BILL NUMBER: AB 488	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 14, 2015
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 26, 2015

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Gonzalez

                        FEBRUARY 23, 2015

   An act to add Sections 19155 and 19405 to the Welfare and
Institutions Code, relating to rehabilitation.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 488, as amended, Gonzalez. Rehabilitation: dignity stipend.
   Existing state and federal laws provide for payment of a special
minimum wage for workers with disabilities that is lower than the
established minimum wage rate, under specified circumstances.
Existing law authorizes the Department of Rehabilitation to regulate
vocational rehabilitation services, which are defined as specified
services and goods to assist persons with disabilities in employment.

   This bill would define "dignity stipend" as the value provided by
an employer to workers defined by the Department of Rehabilitation as
eligible individuals with  mental disabilities 
 an intellectual or developmental disability severe enough to
result in a substantial impediment to   employment 
when the employer pays a special minimum wage to those workers,
operates a community rehabilitation program certified by the
Department of Rehabilitation that provides services to those workers,
and the hourly wage plus the hourly cost of providing those services
exceeds 125% of the California minimum wage rate for those workers.
The bill would require the department to determine whether an
employer that operates a community rehabilitation program provides a
dignity stipend, when certifying the program.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 19155 is added to the Welfare and Institutions
Code, to read:
   19155.  "Dignity stipend" means the value provided by an employer
to workers defined by the Department of Rehabilitation as eligible
individuals with  mental disabilities   an
intellectual or developmental disability severe enough to result in a
substantial impediment to employment  under the following
conditions:
   (a) The employer operates a community rehabilitation program
certified by the Department of Rehabilitation that provides
vocational rehabilitation services to the workers described in
subdivision (b).
   (b) The employer pays a special minimum wage to workers with
disabilities pursuant to Section 214(c) of Title 29 of the United
States Code or Section 1191 or 1191.5 of the Labor Code.
   (c) The hourly wage described in subdivision (b) added to the
employer's hourly cost of providing the services described in
subdivision (a) exceeds 125 percent of the California minimum wage
rate for each of the workers described in subdivision (b).
  SEC. 2.  Section 19405 is added to the Welfare and Institutions
Code, to read:
   19405.  The department shall determine, in certifying a community
rehabilitation program, whether the employer that operates the
program provides a dignity stipend  ,  as defined in Section
19155.