BILL NUMBER: SB 644 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 1, 2015
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 7, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Senator Hancock
FEBRUARY 27, 2015
An act to amend Sections 19240, 19241, 19242, and
19242.2 of, and to add Section Sections
19241.5, 19242.05, and 19242.3 to, the Government Code,
relating to state employment.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 644, as amended, Hancock. Limited Examination and Appointment
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 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 1,024 512 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 require the department
to create that internship program in coordination with the State
Department of Developmental Services and the Department of
Rehabilitation, as specified. The bill would also
authorize a state agency that provides the internship or
appoints a person with 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 or other
available funds assigned to a vacant or unfilled position, as
specified. specified, but would provide that
on-the-job support services are not the financial or programmatic
responsibility of any state agency engaged in establishing the LEAP
internship process. The bill would specify that LEAP is not a mandate
on any state agency employer or job applicant except to the extent
specifically directed by the State Personnel Board.
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 Persons with
developmental disabilities have to struggle to find gainful
employment. Statewide unemployment among people with developmental
disabilities of working age is approximately 90 percent.
(b) According to California's the
Employment Development Department, the average annual earnings of
employed individuals persons with
developmental disabilities is approximately five thousand five
hundred dollars ($5,500).
(c) Within the community of people with developmental
disabilities, people diagnosed with autism are the 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
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 developmental disabilities to
be exposed to real work through internships.
(2) The opportunity for people with 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
a person with 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 developmental
disabilities because it relies on written testing as an assessment
tool and is not performance based. As a result, very few people with
developmental disabilities are represented in the state workforce.
(h) The Governor and the Legislature must address the lack of
access people with 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 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
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 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)
(1) "Developmental disability" has the definition set
forth in Section 4512 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
(2) "Disability" has the definition set forth in Section 12926, as
that section presently reads or as it subsequently may be amended.
(3) "LEAP" means the Limited Examination and Appointment Program
implemented and administered by the department pursuant to this
chapter.
(3)
(4) "Person with 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 persons
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 19241 of the Government
Code is amended to read:
19241. The department, consistent with board rules, shall be
responsible for the implementation of this chapter, which may provide
for the establishment of eligibility criteria for participation,
special job classifications, examination techniques, the
creation of a LEAP internship program for persons with developmental
disabilities in coordination with the State Department of
Developmental Services and the Department of Rehabilitation,
and appointment and appeals procedures.
SEC. 4. Section 19241.5 is added to the
Government Code , to read:
19241.5. This chapter establishes the Limited Examination and
Appointment Program as a voluntary, additional method of applying for
state employment and is not a mandate on any state agency employer
or job applicant except to the extent specifically directed by the
board.
SEC. 3. SEC. 5. 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 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 a developmental disability
shall consist of both of the following:
(A) Successful completion of an internship with a state agency of
at least 1,024 512 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 internship
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. 6. Section 19242.05 is added to the
Government Code , immediately following Section
19242 , to read:
19242.05. (a) The LEAP internship program created in accordance
with Section 19241 shall be designed to allow persons with
developmental disabilities to meet the minimum qualifications of the
LEAP classification to which he or she seeks an examination
appointment. The length of a LEAP internship shall be for a minimum
period of 512 working hours.
(b) A person with a developmental disability who successfully
completes a LEAP internship upon certification by the appointing
power shall be considered as meeting the referral requirements
necessary to be eligible for an examination appointment, as specified
in Section 19242.2, without being required to pass a written
examination or readiness evaluation.
(c) The LEAP internship program may be accessed as an unpaid or
paid internship if the state agency providing the internship has
available funding authority within its personnel budget.
SEC. 4. SEC. 7. 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 and the minimum qualifications of the job
classification 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. SEC. 8. 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 a developmental disability or appoints a person with a
developmental disability to a position under the Limited Examination
and Appointment Program may finance the internship or position with
personnel or any other funds available for this
purpose and 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 a developmental disability or appoints a person with a
developmental disability to a position under the Limited Examination
and Appointment Program shall allow the person to receive on-the-job
support support, as determined by the
Department of Rehabilitation or the State Department of Developmental
Services pursuant to existing rules and the service authorization of
those supported employment programs, 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.
(6) On-the-job supportive services are allowable to the extent
authorized by other state programs and are not the financial or
programmatic responsibility of any state agency engaged in
establishing the LEAP internship process.