BILL ANALYSIS
AB 287
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 287 (Beall)
As Amended May 21, 2009
Majority vote
HUMAN SERVICES 5-2 APPROPRIATIONS 12-4
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|Ayes:|Beall, Ammiano, Hall, |Ayes:|De Leon, Ammiano, Charles |
| |Portantino, Torres | |Calderon, Davis, |
| | | |Krekorian, Hall, John A. |
| | | |Perez, Price, Skinner, |
| | | |Solorio, |
| | | |Audra Strickland, |
| | | |Torlakson |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+---------------------------|
|Nays:|Tom Berryhill, Logue |Nays:|Nielsen, Duvall, Harkey, |
| | | |Miller |
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SUMMARY : Establishes an Employment First Policy (Policy)
intended to increase the number of individuals with
developmental disabilities who engage in integrated and gainful
employment. Specifically, this bill :
1)Establishes the 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:
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a) "Gainful employment" means work where the individual
earns minimum wage or higher, and also includes
self-employment and microenterprises; and,
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:
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; and,
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, an organized labor
organization representing service coordination staff, 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;
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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; and,
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.
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.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes the Lanterman Act, under which DDS contracts with
21 private non-profit regional centers (RCs) to provide case
management services and arrange for, or purchase services that
meet the needs of individuals with developmental disabilities.
2)Requires that RCs secure needed services and supports that
meet the needs of each consumer, as determined in the
consumer's Individual Program Plan (IPP).
3)Provides that RC 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
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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 : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee analysis:
1)Absorbable workload to RCs to integrate the Employment First
approach in IPP for teen and adult consumers. Absorbable
workload to the State Council to convene the standing
committee and provide legislative feedback.
2)Unknown, potentially significant savings to the extent this
bill reduces RC service needs for consumers who are able to
successfully transition to employment. RC services for
consumers addressed by this bill range from approximately
$5,000 (66% GF) per year to $25,000 (66% GF) a year. These
costs will be reduced and GF economic activity will result to
the extent consumers move from a service environment to a
working environment.
COMMENTS :
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
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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.)
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.
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.
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
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
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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 ).
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 RCs 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 and sponsors intend
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 education.
Analysis Prepared by : Eric Gelber / HUM. S. / (916) 319-2089
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