BILL ANALYSIS
AB 302
Page 1
Date of Hearing: March 24, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Jim Beall, Jr., Chair
AB 302 (Beall) - As Introduced: February 17, 2009
SUBJECT : Developmental disabilities: Regional centers.
SUMMARY : Requires the Department of Developmental Services
(DDS), using existing data, to determine how purchase of service
(POS) funds are spent based on consumer ethnicity and primary
language. Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires DDS, as part of its responsibility to monitor
regional centers and to assist in determining whether POS
funds are being spent equitably among the state's
linguistically and ethnically diverse population, to use
existing data to determine the following:
a) The number and percentage of individuals, by ethnicity
and age and by primary language and age, who are eligible
for regional center services but are not receiving any
services using POS funds;
b) The average annual per capita POS expenditures for
individuals receiving services using POS funds, overall, by
residence type, and by service category, with details by
ethnicity and age and by primary language and age.
2)Requires DDS to annually update these POS data, for the state
as a whole and separately for each regional center, and post
the data on its Internet web site.
EXISTING LAW
1)Establishes, under the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities
Services Act (Lanterman Act), 21 nonprofit regional centers,
which contract with DDS to provide case management services,
conduct assessments, and develop and implement an individual
program plan (IPP) for each person determined to be eligible
for regional center services under the Lanterman Act.
2)Requires that, in order to achieve the stated objectives of a
consumer's IPP, the regional center secure needed services and
supports, either from an agency that receives public funds to
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serve all members of the general public or by purchasing the
service or support from a provider using funds allocated to
the regional center's POS budget.
3)Provides that DDS, through appropriate and regular monitoring
activities, is responsible for ensuring that regional centers
meet their statutory, regulatory, and contractual obligations,
and provide services and supports in compliance with the
principles of the Lanterman Act.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown.
COMMENTS : In its letter supporting AB 302, the USC University
Center on Excellence in Developmental Disabilities says that
"[r]esearch in many fields over the past 10-15 years, has
documented racial disparities in access to services and service
outcomes in health care, mental health, education, foster care,
childcare, and corrections, to name but a few. While there are
differences across ethnic groups, there is solid evidence that
people of color receive fewer services and have poorer outcomes
than their white counterparts, regardless of the service
system."
Several studies conducted since the early 1990s have examined
regional centers' expenditures of POS dollars as a function of a
number of variables, including client ethnicity. Language
contained in a trailer bill to the budget of 1998 required DDS
to analyze the POS expenditures and factors that lead to
variance among various race and ethnic groups. The data
produced were criticized by some as not having sufficient
control factors; so, the decision was made to alter the
methodology and conduct another study. The second study was
released in August of 2003. Most recently, the results of
independent statistical studies using DDS data were published in
2008 by researchers at the University of California, San
Francisco--Charlene Harrington and Taewoon Kang.
While the results have been varied and open to interpretation,
the studies overall show that the per capita expenditure of POS
dollars is higher for white clients than for other racial and
ethnic groups. The Harrington and Kang studies found that, even
when controlling for client needs, all racial and ethnic groups
(Asian/Pacific Islanders, African Americans, Hispanics) were
23-31% less likely to receive any services than were whites.
For those who received services, even when client need is taken
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into account, annual per-person expenditures for non-white
racial and ethnic groups were significantly lower than for
whites: Hispanics received $3,190 less, Asian/Pacific Islanders
received $2,560 less, and African Americans received $1,320
less.
Harrington and Kang note that any number or combination of
factors might explain these disparities, "including client and
family attitudinal and belief systems, language skills,
immigration status, provider race/ethnicity, and lack of
knowledge of the system. [Regional center] staff assessment and
case management procedures or cultural competence as well as
[regional center] and/or provider discrimination could be other
factors." Harrington, C. & Kang, T., Disparities in service
utilization and expenditures for individuals with developmental
disabilities , Disability & Health Journal, 1:184, 193 (2008).
A 2005 bill (AB 1535 (Bass)) likewise would have required the
posting of information on POS disparities on DDS's website.
Unlike AB 302, however, AB 1535 would also have required more
complex and detailed analyses and reports. AB 1535 was
eventually amended to address an entirely different subject
matter.
AB 302 requires that, using existing data, DDS annually merely
post specified aggregate POS information on its web site, based
on age, ethnicity and primary language. DDS already posts
demographic and statistical data on its web site in an annual
Fact Book and could include the information required by AB 302.
The author points out that AB 302 makes no assumptions about the
reasons for identified POS disparities based on race/ethnicity
or other factors. In fact, as the author notes, "[t]he extent
of the disparities and the underlying reasons may, in fact, vary
by regional center." But, for stakeholders to have informed
discussions of these issues at the regional center and state
level, it is necessary to start with current data. According to
the author, "[t]he requirement that the data be made public and
regularly updated will enable informed discussions to be held,
appropriate strategies to be developed and implemented, and
changes to be assessed over time."
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
AB 302
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American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
(AFSCME)
Area 5 Board on Developmental Disabilities
Asian Rehabilitation Service, Inc.
Association for Chinese Families of the Disabled
Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (CEDD) at
the MIND Institute
Chinese Parents Association for the Disabled
Communities Actively Living Independent & Free (CALIF)
Disability Rights California
Friends of Children with Special Needs
Fuerza, Inc. (Familia Unidas En Respuesta al Sindrome down y
otras Altercaciones)
Japanese Speaking Parents Association of Children with
Challenges
Special Needs Network Inc.
The Arc of California
USC University Center on Excellence in Developmental
Disabilities Research, Education, and
Service at Children's Hospital (USC UCEDD)
Vietnamese Parents with Disabled Children Association
Mr. Eric Goines, of Sacramento
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Eric Gelber / HUM. S. / (916) 319-2089