Amended in Senate March 29, 2016

Senate BillNo. 1024


Introduced by Senator Hancock

(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Bonta)

February 12, 2016


An act tobegin delete amend Section 4860 of, and to add Section 4860.5 to,end deletebegin insert add Sections 4860.1 and 4860.2 toend insert the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to developmental services.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 1024, as amended, 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.begin delete 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.end delete

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.

begin delete

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.

end delete
begin insert

This bill would require the department to provide a clear financial incentive in order to encourage the development of and support for consumers in individual supported employment in integrated work settings. The bill would require the incentive to establish at least a 10% rate differential for individual supported employment services. The bill would authorize the department to adjust the rate for individual placement supported employment services to administer the incentive payment, as specified. The bill would also require the department to review the need for clarifying placement fees and bonus payments, as specified.

end insert

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

P2    1

SECTION 1.  

(a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
2following:

3(1) California’s Employment First Policy and the federal
4Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act recognize that
5competitive, integrated employment is an essential component for
6individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities to lead
7productive and meaningful lives, be a part of their communities,
8make friends, and earn money to help improve their economic
9outcomes and status.

10(2) The Developmental Disabilities System Employment Data
11Dashboard reports that in 2012, only 12.4 percent of working age
12individuals with developmental disabilities reported any income
13at all. The State Council on Developmental Disabilities’ report to
14the Legislature in 2013 indicated that 92 percent of working age
15regional center clients reported not having a job in the community.

16(3) The key service for helping individuals with developmental
17disabilities find, obtain, and maintain competitive, integrated
18employment is individual placement supported employment, which
19consists of support by a job coach to an individual to help him or
P3    1her adapt to the work environment and learn to perform the work.
2Since the passage of California’s Employment First Policy, the
3number of Californians with intellectual and developmental
4disabilities receiving individual placement supported employment
5services has declined by over 500 individuals.begin insert There is a clear
6need to reestablish and grow this important service based on
7consumer demand.end insert

begin insert

8
(4) The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has issued
9new rules for home- and community-based services that are
10intended to ensure that individuals receive services in settings that
11are integrated in and support full access to the greater community,
12including opportunities to seek employment and work in
13competitive and integrated settings. In order to maintain federal
14funding for services, all services must comply with the new rules
15by March 2019.

end insert

16(b) In enacting thisbegin delete legislation,end deletebegin insert act,end insert it is the intent of the
17Legislature that both of the following occur:

18(1) Consistent with California’s Employment Firstbegin delete Policy,
19individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities be
20provided the opportunity to work in competitive, integrated
21employment and participate to the maximum extent possible in
22the economic life of their communities.end delete
begin insert Policy and the forthcoming
23federal home- and community-based services rules, incentivize
24individualized services to transition individuals with intellectual
25and developmental disabilities into competitive, integrated
26employment, and protect federal financial participation.end insert

begin delete

27(2) The State Department of Developmental Services propose,
28by June 30, 2018, a community-based rate model to replace the
29current statewide rate model.

end delete
begin insert

30
(2) Direct the State Department of Developmental Services to
31review the ratesetting methodology for individual placement
32supported employment as a priority in the state’s rate study that
33is required on or before March 1, 2019.

end insert
begin delete
34

SEC. 2.  

Section 4860 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is
35amended to read:

36

4860.  

(a) (1) The hourly rate for supported employment
37services provided to consumers receiving individualized services
38shall be forty dollars ($40) and shall be increased by 10 percent
39annually.

P4    1(2) Job coach hours spent in travel to consumer worksites may
2be reimbursable for individualized services only when the job
3coach travels from the vendor’s headquarters to the consumer’s
4worksite or from one consumer’s worksite to another, and only
5when the travel is one way.

6(b) The hourly rate for group services shall be thirty dollars and
7eighty-two cents ($30.82), regardless of the number of consumers
8served in the group. Consumers in a group shall be scheduled to
9start and end work at the same time, unless an exception that takes
10into consideration the consumer’s compensated work schedule is
11approved in advance by the regional center. The department, in
12consultation with stakeholders, shall adopt regulations to define
13the appropriate grounds for granting these exceptions. When the
14number of consumers in a supported employment placement group
15drops to fewer than the minimum required in subdivision (r) of
16Section 4851, the regional center may terminate funding for the
17group services in that group, unless, within 90 days, the program
18provider adds one or more regional centers, or Department of
19Rehabilitation-funded supported employment consumers to the
20group.

21(c) Job coaching hours for group services shall be allocated on
22a prorated basis between a regional center and the Department of
23Rehabilitation when regional center and Department of
24Rehabilitation consumers are served in the same group.

25(d) When Section 4855 applies, fees shall be authorized for the
26following:

27(1) A three-hundred-sixty-dollar ($360) fee shall be paid to the
28program provider upon intake of a consumer into a supported
29employment program. No fee shall be paid if that consumer
30completed a supported employment intake process with that same
31supported employment program within the previous 12 months.

32(2) A one-thousand-dollar ($1,000) fee shall be paid upon
33placement of a consumer in a competitive, integrated job.

34(3) A one-thousand-dollar ($1,000) fee shall be paid after a
3590-day retention of a consumer in a competitive, integrated job.

36(e) Notwithstanding paragraph (4) of subdivision (a) of Section
374648, the regional center shall pay the supported employment
38program rates established by this section.

39

SEC. 3.  

Section 4860.5 is added to the Welfare and Institutions
40Code
, to read:

P5    1

4860.5.  

The State Department of Developmental Services, in
2consultation with stakeholders, shall develop, on or before June
330, 2018, a community-based rate model to provide ongoing
4individual placement employment supports to increase the number
5of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities
6competitively employed in the community.

end delete
7begin insert

begin insertSEC. 2.end insert  

end insert

begin insertSection 4860.1 is added to the end insertbegin insertWelfare and Institutions
8Code
end insert
begin insert, to read:end insert

begin insert
9

begin insert4860.1.end insert  

(a) To the extent funds are appropriated by the annual
10Budget Act or by Chapter 3 of the Second Extraordinary Session
11of the Statutes of 2016, the department shall provide for a clear
12financial incentive in order to encourage the development of and
13support for consumers in individual supported employment in
14integrated work settings. The incentive shall establish at least a
1510 percent rate differential for individual supported employment
16services.

17
(b) The department may adjust the rate for individual placement
18supported employment services to administer the incentive payment
19in the manner described in paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of
20Section 4860.

21
(c) The department shall consider a new rate setting
22methodology for employment and habilitation services as a priority
23to ensure consumers are offered choice and opportunity in
24community living under the provisions of the Lanterman
25Developmental Disabilities Services Act.

end insert
26begin insert

begin insertSEC. 3.end insert  

end insert

begin insertSection 4860.2 is added to the end insertbegin insertWelfare and Institutions
27Code
end insert
begin insert, to read:end insert

begin insert
28

begin insert4860.2.end insert  

The department shall review the need for clarifying
29placement fees and bonus payments in the state’s employment
30programs under the jurisdiction of both the Department of
31Developmental Services and the Department of Rehabilitation,
32consistent with the federal laws and regulations governing the
33financing of those services in both departments and shall report
34each year, to the Legislature, in compliance with Section 9795 of
35the Government Code, during the annual budget process regarding
36the number of people serviced and information concerning the
37priority consumers have about access to employment opportunities.
38The report shall also present relevant information regarding wages
39paid to these consumers, educational and skill development
40activities, and the relative poverty indicators linked to the service
P6    1population served by the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities
2Services Act.

end insert


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