BILL ANALYSIS Ó SENATE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION Senator Isadore Hall, III Chair 2015 - 2016 Regular Bill No: AB 2311 Hearing Date: 6/28/2016 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Author: |Brown | |-----------+-----------------------------------------------------| |Version: |5/27/2016 Amended | ----------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------ |Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes | ------------------------------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Consultant:|Felipe Lopez | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- SUBJECT: Emergency services: access and functional needs in emergencies DIGEST: This bill requires each political subdivision of the state to integrate access and functional needs, as defined, into its emergency plan. ANALYSIS: Existing law: 1)Establishes the Office of Emergency Services (OES) which is responsible for the state's emergency and disaster response services for natural, technological, or manmade disasters and emergencies. 2)Requires OES to work with specified entities to improve communication with deaf and hearing-impaired persons during emergencies. 3)Specifies that "political subdivision" includes any city, city and county, county, district, or other local governmental agency or public agency authorized by law. 4)Defines "emergency plans" to mean those official and approved documents which describe the principles and methods to be applied in carrying out emergency operations or rendering mutual aid during emergencies. These plans include such AB 2311 (Brown) Page 2 of ? elements as continuity of government, the emergency services of governmental agencies, mobilizations of resources, mutual aid, and public information. This bill: 1)Requires each political subdivision to integrate access and functional needs into its emergency plan by addressing, at a minimum, how the access and functional needs population is served by the following: a) Emergency communications, including the integration of interpreters, translators, and assistive technology. b) Emergency evacuation, including the identification of transportation resources that are compliant with the federal American with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) for individuals who are dependent on public transportation. c) Emergency sheltering, including ensuring that designated shelters are compliant with ADA or can be made compliant through modification and that showers and bathrooms are fully accessible to all occupants. 2)Specifies that "access and functional needs population" consists of individuals who have developmental or intellectual disabilities, physical disabilities, chronic conditions, injuries, limited English proficiency or who are non-English speaking, older adults, children, people living in institutionalized settings, or those who are low income, homeless, or transportation disadvantaged, including, but not limited to, those who are dependent on public transit or those who are pregnant. Background Purpose of the bill. According to the author, "despite ADA requirements and the existence of OES' Office of Access and Functional Needs (OAFN), local governments and officials are not integrating access and functional needs within their emergency processes when they deliver actionable information to the public during disasters and emergencies. This oversight violates ADA and places the health and safety of California's access and functional needs population at risk during disasters and emergencies." Office of Access and Functional Needs. In January 2008, OES established the OAFN with the purpose to identify the needs of AB 2311 (Brown) Page 3 of ? people with disabilities and others with access and functional needs before, during, and after a disaster and to integrate disability needs and resources into emergency management systems. The OAFN offers guidance to emergency managers and planners, disability and older adult service systems for planning and responding during disasters and recovery. According to the U.S. Census of 2010, approximately three million Californian's over the age of five years have a disability. The OAFN goal is to strengthen the method and planning of emergency management for people with disabilities and others with access and functional needs. Prior/Related Legislation AB 918 (Cooley, Chapter 187, Statutes of 2013) required OES, on or before July 31, 2015, to update the State Emergency Plan to include proposed best practices for local governments and nongovernmental entities to use to mobilize and evacuate people with disabilities and others with access and functional needs during an emergency or natural disaster. AB 2051 (Tran, 2010) would have authorize the California Emergency Management Agency to prepare, in voluntary cooperation with specific local governmental and nongovernmental entities, a specialized plan to mobilize senior citizens and disabled person during an emergency or natural disasters. (Held on Senate Appropriations Suspense File) SB 426 (Kehoe, 2007) would have established a Deputy Director for Access and Functional Needs position within OES responsible for preparedness, response, and recovery services for individuals of all ages with functional limitations and disabilities. (Held on the Senate Appropriations Suspense File) FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: Yes SUPPORT: California Coalition of Agencies Serving the Deaf & Hard of Hearing (Source) California Association of the Deaf California School Employees Association, AFL-CIO AB 2311 (Brown) Page 4 of ? Greater Los Angeles Agency on Deafness, Inc. Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, Inc. OPPOSITION: None received ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: According to the California Coalition of Agencies Serving the Deaf & Hard of Hearing, "barriers to access still exist, especially for those deaf Californians who, due to language deprivation or delays, have not mastered the English language and cannot follow written instructions and/or captioning shown on media outlets. Having a sign language interpreter will fill a huge communication access gap that has been long ignored. It is high time that county and state officials remove barriers to communication for public safety reasons so that all Californians have access to all press/media conferences shown on TV, including those at the emergency shelters."