BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
SB 367 (Block) - Developmental centers: regional centers:
cultural and linguistic competency.
Amended: April 1, 2013 Policy Vote: Human Services 6-0
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: May 23, 2013 Consultant: Brendan McCarthy
SUSPENSE FILE.
Bill Summary: SB 367 would require regional centers to report
annually on issues relating to possible inequity in the access
to services and efforts made by the regional center to address
inequity.
Fiscal Impact:
The regional centers indicate that they will need
additional staff to identify barriers to utilization of
services and work with outside groups to reduce disparities
in service utilization. The regional centers indicate that
the total cost to undertake these activities is likely to be
about $800,000 per year (General Fund).
To the extent that there are barriers to the utilization of
services and the regional centers are successful in reducing
or eliminating such barriers to utilization, there could be
increased demand for regional center services. The extent of
this 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
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
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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 367 would require regional centers to report
annually on issues relating to inequity in the access to
services and efforts made by the regional center to address
inequity.
As a condition of a regional center's contract with the
Department of Developmental Services, a regional center would be
required to report on the regional center's efforts to address
issues of inequity in access to services. The report would
include: a description of the utilization of services by race
and ethnicity of the regional center's consumers, information of
barriers to utilization of services, information on steps taken
to reduce barriers to utilization, and information on
partnerships with community-based providers of services in
underserved communities.
Related Legislation:
SB 158 (Correa) would require a demonstration program to
provide improved services to individuals with autism
spectrum disorders through the regional centers. That bill
will be heard in this committee.
SB 208 (Lara) would require any request for proposal that
is prepared by the Department of Developmental Services or a
regional center to include a section relating to issues of
equity and diversity. That bill will be heard in this
committee.
SB 319 (Price) would require regional centers to collect
and analyze data on consumers race and ethnicity and access
to services. The bill would require regional centers to
develop plans to reduce disparities that are found. That
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bill will be heard in this committee.
SB 321 (Price) would require the Department of
Developmental Services to establish contract guidelines and
performance measures relating to cultural and linguistic
competence.
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.
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 recently enacted trailer bill requires the
collection and analysis of data on the utilization of services
with respect to the age, race, and ethnicity of consumers. This
bill would impose additional requirements on the regional
centers to identify any barriers to access by consumers and take
steps to improve access to services.
Press reports and findings of the Select Committee on Autism and
Related Disorders indicate that there are disparities in the
utilization of services between racial and ethnic groups and
that consumers of some ethnic groups are not accessing services
they are entitled to under the law. To the extent that there are
systematic disparities in the use of services and this bill
improves access to services by consumers, there could be
increased demand for services. The financial impacts of
increased demand are unknown at this time.