BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2702
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 13, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Jim Beall, Jr., Chair
AB 2702 (Chesbro) - As Amended: April 5, 2010
SUBJECT : Developmental services: planning teams
SUMMARY : Requires that, notwithstanding any other provision of
law, regional centers shall ensure that, in developing,
reviewing, or modifying a consumer's individual program plan
(IPP) or individualized family service plan (IFSP), all
decisions must be made pursuant to procedures established in,
respectively, the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services
Act (Lanterman Act) or California Early Intervention Services
Act (CEISA).
EXISTING LAW
1)Establishes the Lanterman Act under which the Department of
Developmental Services (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 an IPP to be developed for every individual over the
age of 36 months who is eligible for regional center services.
Requires the IPP to identify the services and supports to be
purchased by the regional center or obtained from other
agencies.
3)Defines "planning team" to mean the individual with
developmental disabilities; the parents or legally appointed
guardian of a minor consumer or the legally appointed
conservator of an adult consumer, or an authorized
representative; one or more regional center representatives,
including the designated regional center service coordinator;
and any individual, including a service provider, invited by
the consumer or the parents or legally appointed guardian of a
minor consumer or the legally appointed conservator of an
adult consumer, or the authorized representative.
4)Provides that IPPs shall be prepared jointly by the planning
team, and that decisions concerning the consumer's goals,
objectives, and services and supports to be included in the
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IPP shall be made by agreement between the regional center
representative and the consumer or, where appropriate, the
parents, legal guardian, conservator, or authorized
representative at the program plan meeting.
5)Establishes the CEISA and Early Start Program, funded through
Part C of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act, to promote a coordinated family service system for
children from birth to 36 months who have a developmental
delay or an established risk condition.
6)Requires regional centers to share primary responsibility for
provision of early intervention services with local education
agencies. Requires an IFSP to be developed for each eligible
child, delineating the child's levels of development, desired
outcomes, services to be provided, and methods to be used to
determine the child's progress.
7)Requires that final decisions regarding the IPP or IFSP be
made pursuant to the procedures for IPP and IFSP development
set forth in the Lanterman Act or CEISA, respectively.
Welfare & Institutions Code (W&I Code) Sections 4646.4(b) and
(c).
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
The IPP/IFSP process : Through the Lanterman Act, the State
accepted "a responsibility for persons with developmental
disabilities and an obligation to them which it must discharge."
W&I Code Section 4501. The rights of people with developmental
disabilities and the corresponding obligations of the state
toward them under the Lanterman Act are implemented through the
IPP procedure.
Regional centers are required to develop an IPP for each client
over the age of 36 months who is eligible for regional center
services. IPPs must be prepared jointly by the planning team.
W&I Code Section 4646(d). Planning teams include the individual
with developmental disabilities (consumer); the parents or
legally appointed guardian of a minor consumer or the legally
appointed conservator of an adult consumer, or an authorized
representative; one or more regional center representatives,
including the designated regional center service coordinator;
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and any individual, including a service provider, invited by the
consumer, parent, or other legally authorized representative.
W&I Code Section 4512(j).
The individual with developmental disabilities and, where
appropriate, his or her parents, legal guardian or conservator,
or authorized representative, must have the opportunity to
actively participate in the development of the IPP. W&I Code
Section 4646(b). The planning process includes gathering
information and conducting assessments to determine the life
goals, capabilities and strengths, preferences, barriers, and
concerns or problems of the person with developmental
disabilities and, in the case of children of the family unit as
a whole. W&I Code Section 4646.5(a)(1). The IPP includes a
statement of goals, based on the needs, preferences and life
choices of the individual, and a statement of specific
time-limited objectives for implementing the person's goals and
addressing his or her needs. W&I Code Section 4646.5(a)(2). It
also includes a schedule of the type and amount of services and
supports to be purchased by the regional center or obtained from
generic agencies or other resources to achieve the IPP goals and
objectives. W&I Code Section 4646.5(a)(4). The process for
reviewing and modifying the IPP is the same as the process for
IPP development. W&I Code Section 4646(b).
Similar procedures are followed for children from birth to 36
months who have a developmental delay or an established risk
condition and are eligible for services under the CEISA through
the Early Start Program. Education Code Section 95020. Each
such eligible infant or toddler is required to have an IFSP.
Families must be afforded the opportunity to participate in all
decisions regarding eligibility and services. The IFSP must
address the child's present levels of development, the family's
concerns, priorities, and resources to meet the child's
developmental needs, a statement of major outcomes expected, and
a statement of the specific early intervention services
necessary to meet the infant or toddler's unique needs.
Regional centers develop the IFSP and share responsibility for
provision of early intervention services with local education
agencies.
Need for this bill : According to the author, the need for this
bill relates to recent actions taken with respect to the state
budget. The author says that amendments to the Lanterman Act
passed as part of the 2009-10 Budget trailer bill related to DDS
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"created enough ambiguity that some regional center staff
members have evidently thought that they could make changes in
IPPs unilaterally without going through the IPP process." The
sponsor of this bill, The Arc of California, asserts that "some
regional center staff members have mistakenly simply cut people
off services without consultation, a result no one intended."
Through the budget process, numerous cost-savings measures were
enacted that may, in fact, have blurred the roles of regional
centers and planning teams in the development of IPPs and IFSPs.
By way of example, the trailer bill related to DDS for the
2009-10 Budget, ABX4 9 (Evans), Chapter 9, Statutes of 2009-10
4th Extraordinary Session, amended both the CEISA and the
Lanterman Act to require that, in developing, reviewing or
modifying an IFSP or IPP, the "regional center" must consider
the use of group training for parents on behavior intervention
techniques in lieu of in-home parent training, and the purchase
of neighborhood preschool services in lieu of infant development
programs. Similarly, ABX4 9 provided that a regional center
shall not make rent, mortgage, or lease payments on a supported
living home or pay for household expenses for more than six
months, unless the "regional center" finds that it is necessary
to meet the individual consumer's particular needs pursuant to
the consumer's IPP. These and other provisions related to
consumer needs and services appear to give regional centers sole
authority to make decisions that are otherwise within the
purview of planning teams. This bill would clarify that such
decisions continue to be within the purview of the planning team
as a whole, which includes the regional center as a participant.
The specific language of the amended version of this bill,
however, is almost identical to language in the Lanterman Act
that was enacted as part of the 2008-09 Budget trailer bill
related to Health. AB 1183 (Committee on Budget), Chapter 758,
Statutes of 2008. Section 21.5 of AB 1183 required the
establishment of an internal regional center review process in
conjunction with the development, review, or modification of
IPPs and IFSPs, to ensure adherence with federal and state law
when purchasing services and supports. The section added, as
Welfare & Institutions Code Sections 4646.4(b) and (c), the
following language concerning compliance with existing Lanterman
Act provisions related to IPP and IFSP development, review, and
modification:
(b) Final decisions regarding the consumer's individual
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program plan shall be made pursuant to Section 4646.
(c) Final decisions regarding the individual family support
plan shall be made pursuant to Section 95020 of the
Government Code.
This bill would add almost identical language, intended
primarily to address changes implemented with the 2009-10
Budget. And, as Disability Rights California notes in its
letter supporting this bill in concept, the new section added by
this bill is in the part of the Lanterman Act concerning
case-finding activities and assessment, rather than program
planning.
Is this bill necessary ?: Despite adding a new section with
substantially the same language as existing language in the
Lanterman Act, this bill would, by placing the language in a
stand-alone section of the Act, help clarify that the principal
is one of general application-that is, that decisions concerning
consumers' IPPs and IFSPs are made pursuant to the IPP and IFSP
provisions of the Lanterman Act and CEISA, respectively. The
recommended amendments would address the issues of duplication
and placement of the language by removing the existing statutory
provision from the section of the Lanterman Act enacted in
conjunction with the 2008-09 Budget, and by moving the new
provision of this bill to the portion of the Lanterman Act
related to program planning.
RECOMMENDED AMENDMENTS :
1)Delete Welfare & Institutions Code Sections 4646.4(b) and (c).
2)Place the new provision added by this bill (Section 4641.5) in
the program planning section of the Lanterman Act--e.g., as a
new section 4646.7.
3)Technical clean-up : Both this bill and current Welfare &
Institutions Code Section 4646.4(c) refer to the IFSP as an
" individua l family support plan." The CEISA, however, refers
to the " individualized family service plan." As technical
clean-up, therefore, it is recommended that this bill be
amended to use the language of the CEISA.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
AB 2702
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Support
The Arc of California
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Eric Gelber / HUM. S. / (916) 319-2089