BILL NUMBER: SCR 120	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator De León

                        MAY 14, 2014

   Relative to Year of the Community.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SCR 120, as introduced, De León. Year of the Community:
developmental disabilities.
   This measure would proclaim the year of 2014 as the "Year of the
Community," and would declare that the Legislature will actively
promote the rights of persons with developmental disabilities and
their full inclusion into community life.
   Fiscal committee: no.



   WHEREAS, Forty-five years ago, the State of California enacted the
Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act, a bold new
direction in public-private partnership that fundamentally changed
and dramatically improved the quality of life for people with
developmental disabilities and their families and that would become a
model for the nation; and
   WHEREAS, The vision to enable people with developmental
disabilities to live full, productive, and satisfying lives as active
members of their communities was embodied in a statewide network of
community-based services and supports with regional centers playing
the role of the coordinating hub; and
   WHEREAS, California's first pilot regional centers for delivering
services to persons with developmental disabilities, Children's
Hospital Los Angeles, and San Francisco Aid for Retarded Children,
which opened in 1966, marked the beginning of the regional center
system; and
   WHEREAS, By their achievements, the pilot centers proved the merit
of the regional center concept and led to the introduction of
Assembly Bill No. 225 in 1969, which enacted the Lanterman Mental
Retardation Services Act of 1969, which is currently known as the
Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act (hereafter
Lanterman Act), and which established the statewide system of
services for persons with developmental disabilities; and
   WHEREAS, The statewide system was designed to be organized at the
regional level and to produce a dynamic network of local services and
supports; and
   WHEREAS, The increased availability of services in the community
precipitated the state's shift from nearly total reliance on large
state institutions to a regional service system in which more than 99
percent of children and adults with developmental disabilities
receive all of their needed services and supports in the community;
and
   WHEREAS, The regional center system was intended to provide
services and supports to individuals with developmental disabilities
that are innovative and cost effective, that result in growth and
development, that improve the quality of life, and that support
inclusion into community life; and
   WHEREAS, During the decades following the passage of the Lanterman
Act, the service system's evolution was enabled by advances in
knowledge and technology and by the increasing recognition of the
right of people with disabilities to choice and full participation in
society, including the rights of children to live at home with their
families; and
   WHEREAS, The 21 regional centers in California continue to expand
and diversify their services while serving over 265,000 persons with
developmental disabilities and their families; and
   WHEREAS, The service system has grown increasingly complex,
requirements for service providers have grown in sophistication, and
expectations for services have become more rigorous due to advances
in knowledge and technology; and
   WHEREAS, The 45th anniversary of the signing of the Lanterman Act
is an appropriate time to reaffirm our commitment to the act, and
renew our investment in the community system; now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly
thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby proclaims the year of
2014 as the "Year of the Community" and the beginning of a decade of
renewed commitment to both the vision of the Lanterman Act and the
investments needed to ensure a sustainable future for California's
community service system; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Legislature will actively promote the rights of
people with developmental disabilities and their full inclusion into
community life in California; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this
resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.