BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
SB 321 (Price) - Developmental services: regional centers:
performance contracts.
Amended: April 2, 2013 Policy Vote: Human Services 4-0
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: May 23, 2013 Consultant: Brendan McCarthy
SUSPENSE FILE.
Bill Summary: SB 321 would require the Department of
Developmental Services to establish contract performance
guidelines for regional centers, relating to cultural and
linguistic competency.
Fiscal Impact:
One-time costs likely between $100,000 and $200,000 for the
Department of Developmental Services to adopt or update
regulations (General Fund).
Ongoing costs for the regional centers in the hundreds of
thousands per year (General Fund). Under the bill, each
regional center would have to evaluate the cultural and
linguistic competency of the regional center, its contracted
vendors, and the needs of the communities the regional
center serves. The amount of staff time required will likely
vary between regional centers, but in the aggregate is
likely to be in the hundreds of thousands per year.
Unknown impact on the utilization of services by regional
center consumers. If regional centers find that there are
significant disparities in the provision of services and
develop strategies to reduce those disparities, there could
be increased demand for services. The extent of this General
Fund impact is unknown.
Background: The Department of Developmental Services is
responsible for coordinating care and services for about 250,000
people with developmental disabilities. The vast majority of
these people are served by 21 regional centers, which are
non-profit entities that contract with the state. The regional
centers, in turn, contract with a variety of vendors to provide
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direct services to the developmentally disabled.
In April 2012, the Senate Select Committee on Autism and Related
Disorders held an informational hearing to investigate equal
access to regional center services for consumers with autism
spectrum disorders. Following the hearing, a Taskforce on Equity
and Diversity for Regional Center Autism Services was
established to study and make recommendations to ensure that
consumers of regional center services receive appropriate
services, regardless of race, ethnicity, or other socio-economic
factors. Based on the deliberations of the taskforce, staff of
the Select Committee compiled recommendations and findings of
the taskforce into a draft report.
The 2012-13 developmental services trailer bill (AB 1472,
Chapter 25 of 2012) requires the Department and the regional
centers to collect and analyze data on the utilization of
services by consumers with respect to age, race, language
spoken, and disability.
Proposed Law: SB 321 would require the Department of
Developmental Services to establish contract performance
guidelines for regional centers, relating to cultural and
linguistic competency.
Under the bill, performance contracts between the Department and
the regional centers would require regional centers to provide a
variety of information about regional center services and
operations to the public in appropriate languages and to
consider the linguistic and ethnic diversity of its community
when conducting focus groups or surveys.
The bill requires the Department to develop contract guidelines
relating to cultural and linguistic competency. After 2014, the
Department would be required to include in a regional center's
performance contract areas that require improvement.
Related Legislation:
SB 158 (Correa) would establish a pilot project to identify
underserved communities and improve autism identification
and service delivery. That bill is on this committee's
Suspense File.
SB 208 (Lara) would require any request for proposal that
is prepared by the Department of Developmental Services or a
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regional center to include a section relating to issues of
equity and diversity. That bill is on this committee's
Suspense File.
SB 319 (Price) would require the Department of
Developmental Services to ensure that regional centers
report certain information on the services they provide in a
uniform manner. The bill would require the regional centers
to report on whether there are disparities in the provision
of services and plans to reduce disparities. That bill will
be heard in this committee.
SB 367 (Block) would require regional centers to establish
a process to review cultural and linguistic competence. That
bill is on this committee's Suspense File.
SB 555 (Correa) would require communications between a
regional center and a consumer and his/her family to be in
the consumer's native language. That bill will be heard in
this committee.
AB 1232 (V. M. Perez) would require an existing Department
of Developmental Services quality assurance tool to assess
the provision of services in a culturally and linguistically
appropriate manner. That bill is in the Assembly Human
Services Committee.
Staff Comments: The Administrative Procedure Act (beginning at
Section 11340 of the Government Code) prohibits state agencies
from issuing or enforcing any rule, regulation, order, or
standard of general application unless it has been issued as a
regulation under the Administrative Procedure Act. In order to
clarify the requirements of this bill, the Department will most
likely have to adopt implementing regulations.
According to the Select Committee on Autism and Related
Disorders, there are indications of disparities in the provision
of services to racial and ethnic minorities - both in the larger
healthcare system and within the state's regional center system.
This implies that there may be significant unmet needs for
services for racial and ethnic minorities with developmental
disabilities. Under California law, services and supports for
the developmentally disabled are entitlements and the regional
centers are required to provide services and supports for
eligible individuals.
The bill requires regional centers to analyze the utilization of
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services, determine whether there are any disparities in
utilization, and make recommendations to reduce disparities.
To the extent that this bill compels regional centers to reduce
disparities in the provision of services, the bill will likely
result in overall increase in the demand for services. At this
time, the unmet need for services and the fiscal implications of
meeting that need are unknown, but could be significant.