SB 349, as introduced, Walters. Home- and community-based services waiver for the developmentally disabled: sheltered work.
Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid Program provisions. Existing federal law provides for various home- and community-based services waivers.
This bill would require a provider of sheltered work under a specified home- and community-based services waiver to demonstrate that the provider is transitioning at least 20 percent of its clients annually into integrated, individualized employment settings, with or without support, in order to get reimbursed under the waiver.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
The Legislature finds and declares all of the
2following:
3(a) It is good public policy to increase the number of
4Californians with developmental disabilities who pay taxes and
5are self-sufficient and involved in their communities.
P2 1(b) Individuals with developmental disabilities can and would
2prefer to work and are entitled to the supports and services
3necessary to do so.
4(c) The Americans with Disabilities Act recognizes the rights
5of people with developmental disabilities to live, recreate, and
6work in integrated, community-based settings. Title II of the
7Americans with Disabilities Act requires states to
provide qualified
8individuals with disabilities with services and programs in the most
9integrated setting appropriate to their needs.
10(d) People with developmental disabilities are an important and
11largely untapped employment and economic resource.
12(e) Research demonstrates that wages and hours worked increase
13dramatically as individuals move from sheltered or facility-based
14employment to integrated employment, and suggests that other
15benefits include an increase in earnings and taxes paid, reduced
16reliance on publicly funded services, expanded social relationships,
17heightened self-determination, and more typical job acquisitions
18and job roles.
19(f) Increasing integrated and gainful employment opportunities
20for people with developmental disabilities requires collaboration
21and cooperation by state and local agencies,
including, but not
22limited to, the State Department of Developmental Services and
23regional centers, the State Council on Developmental Disabilities,
24the Employment Development Department, the Department of
25Rehabilitation, and the State Department of Education.
26(g) Working-age Californians who have developmental
27disabilities have an unemployment rate as high as 80 percent and
28traditional approaches to increase employment rates through
29training and employer outreach have not been sufficient to solve
30this problem.
31(h) The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
32states that Medicaid-financed prevocational services to sheltered
33workshops are “not an end point, but a time limited [although no
34specific limit is given] service for the purpose of helping someone
35obtain competitive employment.”
36(i) Sheltered
workshops are not doing what the Medicaid
37Program is paying them to do. Between 2007 and 2010, sheltered
38workshops in California transitioned less than 5 percent of workers
39into integrated employment.
Section 14132.993 is added to the Welfare and
2Institutions Code, to read:
(a) In order for a provider of sheltered work to be
4reimbursed under the home- and community-based waiver for the
5developmentally disabled under Section 1915(c) of the federal
6Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 1396n(c)), the provider shall
7demonstrate that the provider is transitioning at least 20 percent
8of its clients annually into integrated, individualized employment
9settings, with or without support.
10(b) For the purposes of this section, “sheltered work” also means
11“facility-based employment” or “center-based employment.”
12(c) The department shall seek any necessary federal approvals
13to implement this section.
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