BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1232
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 1, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 1232 (V. Manuel Perez) - As Introduced: February 22, 2013
Policy Committee: Human
ServicesVote:7 - 0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill includes linguistic and cultural competency among the
outcomes measured by the Department of Developmental Services
(DDS) quality assurance instrument. Specifically, this bill:
1)Changes the scope of the existing quality assurance instrument
identified by DDS, which includes an assessment of the
provision of services, to include an assessment of whether
services are provided in a linguistically and culturally
competent manner.
2)Requires that the quality assurance instrument include
outcome-based measures on issues of equity and diversity to
evaluate the linguistic and cultural competency of regional
center services provided to consumers across their lifetime.
3)Requires the independent agency or organization that DDS
contracts with to implement the quality assurance assessment
to have experience with issues related to linguistic and
cultural competency.
FISCAL EFFECT
Costs associated with this legislation should be minor and
absorbable within existing DDS resources.
COMMENTS
Rationale . In 2012, a 20-member Taskforce on Equity and
Diversity for Regional Center Autism Services was created as a
result of a hearing by the Senate Select Committee on Autism and
AB 1232
Page 2
Related Disorders. That taskforce was charged with developing
recommendations to ensure that consumers of regional center
services receive appropriate and timely supportive services
regardless of race, ethnicity, educational background and other
socio-economic factors.
The report was published on March 18, 2013, and identified a
number of recommendations for changes to current practice within
the Developmental Services system. Among them were
recommendations to include issues of equity and diversity within
the quality assurance instrument and to use the instrument to
measure consumers across their lifetime, not just as adults.
Both of these recommendations are reflected in this legislation.
According to the author, this bill simply states that future
contracts by DDS for the quality assessment of regional center
services, already mandated by current law, must also include
outcome measures related to cultural and linguistic competency.
Analysis Prepared by : Julie Salley-Gray / APPR. / (916)
319-2081