BILL NUMBER: AB 1375	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 31, 2011

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Huber

                        FEBRUARY 18, 2011

   An act  to add Section 4643.4 to the Welfare and Institutions
Code,  relating to developmental services.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1375, as amended, Huber. Developmental services: autism
 services guidelines   spectrum disorders 
.
   Under existing law, the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities
Services Act, the State Department of Developmental Services is
authorized to contract with regional centers to provide support and
services to individuals with developmental disabilities.
   This bill would  provide that it is the intent of the
Legislature to enact legislation that would promote statewide
standardized guidelines, best practices, and innovative approaches
for the provision of services and supports through regional centers
for the evaluation and treatment of individuals with autism spectrum
disorders from birth to 5 years of age   require the
department to   develop guidance for   regional
certains in regard to the treatment of autism spectrum disorders and
  develop a list of evidence-based behavioral and
developmental, relationship-based therapies to assist the regional
centers in determining which therapies qualify as evidence-based
practices.   The bill would also   require the
department to   direct the regional centers to fund
evidence-based practices on the list, as well as other evidence-based
therapies prescribed by the consum   er's clinical
practitioner, so long as those therapies can be shown to meet the
definition of an evidence-based practice  .
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee:  no
  yes  . State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   SECTION 1.    The Legislature finds and declares all
of the following:  
   (a) The incidence of autism in California has risen dramatically
in recent years.  
   (b) Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) encompass a wide variety of
related disorders from autism to Asperger's syndrome to pervasive
developmental disorder - not otherwise specified.  
   (c) No two children on the spectrum exhibit the same symptoms and
challenges.  
   (d) While, as of yet, there is no cure for autism, early
intervention has been shown to have a positive impact in nearly all
children on the spectrum; improving function and reducing the need
for future services.  
   (e) There is a wide variety of evidence-based treatments for ASDs
available. These include behavioral interventions, including, but not
limited to, applied behavioral analysis; developmental,
relationship-based interventions, including, but not limited to,
DIR/Floortime and Relationship Development Intervention (RDI); and
other speech, occupational, and physical therapies.  
   (f) Just as no two children on the spectrum exhibit the same
symptoms and challenges, children on the spectrum respond to
treatments differently. An effective intervention for one child may
not be effective in another.  
   (g) For many children, studies have shown that a combination of
evidence-based intervention therapies tailored to the needs of the
child have shown the most promise in reducing the impact of autism
and allowing for the maximum development of a child's potential.
 
   (h) Different regional centers offer consumers within their
geographic base a different set of autism therapies.  
   (i) Often, the only means available to parents who wish to provide
their child with the most effective set of therapies tailored to
their child's specific individual needs is to relocate from the
jurisdiction of a regional center that does not offer the optimum
service or mix of services to the jurisdiction of another regional
center that does.  
   (j) For most parents, this forced relocation is impractical or
impossible, resulting in the child being provided services that do
not meet his or her specific individual needs. This results in the
expenditure of state funds for ineffective treatments and a loss of
opportunity for the child's development.  
   (k) There is a need for a broader offering of evidence-based
services in order to maximize the effectiveness of treatment for each
child on an individual basis at all regional centers.  
   (l  ) Services funded through the Lanterman Act and the
regional centers must be evidence-based practices in order to ensure
that state funds are expended on proven therapies. 
   (m) As with autism, there are a wide variety of infant mental
health treatments that fall into several broad categories, including
behavioral and developmental and relationship-based therapies. Over
the last 30 years, there has been a growing body of established
knowledge, expertise, and competencies for the practice of infant
mental health.  
   (n) Infant mental health therapies are vital to preventing or
reducing future mental health problems as the child ages.  
   (o) Infant mental health diagnoses fall across a broad range of
diagnoses. Often, there is a cooccurrence of both developmental
delays and social-emotional delays, wherein a child can have more
than one diagnosis across both the autism spectrum and mental health
categories.  
   (p) The appropriate evidence-based practice for infant mental
health is determined by the child's diagnosis or diagnoses, specific
individual needs, professional judgment, and the culture and values
of the child's family.  
   (q) Arbitrarily confining funding to a narrow set of approved
therapies places the state in the role of medical practitioner. 

   (r) When the state, acting as a de facto medical practitioner,
prescribes therapies for a child by limiting the therapies available
without an appropriate assessment of the child, the prescribed
therapies are likely to be inappropriate, wasteful of state
resources, and potentially injurious to the mental health of the
child.  
   (s) State funding for infant mental health should be confined to
evidence-based practices in accordance with infant mental health
competencies established for this field.  
   (t) Both autism and infant mental health are subject to
conflicting and incomplete definitions of evidence-based practices in
statute. 
   SEC. 2.    Section 4643.4 is added to the  
Welfare and Institutions Code   , to read:  
   4643.4.  (a) The department shall do all of the following:
   (1) Develop guidance for the regional centers that clarifies that
each regional center should provide consumers with a wide variety of
evidence-based ASDs treatments tailored to the individual needs of
the consumer.
   (2) Develop a list of evidence-based behavioral and developmental,
relationship-based therapies to assist the regional centers in
determining which therapies qualify as evidence-based practices.
   (3) Direct the regional centers to fund evidence-based practices
on the list developed pursuant to paragraph (2), as well as other
evidence-based therapies prescribed by the consumer's clinical
practitioner, so long as those therapies can be shown to meet the
definition of an evidence-based practice.
   (b) The department may consult with outside third parties,
including, but not limited to, the University of California's
University Centers for Excellence for Developmental Disabilities, to
develop the list required in subdivision (a), as long as the criteria
for selection of best practices conforms to the definition of
evidence-based practices.
   (c) Nothing in this section shall be construed as increasing the
appropriations to the regional centers.  
  SECTION 1.    It is the intent of the Legislature
to enact legislation that would promote statewide standardized
guidelines, best practices, and innovative approaches for the
provision of services and supports through regional centers for the
evaluation and treatment of individuals with autism spectrum
disorders from birth to five years of age.