BILL NUMBER: SB 569 CHAPTERED 10/10/99 CHAPTER 861 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE OCTOBER 10, 1999 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR OCTOBER 8, 1999 PASSED THE SENATE SEPTEMBER 10, 1999 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 9, 1999 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 3, 1999 AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 28, 1999 AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 27, 1999 AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 5, 1999 INTRODUCED BY Senator Alarcon FEBRUARY 23, 1999 An act to add and repeal Chapter 9.5 (commencing with Section 19820) of Part 2 of Division 10 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to disabled persons, and making an appropriation therefor. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 569, Alarcon. Employment of persons with disabilities. Existing law creates various employment programs for persons with disabilities under the jurisdiction of the Department of Rehabilitation. This bill would establish a 3-year pilot program under which the department would be required to allocate funds to a private, nonprofit organization in Los Angeles County that has demonstrated the ability to provide assessment and vocational services to disabled clients for over a period of at least 50 years, for operation of an employment program for persons with disabilities meeting specified requirements. This bill would appropriate $115,000 from the General Fund to the department for allocation for startup costs and first-year implementation of the program. Appropriation: yes. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Chapter 9.5 (commencing with Section 19820) is added to Part 2 of Division 10 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read: CHAPTER 9.5. PREEMPLOYMENT PILOT PROGRAM FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES 19820. (a) The department shall allocate funding pursuant to this chapter to a private, nonprofit organization in Los Angeles County that has demonstrated the ability to provide assessment and vocational services to disabled clients for over a period of at least 50 years in order to establish a pilot employment program for adults with developmental, physical, and emotional disabilities who are eligible for Department of Rehabilitation services but who are currently unable to receive those services. Regional center clients shall not be eligible for the pilot project. (b) The program shall serve adults with one or more disabilities who express a desire to increase their daily living skills to a level that will enable them to obtain community-based employment and who can benefit from a structured program outside their home environment. (c) The pilot program shall operate for a period of three years. (d) The purpose of this pilot program shall be to test whether additional expenditures of state funds on rehabilitation services for clients, who would otherwise be unable to receive services from the Department of Rehabilitation due to funding limitations, will result in increases in employment, earnings, and self-sufficiency. The pilot program will be considered a success if it can be shown that its clients reduce their reliance on other governmental programs so that demonstrated savings in these other programs are sufficient to offset the cost of the rehabilitation services. 19821. (a) The two primary components of the program established pursuant to this chapter shall be prevocational training and preemployment preparation. A certified vocational evaluator and a rehabilitation counselor, in consultation with the client, family members, or advocates shall determine the component into which a client shall enter the program. (b) Clients who are assessed as having adequate daily living skills or who satisfactorily complete this component shall, if interested in community-based employment, receive prevocational training. Clients who successfully complete the prevocational component shall be eligible to receive preemployment preparation training. Clients in the preemployment preparation component shall be assisted in formulating and achieving a vocational action plan, as well as obtaining the vocational skills necessary for its achievement. 19822. (a) The department shall conduct an evaluation of the pilot program provided for in this chapter and of the outcomes achieved. The evaluation shall report on the characteristics of the pilot program's participants, including their age, sex, ethnicity, and nature of disability. The evaluation shall document the procedures to select clients, the nature, cost, and duration of services received during pilot program participation, and the extent and nature of other public and private services used by the clients before, during, and after program participation. The evaluation shall, to the extent possible, provide estimates of the overall average cost of the program, the average cost of governmental services used prior to program participation, and the average cost of services after program participation, in order to determine whether participation in the pilot program resulted in any reduction in reliance on publicly funded services. (b) The department shall submit the evaluation to the Legislature no later than December 31, 2002. 19823. This chapter shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2003, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2003, deletes or extends that date. SEC. 2. There is hereby appropriated the sum of one hundred fifteen thousand dollars ($115,000) from the General Fund to the Department of Rehabilitation for allocation for startup costs and first-year implementation of Chapter 9.5 (commencing with Section 19820) of Part 2 of Division 10 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.