BILL NUMBER: SB 644 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 7, 2015
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 amended, Hancock. State employment:
Limited Examination and Appointment Program.
Program: persons with developmental disabilities.
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 preclude an examination
for a person with a developmental disability from including a written
examination or readiness evaluation and would, instead, require that
the competitive examination consist of an 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 a 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 fastest growing
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 a 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) 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 a
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.
(b) (1) The department or its designee shall
not require a person with an intellectual or
a 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 competitive examination of a person with an
intellectual or a developmental disability shall
consist of a competitive internship with a state agency
that is not less than 1024 hours in duration. both of
the following:
(A) Successful completion of an internship with a state agency of
at least 1,024 hours in duration.
(B) Certification by the state agency that the employee has
completed the internship and has demonstrated the skills, knowledge,
and abilities necessary to successfully perform the requirements of
the position.
(2) A person with a developmental disability who successfully
completes the examination required by this subdivision is deemed to
meet the minimum qualifications, as determined by the board, for the
position in which the internship was performed.
(c) Examination results may be ranked or unranked.
SEC. 4. Section 19242.2 of the Government Code is amended to read:
19242.2. (a) The department or its designee
shall refer the names of persons with disabilities who meet
eligibility criteria for participation,
participation and 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.
(b) (1) The department or its designee shall refer the names of
persons with developmental disabilities to appointing powers for
selection for participation in an internship examination as set forth
in subdivision (b) of Section 19242.
(2) The department or its designee may refer the names of persons
with developmental disabilities who have successfully completed an
internship examination to appointing powers for consideration for
appointment in the same job classification as the position in which
the applicant successfully completed his or her internship.
(3) The department may prescribe the method for referring names to
appointing powers, including, but not limited to, working with the
appointing power to identify positions that could successfully be
filled by persons with developmental disabilities.
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 a
developmental disability or appoints a person with an
intellectual or a 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) (1) A state agency that provides an
internship to a person with an intellectual or
a developmental disability or appoints a person with
an intellectual or a 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.
(2) On-the-job supportive services, in addition to the services
set forth in subdivision (q) of Section 4851 of the Welfare and
Institutions Code, may consist of, but need not be limited to, time
spent with a job coach on any of the following:
(A) Conducting job analysis, specific training, and supervision of
the intern while the intern is engaged in his or her internship.
(B) Conducting skills building training, including, but not
limited to, adaptive functional and social skills training and
support as necessary to ensure internship adjustment.
(C) Working with families and other support networks to ensure
internship adjustment.
(D) Evaluation of performance of the intern, including, but not
limited to, communication with the internship supervisor.
(3) The services of the job coach are not the responsibility of
the state agency providing the internship, unless the agency is
otherwise the direct payor of those services.
(4) In order for the internship to meet the minimum qualifications
of the desired position, the internship shall be successfully
completed, as set forth in subdivision (b) of Section 19242, in the
same job classification as the position the individual is applying
for.
(5) If a job examination period is required prior to the permanent
hiring of a qualified individual with a developmental disability,
the appointing authority may apply some or all of the internship
hours performed to meet some or all of the job examination period
requirement.