Senate Bill No. 644

Introduced by Senator Hancock

February 27, 2015

An act to amend Sections 19240, 19242, and 19242.2 of, and to add Section 19242.3 to, the Government Code, relating to state employment.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 644, as introduced, Hancock. State employment: Limited Examination and Appointment Program.

Existing law requires the Department of Human Resources to administer the Limited Examination and Appointment Program (LEAP) to provide an alternative to the traditional civil service examination and appointment process to facilitate the hiring of persons with disabilities in the state civil services. Existing law authorizes the department to conduct competitive examinations to determine eligibility for appointment under LEAP and requires the department to refer the names of eligible applicants who meet the minimum qualifications of a job classification to the appointing powers for examination appointments, as specified.

This bill would require the competitive examination for a person with an intellectual or developmental disability, as defined, to consist of a competitive internship with a state agency that is not less than 1,024 hours in duration and require the department to refer the names of eligible applicants who successfully complete the internship to the appointing powers for examination appointments. The bill would also authorize a state agency that provides the internship or appoints a person with an intellectual or developmental disability to a position under LEAP to allow that person to receive on-the-job support and finance the internship or position with personnel funds assigned to a vacant or unfilled position, as specified.

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) Individuals with developmental disabilities have to struggle
to find gainful employment. Statewide unemployment among
people with intellectual or developmental disabilities of working
age is approximately 90 percent.

(b) According to California’s Employment Development
Department, the average annual earnings of employed individuals
with developmental disabilities is approximately five thousand
five hundred dollars ($5,500).

(c) Within the community of people with intellectual or
developmental disabilities, people diagnosed with autism are the
fastestgrowing population, making up approximately 50 percent
of the annual new caseload of regional centers in some areas of
the state.

(d) Seven years after exiting the K-12 school system, one in
three adults with autism still does not have paid work experience
or a college or technical education.

(e) Nationally recognized employment internship training
models like Project SEARCH have demonstrated that many people
with intellectual or developmental disabilities can be successfully
employed in jobs that earn a living wage.

(f) The key elements of successful programs like Project
SEARCH are:

(1) The opportunity for people with intellectual or developmental
disabilities to be exposed to real work through internships.

(2) The opportunity for people with intellectual or developmental
disabilities to receive on-the-job customized training and support
during internships.

(3) The opportunity for employers, in an internship setting, to
experience firsthand the quality of work of an individual with an
intellectual or developmental disability.

(g) The existing state hiring process for people with disabilities,
known as the Limited Examination and Appointment Program, or
LEAP, is not well suited to correctly assess the qualifications and
abilities of many people with intellectual or developmental
disabilities because it relies on written testing as an assessment
tool and is not performance based. As a result, very few people
with intellectual or developmental disabilities are represented in
the state workforce.

(h) The Governor and the Legislature must address the lack of
access people with intellectual or developmental disabilities have
to employment opportunities with the State of California and take
steps to become a “model employer” to demonstrate the potential
of this untapped workforce.

(i) In enacting this measure, the Legislature intends to create
more access to state employment for people with intellectual or
developmental disabilities by allowing successful internship
performance in a state agency, in lieu of a written test, to serve as
meeting the minimum qualifications for consideration for hire into
an entry-level position with the State of California. The Legislature
further intends to grant flexibility to state agencies to hire persons
with intellectual or developmental disabilities who meet specific
needs of those agencies into entry-level positions without requiring
those persons to be able to perform the full range of tasks typically
required by the entry-level job classification.

(j) The Legislature intends that these model employer practices
be targeted at people with intellectual or developmental disabilities
who are between 18 and 30 years of age and are deemed eligible
by the Department of Rehabilitation to receive supported
employment services. If this population is left without purposefully
designed pathways to employment, these young adults will remain
at a high risk of public dependency throughout the course of their
lives.

SEC. 2.  

Section 19240 of the Government Code is amended
to read:

19240.  

(a) The department, consistent with board rules, shall
be responsible for the administration of the Limited Examination
and Appointment Program. This program shall provide an
alternative to the traditional civil service examination and
appointment process to facilitate the hiring of persons with
disabilities in the state civil service.

begin delete

(b) “Disability” for the purposes of this article

end delete

begin insert (b) end insert begin insert   end insert begin insert For purposes of this article, the following terms have the
following meanings: end insert

begin insert (1) end insert begin insert   end insert begin insert “Disability end insert begin insert ” end insert has the definition set forth in Section 12926,
as that section presently reads or as it subsequently may be
amended.

begin insert

(2) “Developmental disability” has the definition set forth in
Section 4512 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.

end insert begin insert

(3) “Person with an intellectual or developmental disability”
means a person who the State Department of Developmental
Services deems eligible for services pursuant to the Lanterman
Developmental Disabilities Services Act (Division 4.5 (commencing
with Section 4500) of the Welfare and Institutions Code) and who
is a consumer of a regional center pursuant to Chapter 5
(commencing with Section 4620) of the act.

end insert

(c) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), if the definition of
“disability” used in the federal Americans with Disabilities Act of
1990 (Public Law 101-336) would result in broader protection of
the civil rights of individuals with a mental or physical disability,
as defined in subdivision (b), then that broader protection shall be
deemed incorporated by reference into, and shall prevail over
conflicting provisions of, the definition in subdivision (b). The
definition of “disability” contained in subdivision (b) shall not be
deemed to refer to or include conditions excluded from the federal
definition of “disability” pursuant to Section 511 of the federal
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. Sec. 12211).

SEC. 3.  

Section 19242 of the Government Code is amended
to read:

19242.  

begin insert (a) end insert begin insert   end insert The department or its designee shall conduct
competitive examinations to determine the qualifications and
readiness of persons with disabilities for state employment. The
examinations may include an on-the-job-performance evaluation
and any other selection techniques deemed appropriate.
begin delete Examination end delete

begin insert (b) end insert begin insert   end insert begin insert The department or its designee shall not require a person
with an intellectual or developmental disability to take or pass a
written examination or readiness evaluation in order to qualify
for service in a position under the Limited Examination and
Appointment Program. The examination of a person with an
intellectual or developmental disability shall consist of a
competitive internship with a state agency that is not less than
1024 hours in duration. end insert

begin insert (c) end insert begin insert   end insert begin insert Examination end insert results may be ranked or unranked.

SEC. 4.  

Section 19242.2 of the Government Code is amended
to read:

19242.2.  

The department or its designee shall refer the names
of persons with disabilities who meet eligibility criteria for
begin delete participation and end delete begin insert participation, end insert the minimum qualifications of the
job classification begin insert or successfully complete an internship pursuant
to subdivision (b) of Section 19242, as determined by the board, end insert
and any other requirements deemed appropriate by the board to
appointing powers for examination appointments. Notwithstanding
any other provision of law, and to provide for appropriate
job-person placement, all candidates meeting referral requirements
shall be eligible for examination appointment. The department
may prescribe the method for referring names to appointing powers.

SEC. 5.  

Section 19242.3 is added to the Government Code, to
read:

19242.3.  

(a) A state agency that provides an internship to a
person with an intellectual or developmental disability or appoints
a person with an intellectual or developmental disability to a
position under the Limited Examination and Appointment Program
may finance the internship or position with personnel funds
assigned to a vacant or unfilled position. A state agency that
transfers funds from a vacant or unfilled position pursuant to this
section does not eliminate the vacant or unfilled position, and may
return or assign funds to fill the position.

(b) A state agency that provides an internship to a person with
an intellectual or developmental disability or appoints a person
with an intellectual or developmental disability to a position under
the Limited Examination and Appointment Program shall allow
the person to receive on-the-job support as a reasonable
accommodation for the person’s disability.