BILL NUMBER: SB 1427 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 28, 2016
INTRODUCED BY Senator Pavley
FEBRUARY 19, 2016
An act relating to workforce development.
to add Section 4850.4 to the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating
to developmental services.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1427, as amended, Pavley. Workforce development:
developmentally disabled individuals.
Existing law, the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services
Act, authorizes the State Department of Developmental Services to
contract with regional centers to provide services and supports to
individuals with developmental disabilities. Existing law governs the
habilitation services provided for adult consumers of regional
centers, including work activity programs, as described, and
establishes an hourly rate for supported employment services provided
to consumers receiving individualized services. Existing law
requires the department, contingent upon receiving federal financial
participation, to conduct a 4-year demonstration project to determine
whether community-based vocational development services will
increase employment outcomes for consumers and reduce purchase of
service costs for working age adults.
This bill would require, on or before July 1, 2017, the department
to establish a Work Transition Project with guidelines and an
approved process for regional centers to allow blended or braided
forms of integrated services using allowable services under existing
state and federal law and to assist in the state's efforts to reach
compliance with the federal Home and Community-Based Services Waiver
regulations. The bill would authorize the department to waive, until
March 31, 2019, regulatory requirements that inhibit the provision of
services in competitive integrated settings. The bill would require
the department to assess the decrease in time that it takes a
consumer under these provisions to become job ready and to transition
into an integrated work setting and to report that information to
the budget committee of each house of the Legislature during the
annual budget process.
The federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act provides for
workforce investment activities, including activities in which states
may participate. Existing law also provides for the Medi-Cal
program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care
Services, under which qualified low-income individuals receive
health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and
funded by federal Medicaid Program provisions. Existing federal law
provides for various home- and community-based services waivers.
This bill would express the intent of the Legislature to enact
legislation that would ensure that individuals with developmental
disabilities who are earning income do not lose their vocational
opportunities and earning power due to changes related to the home-
and community-based services settings rule, the implementation of the
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, or the debate over the use
of productivity-based pay.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no
yes . State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. (a) It is the intent of the Legislature
to ensure that individuals with developmental disabilities who are
earning income do not lose their vocational opportunities and earning
power due to changes related to the home- and community-based
services settings rule due to the implementation of the Workforce
Innovation and Opportunity Act.
(b) Individuals with developmental disabilities struggle to find
gainful employment. Unemployment among the people with developmental
disabilities has been estimated at more than 80 percent.
(c) California's Employment First Policy and changes to the
federal home- and community-based services settings rule require the
state to increase opportunities for individuals with developmental
disabilities to achieve competitive integrated employment.
(d) There are thousands of consumers today earning some income in
existing employment programs who are complying with current rules and
deserve specific attention during this transition period to ensure
they have the opportunity for, and access to, more integrated work
settings of their choice.
(e) In order to increase the self-sufficiency of adults with
developmental disabilities, including increased earning capacity and
reduced government benefit support, it is important that the state
implement a program to provide opportunities for individuals to
engage in job discovery and job readiness training to assist their
transition to more competitive integrated employment and to ensure
employment success.
(f) The Governor and the Legislature must address the growing need
for new models of assessment, career training, and expanding
employment opportunities and support options for adults with
developmental disabilities who currently work in less integrated work
activity programs and group supported employment earning less than
minimum wage. If this population is left without purposefully
designed pathways into more competitive integrated employment, these
adults will be at higher risk of public dependency throughout the
course of their lives.
SEC. 2. Section 4850.4 is added to the
Welfare and Institutions Code , to read:
4850.4. (a) (1) On or before July 1, 2017, the department shall
establish a Work Transition Project with guidelines and an approved
process for regional centers to allow blended or braided forms of
integrated services using allowable services under existing state and
federal law. The project shall assist in the state's efforts to
reach compliance with the federal Home and Community-Based Services
Waiver regulations by March 31, 2019.
(2) A maximum of 75 hours per quarter, at no more than an
equivalent of $40 forty dollars ($40) per hour shall be allowed for
vendors to provide needed job readiness and support services aimed at
individualized transition services for consumers currently placed in
segregated work settings who choose to move toward competitive
integrated employment.
(3) For purposes of this subdivision, "blended or braided forms of
integrated services" means services for a single consumer that are
funded by multiple agencies or entities and that work as a single
program.
(b) The department shall allow regional centers to customize skill
development and job readiness programs for consumers, as
appropriate, by partnering with work activity programs and group
supported employment vendors to transition those consumers who choose
to move towards integrated competitive employment. The department
may waive, until March 31, 2019, regulatory requirements that inhibit
the provision of services in competitive integrated settings.
(c) The department shall assess the decrease in time that it takes
a consumer under these provisions to become job ready and to
transition into an integrated work setting. The department shall
report to the budget committee of each house of the Legislature
during the annual budget process regarding the use of these
provisions and the measurable outcomes. Any report submitted pursuant
to this subdivision shall be submitted in compliance with Section
9795 of the Government Code.
SECTION 1. It is the intent of the Legislature
to enact legislation that would ensure that individuals with
developmental disabilities who are earning income do not lose their
vocational opportunities and earning power due to changes related to
the home- and community-based services settings rule, the
implementation of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, or
the debate over the use of productivity-based pay.