Amended in Assembly June 24, 2015

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 77

Introduced by Assembly Member Mark Stone

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(Coauthors: Assembly Members Gatto and Lackey)

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(Coauthors: Senators Beall, Monning, Nguyen, Pavley, and Vidak)

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May 20, 2015

Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 77—Relative to California Early Intervention Services Act.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

ACR 77, as amended, Mark Stone. California Early Intervention Services Act.

This measure would recognize that every child who needs comprehensive health and early intervention services and supports in order to achieve his or her developmental potential begin insert should end insert have those services easily accessible, sufficient, responsive, timely, and of high quality. The measure would further urge the Legislature to leverage existing efforts and statutes to ensure an accountable, results-oriented, and coordinated network of resources in order to provide multidisciplinary early identification and intervention services and supports to California infants and toddlers.

Fiscal committee: no.

WHEREAS, The period between a child’s birth and third
birthday is a time of intense and ongoing development across the
cognitive, motor, language, and social-emotional domains; and

WHEREAS, Positive health and learning outcomes depend upon
children continually building new skills and abilities along a
developmental trajectory of incremental milestones that begins at
birth; and

WHEREAS, The Legislature passed Assembly Concurrent
Resolution 155 in 2014 in recognition that begin delete “research end delete begin insert “[r]esearch end insert
over the last two decades in the evolving fields of neuroscience,
molecular biology, public health, genomics, and epigenetics reveals
that experiences in the first few years of life build changes into
the biology of the human body that, in turn, influence the person’s
physical and mental health over his or her lifetime”; and

WHEREAS, Adversity during the early years can impair
development, and has a cumulative impact, with children exposed
to maltreatment and additional risk factors facing increased
likelihood of having one or more delays in their cognitive,
language, or emotional development; and

WHEREAS, Unaddressed developmental delays and disabilities
result in persistently impaired learning and health outcomes for
children; and

WHEREAS, It is estimated that one in four California children
have moderate or higher risk for a developmental delay, such as
speech or language impairment, and that nationally one in every
68 children were affected by autism spectrum disorder in 2014;
and

WHEREAS, Latino and African American children are more
likely to experience barriers in accessing early identification and
intervention services; and

WHEREAS, The Legislature has previously established through
the California Early Intervention Services Act, in Section 95001
of the Government Code, that begin delete “there end delete begin insert “[t]here end insert is a need to provide
appropriate early intervention services individually designed for
infants and toddlers ... who have disabilities or are at risk of having
disabilities, to enhance their development and to minimize the
potential for developmental delays”; and

WHEREAS, The California Early Intervention Services Act
additionally established that begin delete “early end delete begin insert “[e]arly end insert intervention services
for infants and toddlers with disabilities or who are at risk of having
disabilities represent an investment of resources, in that these
services reduce the ultimate costs to our society, by minimizing
the need for special education and related services in later school
begin delete years... [and that] end delete begin insert years and . . . [that] end insert maximize the potential of
the individuals to be effective in the context of daily life and
begin delete activities;” end delete begin insert activities”; end insert and

WHEREAS, Early intervention services include targeted health
and education supports for infants and toddlers who have delays
or are at risk of having delays, in order to enhance their
development, improve school readiness, and minimize the potential
for later challenges; and

WHEREAS, The California Early Intervention Services Act
previously established that “the earlier intervention is started, the
greater is the ultimate cost-effectiveness and the higher is the
educational attainment and quality of life achieved by children
with disabilities”; and

WHEREAS, Experts like the American Academy of Pediatrics
recommend routine, regular, begin insert and end insert formalized developmental and
behavioral screening for all infants and toddlers as the most
effective way of identifying children in need of supports and
services; and

WHEREAS, Fewer than one-third of California infants and
toddlers received the recommended developmental and behavioral
screenings according to 2011-2012 parent reported data; and

WHEREAS, begin delete forty-one end delete begin insert Forty-one end insert percent of parents report
having one or more concerns about their children’s physical,
begin delete behavioral end delete begin insert behavioral, end insert or social development; and

WHEREAS, Nearly three out of four California children with
special health care needs under three years of age do not receive
early intervention services they could benefit from, and the 2012
annual report for California’s Early Start program shows that it
serves fewer infants and toddlers with early intervention services
than the national average; and

WHEREAS, A system of universal developmental and
behavioral screenings should work hand in hand with a robust
early intervention system, and should be linked by facilitated
family-focused referral, care coordination, child-centered health
homes, and information-sharing mechanisms to guide and support
families while maintaining accountability; and

WHEREAS, The California Early Intervention Services Act
previously established that “the State Department of Developmental
Services, the State Department of Education, the State Department
of Health Care Services, and the State Department of Social
Services coordinate services to infants and toddlers with disabilities
and their families”; and

WHEREAS, The California Early Intervention Services Act
additionally established that “families be well informed, supported,
and respected as capable and collaborative decisionmakers
regarding services for their child”; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
thereof concurring, That every California child deserves periodic
formal assessment of his or her development for the purposes of
introducing supports and services if needed; and be it further

Resolved, That every child who needs supports in order to
achieve his or her developmental potential deserves that those
services be easily accessible, sufficient, responsive, timely, and
of high quality; and be it further

Resolved, That every parent or caregiver shall be fully engaged
and supported throughout early identification and intervention
processes; and be it further

Resolved, That the Legislature leverage existing efforts and
statutes to ensure an accountable, begin delete results-orientated, end delete
begin insert results end insert begin insert -oriented, end insert and coordinated statewide network of resources,
services, systems, and strong local infrastructures, in order to
provide family-centered, comprehensive, begin insert and end insert multidisciplinary
early identification and intervention services and supports to
California infants and toddlers; and be it further

Resolved, That the begin delete Legislative end delete begin insert Legislature end insert shall support and
promote community-driven efforts to coordinate referrals and
linkages between, and guide families through the complexities of,
the early identification and intervention systems, through programs
and models such as Help Me Grow California; and be it further

Resolved, That the begin delete Legislative end delete begin insert Legislature end insert invest sufficiently in
comprehensive health and early intervention services and supports
in order to ensure that they meet the health and learning needs of
California’s diverse child population, and wisely harness
governmental and other resources toward these common goals;
and be it further

Resolved, That these services and supports build upon existing
efforts, and be embedded and accessible from the places and people
that families know and trust, including pediatric practices and other
health settings, community-based organizations, regional centers,
Early Head Start programs, First 5s, and other local early childhood
programs; and be it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies
of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.