BILL NUMBER: AB 1375	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MAY 2, 2011
	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
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 require the department to develop guidance for
regional  certains   centers  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 consumer'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: 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  ;   by  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) 
    (e)  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) 
    (f)  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) 
    (g)  Different regional centers offer consumers within
their geographic base a different set of autism therapies. 
   (i) 
    (h)  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) 
    (i)  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) 
    (j)  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  )
    (k)  Services funded through the Lanterman  Act
and   Developmental Disabilities Services Act and
provided by  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   treatments for
ASDs  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) 
    (2)  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) 
    (b)  Nothing in this section shall be construed as
increasing the appropriations to the regional centers. 
   (c) Nothing in this section shall be construed as requiring a
regional center to provide services not readily or cost-effectively
available within the regional center's jurisdiction or the geographic
area of the consumer.  
   (d) For purposes of this section, "evidence-based practices" means
practices that rely on a decisionmaking process that meets and
combines all of the following criteria:  
   (1) Best research evidence.  
   (2) Best clinical experience.  
   (3) Consistency with patient, family, and consumer values and
choices, and informed consent.