supported employment. AB 287
(Beall) 2009, would have 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.
Related Legislation
AB 954 (Maienschein 2013), restores the regional center
hourly job coach rate and employment service fees to 2006
levels, which were decreased by 10% in 2008-09.
AB 954 was held in the Assembly Appropriations committee.
AB 1041 (Chesbro 2013), establishes the Employment First
Policy for individuals with developmental disabilities and
establishes integrated employment as a goal for a regional
center consumer's individual program plan (IPP). That bill
is currently pending in the Senate.
SB 577 (Pavley 2013), requires DDS to establish a pilot
program for young adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder to
help them find pathways to financial independence through
work. This bill was held in the Senate Appropriations
Committee.
AB 287 (Beall) Chapter 231, Statutes of 2009, establishes
the Employment First Committee as a standing committee of
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
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minimum wage.
PRIOR VOTES
Assembly Floor: 70 - 0
Assembly Appropriations: 17 - 0
Assembly Human Services: 7 - 0
POSITIONS
Support: Association of Regional Center Agencies
The Arc and united Cerebral Palsy California
Collaboration
Oppose: None received
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