BILL NUMBER: SB 644	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


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. 
   (b) "Disability" for the purposes of this article 
    (b)     For   purposes of this
article, the following terms have the following meanings: 
    (1)     "Disability   "  has
the definition set forth in Section 12926, as that section presently
reads or as it subsequently may be amended. 
   (2) "Developmental disability" has the definition set forth in
Section 4512 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.  
   (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. 
   (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.   (a)   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.
 Examination 
    (b)    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. 
    (c)     Examination  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 
participation and   participation,  the minimum
qualifications of the job classification  or successfully
complete an internship pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 19242,
as determined by the board,  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.