BILL NUMBER: AB 2565 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 1, 2016
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 21, 2016
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Salas
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Bigelow, Brown, Dahle, Eggman, Gray,
Grove, Lackey, Linder, Mayes, and Olsen)
(Coauthors: Senators Beall, Berryhill, Cannella, Fuller, Gaines,
Galgiani, Hertzberg, Runner, and Vidak)
FEBRUARY 19, 2016
An act to amend Section 19806 of the Welfare and Institutions
Code, relating to public social services.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2565, as amended, Salas. Independent Living Centers: state
funding.
Under existing law, the Department of Rehabilitation is required
to provide various services to individuals with physical or mental
disabilities who are found to be eligible therefor, including
independent living services. Existing law provides for the operation
of independent living centers, which are private, nonprofit
organizations that provide specified services to individuals with
disabilities, in order to assist those individuals in their attempts
to live fuller and freer lives outside institutions. Under existing
law, the department has the responsibility and authority for the
encouragement of the planning, developing, and funding of independent
living centers.
Under existing law, each independent living center, except those
centers which have been both established and maintained using
specified federal funding as a base funding, is required to receive,
to the extent funds are appropriated by the Legislature, at least
$235,000 in base grant funds allocated by the department. Existing
law authorizes these state funds to be replaced by reimbursements
under the federal Supplemental Security Disability Insurance and the
federal Supplemental Security Income programs, as specified.
This bill would delete the above provisions excluding the centers
that were previously established and maintained with federal funding
and would instead require each independent living center to receive
at least $235,000 in base grant funds allocated by the department, to
the extent funds are appropriated by the Legislature and allocated
by the department to the independent living centers from
reimbursements under the federal programs. The bill would
prohibit the department from redirecting specified funds that support
independent living centers to provide the funding for the base grant
funds for centers that are newly eligible for the base grant funds
pursuant to this bill. make related findings and
declarations.
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. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) Independent living is a vested civil right under federal and
state law, and independent living with home and community-based
services is a viable alternative to significantly more costly
institutionalization in nursing homes and other settings.
(b) Independent living centers (ILCs) are among only a few
federally funded entities that are mandated to help individuals with
disabilities who desire to live in their homes and communities
transition out of institutional settings, such as nursing homes and
other institutions.
(c) ILCs work with individuals with all types of disabilities to
advance their personal independence and to remove barriers to their
equal inclusion in education, healthcare, employment, housing,
transportation, and other aspects of society.
(d) There is currently a large difference in the amount of funding
that each ILC in the state receives.
(e) In 1998, the base grant funding was set at two hundred
thirty-five thousand dollars ($235,000), with the exception of three
ILCs that do not receive the minimum base grant funding that is
available to the other 25 ILCs.
(f) The ILCs excluded from base grant funding are the Disability
Resources Agency for Independent Living, serving the Counties of
Amador, Calaveras, Mariposa, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, and Tuolumne,
the Independent Living Center of Kern County, serving the County of
Kern, and Placer Independent Resources Services, Inc., serving the
Counties of Alpine, El Dorado, and Placer.
(g) Authorization for the base grant funding of two hundred
thirty-five thousand dollars ($235,000) for each of the
three ILCs would be ILC is a wise and prudent
investment to bring the three ILCs up to the minimum base
grant funding, and it and is an important first
step to begin to address the broader issue of the underfunding of all
ILCs.
(h) Although this act authorizes funding for the three ILCs, it
does not make an appropriation. The seven hundred five thousand
dollars ($705,000) per year funding shall come from federal social
security reimbursements.
SEC. 2. Section 19806 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is
amended to read:
19806. (a) An independent living center shall not be required to
provide any matching funds through private contributions as a
condition of receiving state funds except to acquire state incentive
funds.
(b) Each independent living center shall receive at least two
hundred thirty-five thousand dollars ($235,000) in base grant funds
allocated by the department, to the extent funds are appropriated by
the Legislature and allocated by the department to the independent
living centers from reimbursements under the Supplemental Security
Disability Insurance and the Supplemental Security Income programs
provided for under Titles II and XVII of the Federal Social Security
Act, Subchapter II (commencing with Section 401) and Subchapter XVII
(commencing with Section 1381) of Chapter 7 of Title 42 of the United
States Code. Beginning with the 1998-99 fiscal year, and each year
thereafter, to the extent these funds from the Social Security Act
are not appropriated by the Legislature as were appropriated in the
1997-98 fiscal year, an amount equal to the combined state and
federal fund allocation to independent living centers in the Budget
Act of 1997 shall be appropriated to, and allocated by, the
department to independent living centers under this chapter.
(c) (1) Available state incentive funds shall be allocated at the
beginning of each fiscal year based upon the average amount of
private contributions received by the independent living center in
the second and third preceding fiscal years.
(2) The maximum amount of incentive funds that may be allocated to
any independent living center in any single fiscal year shall be
computed as follows:
(A) "Pool One" is defined as 60 percent of all state incentive
funds. "Pool Two" is defined as 40 percent of all state incentive
funds. Each independent living center shall be entitled to an equal
portion of Pool One, not to exceed the amounts raised pursuant to
paragraph (1).
(B) Incentive funds from Pool One not used after the initial
allocation pursuant to subparagraph (A) shall be added to Pool Two
for allocation among all centers that had unmatched private
contributions after distribution of Pool One funds. Pool Two funds
shall be awarded in direct proportion to each center's percentage of
the total remaining unmatched private contributions raised by those
independent living centers.
(3) For the purpose of determining eligibility for state incentive
funds, an independent living center that uses a fiscal year other
than the state fiscal year may elect to use a different fiscal year
so long as the closing date of the fiscal year so elected does not
precede the closing date of the equivalent state fiscal year by more
than 11 months.
(4) The amount of private contributions claimed by an independent
living center for each fiscal year shall be verified by the
department by utilizing appropriate financial records including, but
not limited to, independent audits. Audits may be performed by the
department up to three years from the close of the fiscal year during
which state incentive funds were received by the independent living
center being audited.
(5) State incentive funds that are not distributed to independent
living centers shall not be allocated or retained by the department
for distribution as state incentive funds in later fiscal years.
(d) For purposes of this section:
(1) "Private funds" does not include any funds originating from
any entity of the federal, state, city, or county government or any
political subdivision thereof. Notwithstanding the provisions of this
section, fees from any source for services provided may be included
as private contributions by an independent living center for purposes
of determining its allocation of incentive funds.
(2) "State incentive funds" means state funds appropriated by the
Legislature for purposes of this chapter, except those funds
allocated by the department pursuant to subdivisions (b) and (f).
(e) Any funds allocated under this chapter to any independent
living center, other than as part of the initial allocation for each
fiscal year, shall be made by contract amendment. Any contract
amendment shall require the provision of services in addition to
those required by the contract being amended. All those services
required by contract amendment shall not be performed prior to the
date the contract amendment is approved by the state.
(f) To the extent funds are appropriated by the Legislature for
the purpose of providing assistive technology services described in
subdivision (d) of Section 19801, two hundred ten thousand dollars
($210,000) of those funds shall be allocated to the nonprofit
contractor selected by the Department of Rehabilitation to coordinate
delivery of assistive technology services and the remainder shall be
allocated equally among independent living centers. The nonprofit
contractor shall provide statewide assistive technology information
and referral and serve as a resource to the independent living
centers' assistive technology service programs.
(g) To the extent funds are appropriated by the Legislature, after
allocation of base grant and incentive funds and assistive
technology funds, remaining funds shall be allocated by the
department among independent living centers on the basis of the ratio
of the total of the general population in an independent living
center's geographic service areas as compared to the total of the
general population in all independent living centers geographic
services area statewide. The department shall adopt regulations for
the distribution of population funds by June 30, 1999.
(h) The department shall not redirect funds allocated in the
2016-17 fiscal year for the support of independent living centers,
including funding for assistive technology, funding based on
population, or incentive funding, to provide the funding for the base
grant funds for an independent living center that has been both
established and maintained using federal funding under Title VII(c)
of the federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, as their
primary base grant, as required by subdivision (b) pursuant to the
act that added this subdivision.