BILL ANALYSIS
AB 287
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 28, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Jim Beall, Jr., Chair
AB 287 (Beall) - As Amended: April 13, 2009
SUBJECT : Persons with developmental disabilities: employment
SUMMARY : Establishes an Employment First Policy intended to
increase the number of individuals with developmental
disabilities who engage in integrated and gainful employment.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Establishes an Employment First Policy (Policy) and states the
Legislature's high priority on providing supported employment
and other integrated employment opportunities for working age
adults with developmental disabilities and further states that
integrated employment is the primary service option for such
persons upon completion of their formal education, including
postsecondary education or vocational training.
2)States that the Policy is in furtherance of the intent of the
Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act (Lanterman
Act) that services and supports be available to enable persons
with developmental disabilities to approximate the pattern of
everyday living available to people without disabilities of
the same age and that support their integration into the
mainstream life of the community, and that those services and
supports result in more independent, productive, and normal
lives for the persons served.
3)For purposes of the Policy, defines the following:
a) "Gainful employment" means work where the individual
earns minimum wage or higher, and also includes
self-employment and microenterprises.
b) "Integrated employment" means the same as "integrated
work" as defined in Lanterman Act provisions related to
habilitation services.
4)Requires the State Council on Developmental Disabilities to
form a standing Employment First Committee (Committee)
consisting of the following members:
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a) One designee of each of the following State Council
members: The director of the Department of Developmental
Services (DDS); the director of the Department of
Rehabilitation; the Superintendent of Public Instruction;
each university center for excellence; the executive
director of the state protection and advocacy agency.
b) A member of the State Council consumer advisory
committee.
5)Requires the Committee to meet and consult, as appropriate,
with other state and local agencies and organizations,
including the Employment Development Department, the
Association of Regional Center Agencies, one or more supported
employment provider organizations, and one or more consumer
family member organizations.
6)Provides that the responsibilities of the Committee include,
but are not limited to, the following:
a) Identifying the respective roles and responsibilities of
state and local agencies in enhancing integrated and
gainful employment opportunities for people with
developmental disabilities.
b) Identifying strategies, best practices, and incentives
for increasing integrated employment and gainful employment
opportunities for people with developmental disabilities,
including, but not limited to, ways to improve the
transition planning process for students age 14 and older,
and to develop partnerships with, and increase
participation by, employers and job developers.
c) Identifying existing sources of employment data and
recommending goals for and approaches to measuring progress
in integrated and gainful employment of people with
developmental disabilities.
d) Recommending legislative, regulatory, and policy changes
for increasing the percentage of people with developmental
disabilities in integrated and gainful employment,
including recommendations for improving transition planning
for students with developmental disabilities who are age 14
or older.
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7)Requires the Committee, no later than July 1, 2011, and
annually thereafter, provide a report to legislative policy
committees and the Governor describing its work and
recommendations.
8)Requires regional center individual program planning teams to
be guided by the Policy, including discussing school-to-work
opportunities for students beginning when a consumer is 14
years of age and informing consumers and their representatives
that the regional center is available upon request to
participate in a consumer's special education individual
education plan meetings to discuss transition planning.
9)States legislative findings and declarations as follows:
a) Working age people with disabilities are among the most
unemployed and underemployed members of society.
b) People with developmental disabilities are an important
and largely untapped employment resource.
c) Research demonstrates that wages and hours worked
increase dramatically as individuals move from
facility-based to integrated employment, and suggests that
other benefits include expanded social relationships,
heightened self-determination, and more typical job
acquisition and job roles.
d) Recent data indicate that, with 13% of working age
individuals with developmental and intellectual
disabilities in competitive or supported employment,
California ranks 41st when compared with other states.
e) Because the likelihood of individuals with developmental
disabilities obtaining employment is greater if they move
directly from school to work, education programs must
prepare transition age students for employment in community
settings.
f) Increasing integrated and gainful employment
opportunities for people with developmental disabilities
requires collaboration and cooperation by state and local
agencies, including, but not limited to, the State
Department of Developmental Services and regional centers,
the State Council on Developmental Disabilities, the
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Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the State
Department of Education and local school districts, and the
Employment Development Department.
EXISTING LAW
1)Establishes the Lanterman Act, under which DDS contracts with
21 private non-profit regional centers to provide case
management services and arrange for, or purchase, services
that meet the needs of individuals with developmental
disabilities.
2)Requires that regional centers secure needed services and
supports that meet the needs of each consumer, as determined
in the consumer's IPP.
3)Provides that regional center planning teams give the highest
priority to services and supports that allow adults with
developmental disabilities to live as independently as
possible in the community, and states that services and
supports should be available to enable persons with
developmental disabilities to approximate the pattern of
everyday living available to people without disabilities of
the same age, that support their integration into the
mainstream life of the community, and that result in more
independent, productive, and normal lives for the persons
served.
4)Under the Lanterman Act, defines "integrated work" as "the
engagement of an employee with a disability in work in a
setting typically found in the community in which individuals
interact with individuals without disabilities other than
those who are providing services to those individuals, to the
same extent that individuals without disabilities in
comparable positions interact with other persons."
5)Under the Lanterman Act, creates the State Council on
Developmental Disabilities as the state planning council to
meet the need for an effective method for planning and
coordinating the state's resources to assure the legal, civil,
and service rights of persons with developmental disabilities.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
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Background : This bill is based on the priorities of people with
developmental disabilities, family members, advocates, and other
stakeholders obtained through extensive public input. Meetings
were held in 2006 pursuant to SB 1270 (Chesbro), Chapter 397,
Statutes of 2006, to receive public input on ways to expand
opportunities for people with developmental disabilities in the
areas of employment and community participation. A resulting
May 2007 Report to the Legislature and the Governor, prepared by
the State Council on Developmental Disabilities, included
recommendations for improvements to the transition services
planning process for students and recommended policies and
initiatives to expand employment opportunities for people with
developmental disabilities. ("SB 1270 Report on Expanding
Opportunities and Choice in California's Day Program Services
for Individuals with Developmental Disabilities," May 2007.)
As noted in this bill's findings, research demonstrates that
wages and hours worked increase dramatically as individuals move
from facility-based to integrated employment, and suggests that
other benefits include expanded social relationships, heightened
self-determination, and more typical job acquisition and job
roles. (See, Butterworth, J., et al ., StateData: The national
report on employment services and outcomes , Institute for
Community Inclusion (UCEDD), U. Mass. (2008), p. 12,
http://communityinclusion.org/pdf/statedatabook_F.pdf .)
In October 2008, the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of
Disability Employment Policy, held a Roundtable on Employment
for People with Intellectual and Other Developmental
Disabilities. The executive summary made the following points
related to employment of people with disabilities and the
establishment of Employment First policies:
The majority of individuals with intellectual and
other significant, complex disabilities who have high
support needs are unable to achieve the American dream
of a job, a family and financial security. Instead,
they are caught in a cycle of poverty by the laws,
regulations and policies of the public and private
programs providing their supports and services.
Individuals with significant disabilities and high
support needs continue to be considered "nonfeasible"
for typical employment, often relegated to
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institutions, day programs or sheltered work
environments at sub-minimum wages. ... Fortunately,
innovative strategies have emerged over the last few
years that, if fully implemented, would remove most of
the existing barriers to employment and
self-sufficiency for individuals with intellectual and
other significant, complex disabilities. ... [A]
handful of states have adopted policies that require
employment to be a prime consideration for Medicaid
Waiver dollars. These "Employment First" initiatives
can significantly increase employment opportunities
for individuals with intellectual and other
developmental disabilities and high support needs.
The Supported Employment Leadership Network (SELN), in March
2008, reported that six states (Colorado, Florida, Oklahoma,
Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Washington) had developed Employment
First policies and at least three other states (Georgia,
Minnesota and Indiana) were developing but had not yet adopted
formal Employment First policies.
Prior bill : A bill introduced in the prior legislative session
(AB 2424 (Beall 2008)) would also have established an Employment
First Policy. AB 2424, however, unlike this bill, also made
significant changes to the individual program planning (IPP)
process and imposed responsibilities on regional centers and DDS
related to the development of materials, the provision of
information, and the conduct of IPP meetings. AB 2424 also
addressed non-employment-related integrated activities. AB 2424
was held in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
This bill is far narrower in scope than AB 2424. The Employment
First Policy established by this bill, according to the author,
represents a modest first step to increase the number of
Californians with developmental disabilities who are productive,
pay taxes, and are more self-sufficient and involved in their
communities. According to the author, the Policy "establishes a
high priority on providing supported employment and other
integrated employment opportunities for people with
developmental disabilities." The author intends that the policy
will result in recommendations, and will provide the impetus and
set the groundwork for future activities and initiatives to
expand opportunities for people with developmental disabilities
to engage in integrated gainful employment and postsecondary
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education.
This bill does not change the nature of the IPP process.
Consumer needs and preferences will remain the primary
determinants of the services and supports that are provided.
But, for transition-aged students and working-age adults,
gainful employment is the primary goal for most people. This
bill merely establishes integrated and gainful employment as the
first priority for people with developmental disabilities as
well. It does not foreclose other options currently available
based on individual needs and choices. In this regard, it is
worth noting that employment first policies, as established by
this bill and most states with employment policies, are
distinguished from an employment only policy, as adopted by the
State of Washington. In discussing the distinction, SELN notes
on its website that "employment only policies require that
employment be the only service option considered with exceptions
made only for individuals for whom employment is not appropriate
(e.g. individuals who are of retirement age). Employment First
policies require that employment be the first or preferred
service option considered for service recipients but typically
individuals do not have to meet exclusion criteria in order to
choose a service option other than employment."
This bill's findings and declarations recognize that working-age
people with disabilities are among the most unemployed and
underemployed members of society and that people with
developmental disabilities are an important and largely untapped
employment resource. The bill's findings also recognize the
importance of adequate and early transition planning so that
students with developmental disabilities are able to move
directly from school to work. The importance of collaboration
and cooperation by many state and local agencies is also
emphasized.
The state's current fiscal situation makes this bill
particularly timely. A recent DDS Report to the Legislature,
"Controlling Regional Center Costs," released April 4, 2008,
included increasing employment opportunities for people with
developmental disabilities as one of the long-term options for
improving service outcomes and addressing system costs.
According to the report, "[w]orking age people with disabilities
are among the most unemployed and underemployed segments of our
society. The vast majority of these individuals can work and
want to work. At 18%, California ranks 34th in the percentage
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of consumers in supportive or competitive employment when
compared to other states." In fact, the situation has gotten
worse. More recent data, referenced in this bill's findings,
show that, with 13% of working age individuals with
developmental and intellectual disabilities in competitive or
supported employment, California now ranks 41st when compared
with other states. (Bragdon, T., The case for inclusion 2008:
An analysis of Medicaid for Americans with intellectual and
developmental disabilities , United Cerebral Palsy Association
(2008), p. 8.
http://www.ucp.org/uploads/Case_For_Inclusion_Report_2008.pdf ).
Significantly, compared to traditional adult day programs and
work activity programs, supported work programs are, overall,
less costly on a per consumer basis. Many individuals work less
than full-time, reducing their need for staff support compared
to other day programs. Moreover, as people become proficient at
their jobs, staff support, and resultant per consumer costs,
decrease. Therefore, as more people move to integrated
supported work settings, the state will realize substantial
savings.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Association of Regional Center Agencies (sponsor)
State Council on Developmental Disabilities (sponsor)
Disability Rights California (sponsor)
California Communities United Institute
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Eric Gelber / HUM. S. / (916) 319-2089