BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2809
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Date of Hearing: May 18, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
AB
2809 (Rodriguez) - As Amended May 4, 2016
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY: This bill requires regional centers to provide certain
information and materials to consumers and other designated
individuals at the time of the development, review, or
modification of each Individual Program Plan (IPP) of
Individualized Family Service Plan (ISFP), and that the
information and materials be made available in threshold
languages. The bill further requires that parental hardships be
AB 2809
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considered and documented when determining the extent of parent
participation for certain services.
FISCAL EFFECT:
1)One-time costs to Regional Centers to translate the statement
of services for FY 2016-17 (6 mos) of approximately $1.5
million ($1 million GF). In 2017-18 and ongoing, the cost
would be $3 million ($2 million GF) plus an average growth
rate of individuals with a primary language other than English
of 4.63%
2)One-time costs to the Department of Developmental Services of
approximately $14,000 (GF) to translate information about the
appeal and complaint process, and exceptions and exemptions,
into California's 13 non-English threshold languages.
Translation cost for Spanish is approximately $68 per hour and
other languages are approximately $90 per hour. Each
translation is estimated to take approximately 12 hours on
average.
3)On-going costs of approximately $50,000 (GF) annually to
provide the above information in threshold languages at IPP
and IFSP development, modification, and review meetings.
Approximately 500,000 meetings occur annually. This assumes
the information can be provided in two pages at $0.05 per
page.
4)Unknown costs, but likely in the low millions (GF), associated
with the parental participation hardship adjustment. Costs
would be expected from the likely decreased effectiveness of
behavior intervention with reduced or no parent participation
leading to a potential need to continue those services for a
longer period of time.
AB 2809
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COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, "In 2011, a Los Angeles
Times series reported significant disparities in the funding
of developmental services based on race, ethnicity, and
language. Consumers and family members who are limited
English proficient have the right to culturally and
linguistically competent information about accessing
developmental services available through regional centers,
including information on the process for obtaining certain
services through statutory exemptions and meeting other
affirmative requirements. Additionally, the level of parent
participation required to access intensive behavioral
intervention services is often too burdensome to meet for some
families who are low-income and/or who are limited English
proficient and the law should provide for some flexibility in
authorizing for these services by accounting for hardship
factors."
2)Threshold languages. Including English, 207 languages are
spoken in the state. The California Code of Regulations
defines "threshold language" to mean a language that has been
identified as the primary language of 3,000 beneficiaries or
5% of the beneficiary population, whichever is lower, in an
identified geographic area. California has 13 non-English
threshold languages. Existing law requires each regional
center to offer, and upon request provide, a written copy of
the IPP to the consumer and, when appropriate, his or her
parents, legal guardian or conservator, or authorized
representative within 45 days of the request in a threshold
language.
For each regional center catchment area, the threshold
languages are defined by the county or counties served by
that regional center. There are an estimated 24,800
regional center consumers with a primary language that is a
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threshold language other than English. The threshold
languages (and the percentage of the population speaking
that language as their primary language) for a sampling of
California's counties, as of May 2014, are as follows:
a) Alameda County: Spanish (24.5%), Cantonese (5.8%),
Vietnamese (2.7%), Mandarin (1.5%)
b) Contra Costa County: Spanish (29.1%)
c) Kern County: Spanish (34%)
d) Los Angeles County: Spanish (42%), Armenian (2.3%),
Cantonese (1.1%), Korean (1%),
Vietnamese (0.9%), Mandarin (0.9%), Farsi (0.5%), Tagalog
(0.4%), Russian (0.4%), Cambodian (0.3%), Other Chinese
(0.3%), Arabic (0.2%)
e) Monterey County: Spanish (58.5%)
f) San Diego County: Spanish (32.3%), Arabic (2.8%),
Vietnamese (1.9%), Tagalog (1.2%)
g) Santa Cruz County: Spanish (48.8%)
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h) Solano County: Spanish (22.7%)
1)Related Legislation. SB 1034 (Mitchell), pending on the Senate
Appropriations Committee's Suspense File, among other things,
prohibits lack of parent or caregiver participation from being
used to deny or reduce medically necessary behavioral health
treatment, as specified.
2)Prior Legislation.
a) ABX2 1 (Thurmond), Chapter 3, Statutes of 2016, among
other things, implemented targeted rate increases for the
community-based developmental services system.
b) SB 82 (Senate Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review),
Chapter 23, Statutes of 2015, among other things, required
each regional center to offer, and upon request provide, a
written copy of the IPP to the consumer and, when
appropriate, his or her parents, legal guardian, etc.
within 45 days of his, her, or their request in a threshold
language, as defined, and further required the department
and regional centers to annually collaborate to compile
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data on the number of instances in which an IPP was
provided in this manner.
c) SB 555 (Correa), Chapter 685, Statutes of 2013, placed
various requirements on regional centers to communicate and
provide certain written materials in a consumer's and/or
family's or other designated individual's native language,
as specified.
Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916)
319-2081