BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE HUMAN
SERVICES COMMITTEE
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
BILL NO: SB 368
S
AUTHOR: Liu
B
VERSION: April 4, 2011
HEARING DATE: April 12, 2011
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FISCAL: Appropriations
6
8
CONSULTANT:
Hailey
SUBJECT
Developmental services: decision making
SUMMARY
Gives courts the authority to appoint an authorized
representative to assist a minor child who has
developmental disabilities in ensuring that his or her
needs are met by their regional center. Modeled on
statutes establishing court-appointed "educational rights
holders."
ABSTRACT
Current law
1. Gives the juvenile court the authority to limit a
parent's right to make educational decisions about their
child and to appoint an "educational rights holder" to make
those decisions.
2. Assigns to probation departments the responsibility to
consider identifying a person to make educational decisions
for the child when the parents of a ward of the court are
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unable or unwilling to make those decisions.
3. Provides authority to the juvenile court to appoint an
educational rights holder to make educational decisions for
a dependent or ward of the court.
4. Provides access to records and information of a minor
with developmental disabilities to a parent, guardian,
conservator, or limited conservator, under specific
circumstances.
5. Establishes a system of regional centers to provide
case management and purchase of services to individuals
found to have one of several specific developmental
disabilities before their 18th birthday.
6. Directs regional centers to establish an individualized
program plan (IPP) with each client detailing needs and
services.
7. Establishes processes by which clients of regional
centers can share information contained in the IPP with
other person and can identify those who can represent them
in the writing of an IPP.
8. Establishes a legal process for the appointment of an
"authorized representative," defined as "the conservator of
an adult, �or] the guardian, conservator, or parent or
person having legal custody of a minor claimant" who is a
client of a regional center, to assist a client in a fair
hearing procedure for resolving conflicts with a regional
center or to assist an area board for developmental
disabilities in its pursuit of legal, administrative, or
other appropriate remedies to ensure the protection of the
legal, civil, and service rights of persons who require
services or who are receiving services in the area.
This bill
1. Adds to the definition of an "authorized
representative" of a client of a regional center to include
a responsible adult, appointed by a court order, who the
court determines is an appropriate representative for the
minor.
2. Gives to the authorized representative the authority to
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access a minor's information and records, the right to
participate in the IPP process, and the right to
participate in the fair hearing process for the minor to
the same extent as provided under law to the minor's
parents, legal guardian, or conservator.
3. Gives to the authorized representative the ability to
provide written consent for purposes of establishing
eligibility for regional center services and supports for
the minor, as well as for the purpose of an IPP revision,
including the authorization of assessments of, and the
provision of services to, the minor.
4. Provides to the juvenile court and to probation
departments the authority to include decisions about
developmental services when appointing an educational
rights holder or a person to make educational decisions for
a child.
5. Gives to court-appointed "educational rights holders,"
in general, the authority to make decisions about
developmental services as well as about education when the
child in question is a client of the regional center.
FISCAL IMPACT
Unknown
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
The author states that children in the dependency and
delinquency systems may lack a parent or guardian willing
or able to make decisions on their behalf. California law
recognizes this fact in the realm of educational decisions
by establishing "educational rights holders" to represent
the interests of wards and dependents in their dealings
with schools providing special education and related
services. The author believes that there is an analogous
need for a person to represent the interests of these same
children in their dealings with a regional center.
The bill gives court-appointed authorized representatives
the right to have access to a child's information and
records, including the child's regional center case file,
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the right to participate in the IPP process, and the right
to provide written consent for the child in dealings with a
regional center that include assessment, eligibility, and
the creation of an IPP.
Arguments in support
Public Counsel, the bill's sponsor, notes that adoptive
cases processed through the county dependency system are
frequently not receiving regional center services, despite
eligibility, and the children's caregivers have no access
to the child's regional center records, including the IPP.
In these cases, court-appointed educational rights holders
do not have access to the regional center records and may
be denied status as the child's representative when seeking
regional center services.
POSITIONS
Support: Public Counsel (sponsor)
California Probation Parole and Correctional
Association
Chief Probation Officers of California
Children's Law Center of Los Angeles
Disability Rights California
Youth Law Center
Oppose: None received
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