BILL NUMBER: SB 1024	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Hancock
   (Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Bonta)

                        FEBRUARY 12, 2016

   An act to amend Section 4860 of, and to add Section 4860.5 to, the
Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to developmental services.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 1024, as introduced, Hancock. Developmental services: supported
employment.
   Existing law authorizes the State Department of Developmental
Services to contract with regional centers to provide services and
supports to persons with developmental disabilities, in accordance
with the person's individual program plan. As part of the individual
program plan, the regional center may refer an adult consumer to
habilitation services, including work activity programs or supported
employment programs. Existing law establishes an hourly rate of
$30.82 for supported employment services provided to consumers
receiving individualized services and group services, and a $720 fee
to be paid to the program provider upon placement or retention of a
consumer in a job, as specified.
   Existing law declares the policy of the state, known as the
Employment First Policy, that opportunities for integrated,
competitive employment be given the highest priority for working age
individuals with developmental disabilities.
   This bill would increase to $40 the hourly rate for supported
employment services provided to consumers receiving individualized
services, and would increase this amount by 10% annually. The bill
would also increase to $1,000 the program provider fee upon placement
or retention of a consumer in a competitive, integrated job, as
specified. The bill would also require the department, in
consultation with stakeholders, to develop a community-based rate
model to provide ongoing individual placement employment supports by
June 30, 2018.
   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.  (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (1) California's Employment First Policy and the federal Workforce
Innovation and Opportunity Act recognize that competitive,
integrated employment is an essential component for individuals with
intellectual and developmental disabilities to lead productive and
meaningful lives, be a part of their communities, make friends, and
earn money to help improve their economic outcomes and status.
   (2) The Developmental Disabilities System Employment Data
Dashboard reports that in 2012, only 12.4 percent of working age
individuals with developmental disabilities reported any income at
all. The State Council on Developmental Disabilities' report to the
Legislature in 2013 indicated that 92 percent of working age regional
center clients reported not having a job in the community.
   (3) The key service for helping individuals with developmental
disabilities find, obtain, and maintain competitive, integrated
employment is individual placement supported employment, which
consists of support by a job coach to an individual to help him or
her adapt to the work environment and learn to perform the work.
Since the passage of California's Employment First Policy, the number
of Californians with intellectual and developmental disabilities
receiving individual placement supported employment services has
declined by over 500 individuals.
   (b) In enacting this legislation, it is the intent of the
Legislature that both of the following occur:
   (1) Consistent with California's Employment First Policy,
individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities be
provided the opportunity to work in competitive, integrated
employment and participate to the maximum extent possible in the
economic life of their communities.
   (2) The State Department of Developmental Services propose, by
June 30, 2018, a community-based rate model to replace the current
statewide rate model.
  SEC. 2.  Section 4860 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is
amended to read:
   4860.  (a) (1) The hourly rate for supported employment services
provided to consumers receiving individualized services shall be
 thirty dollars and eighty-two cents ($30.82).  
forty dollars ($40) and shall be increased by 10 percent annually.

   (2) Job coach hours spent in travel to consumer worksites may be
reimbursable for individualized services only when the job coach
travels from the vendor's headquarters to the consumer's worksite or
from one consumer's worksite to another, and only when the travel is
one way.
   (b) The hourly rate for group services shall be thirty dollars and
eighty-two cents ($30.82), regardless of the number of consumers
served in the group. Consumers in a group shall be scheduled to start
and end work at the same time, unless an exception that takes into
consideration the consumer's compensated work schedule is approved in
advance by the regional center. The department, in consultation with
stakeholders, shall adopt regulations to define the appropriate
grounds for granting these exceptions. When the number of consumers
in a supported employment placement group drops to fewer than the
minimum required in subdivision (r) of Section 4851, the regional
center may terminate funding for the group services in that group,
unless, within 90 days, the program provider adds one or more
regional centers, or Department of Rehabilitation-funded supported
employment consumers to the group.
   (c) Job coaching hours for group services shall be allocated on a
prorated basis between a regional center and the Department of
Rehabilitation when regional center and Department of Rehabilitation
consumers are served in the same group.
   (d) When Section 4855 applies, fees shall be authorized for the
following:
   (1) A three-hundred-sixty-dollar ($360) fee shall be paid to the
program provider upon intake of a consumer into a supported
employment program. No fee shall be paid if that consumer completed a
supported employment intake process with that same supported
employment program within the previous 12 months.
   (2) A  seven-hundred-twenty-dollar ($720)  
one-thousand-   dollar ($1,000)  fee shall be paid upon
placement of a consumer in  an   a competitive,
 integrated  job, except that no fee shall be paid if
that consumer is placed with another consumer or consumers assigned
to the same job coach during the same hours of employment. 
 job   . 
   (3) A  seven-hundred-twenty-dollar ($720)  
one-thousand-   dollar ($1,000)  fee shall be paid
after a 90-day retention of a consumer in a  job, except that
no fee shall be paid if that consumer has been placed with another
consumer or consumers, assigned to the same job coach during the same
hours of employment.   competitive, integrated job.

   (e) Notwithstanding paragraph (4) of subdivision (a) of Section
4648, the regional center shall pay the supported employment program
rates established by this section.
  SEC. 3.  Section 4860.5 is added to the Welfare and Institutions
Code, to read:
   4860.5.  The State Department of Developmental Services, in
consultation with stakeholders, shall develop, on or before June 30,
2018, a community-based rate model to provide ongoing individual
placement employment supports to increase the number of individuals
with intellectual and developmental disabilities competitively
employed in the community.