BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
SB 382 (Liu)
Hearing Date: 5/26/2011 Amended: 4/27/2011
Consultant: Katie Johnson Policy Vote: Hum. Serv. 7-0
Judiciary 5-0
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BILL SUMMARY: SB 382 would: specify that the performance
objective part of the Department of Developmental Services'
(DDS) contract with a regional center include specified criteria
related to complaints and individual program plan services;
require DDS to develop processes and procedures to address
retaliation against regional center employees and vendors;
require DDS to report annually to the Legislature on the number
and type of complaints and to develop performance objectives for
regional centers based on the data collected; require DDS to
review regional center compliance with the individual program
plan processes and procedures and to develop related performance
objectives; require regional centers to post a list of vendors
and their rates on their Internet Web sites; clarify the
selection of least costly providers.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 Fund
Develop retaliation likely in the low hundreds of thousands
of General/
processes and procedures dollars in FY 2011-2012Federal
Annual report on likely in the low hundreds of thousands
of General/
complaints dollars annually ongoing Federal
RCs list of vendor- unknown, potentially significant General/
negotiated rates cost pressure on RCs Federal
*DDS funding is mostly General Fund with some federal funds
depending on the individual served and program function.
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STAFF COMMENTS: SUSPENSE FILE. AS PROPOSED TO BE AMENDED.
SB 382 (Liu)
Page 1
SB 382 would:
1) Require each performance contract with a regional center
to include specified criteria based on regional center (RC)
track record on complaints, state hearings, and compliance
with the individual program plan (IPP).
2) Require the Department of Developmental Services (DDS),
in conjunction with the Association of Regional Center
Agencies and other stakeholders, to develop processes and
procedures to address issues of retaliation against RC
employees and vendors in relation to logging a complaint,
as specified. The stakeholder process as well as the
development of the processes and procedures would require
considerable, unabsorbable, staff time.
3) Require RCs, commencing January 1, 2012, to report
annually to the department the total number of complaints
they received within a single fiscal year.
4) Require DDS, commencing January 1, 2012, to report
specified RC complaint information to the Legislature
annually and to develop annual performance objectives for
each RC based on the complaint information. DDS currently
receives complaint information from RCs that varies by type
of complaint. Completing an annual report could cost in the
low hundreds of thousands of dollars annually in staff
time.
5) Require DDS, commencing January 1, 2012, in addition to
all other audits and reviews the department conducts of
RCs, to conduct a review of each RC's compliance with the
procedures for developing IPPs required by law and
regulation, develop annual performance objectives for each
RC based on the reviews, and to publish the results of the
review in its annual review. To the extent that existing
audits and reviews would not satisfy this requirement, the
department could need up 2 additional staff to complete the
necessary reviews at a cost of approximately $200,000 -
$300,000 annually.
6) Require RCs, commencing July 1, 2013, and annually
thereafter, to publish a directory of vendorized service
providers on its Internet Web site and any relevant
negotiated rates. There would be cost pressure on RCs to
collect and display this information in a meaningful way.
7) Make clarifying changes with regard to the selection of
least costly providers.
SB 382 (Liu)
Page 2
The author's proposed amendments would amend this bill to:
1) Permit, instead of require, the department's performance
contracts with RCs to include specified criteria based on
RC track record on complaints, state hearings, and
compliance with the IPP;
2) Define "complaint" for purposes of the department's
report to the Legislature on complaint data;
3) Strike the provisions that would require DDS to conduct
a review of each RC's compliance with IPP procedures in
addition to all other audits and reviews and instead
provide that, within the existing biennial review of a
random sample of IPPs at each RC, the review should consist
of an evaluation of whether the RC has appropriate IPP
procedures in place. An RC would be required to demonstrate
their compliance. DDS would be permitted to issue any
necessary guidance to aid RCs in demonstrating compliance.
DDS would be required to utilize the results of these
reviews to develop annual performance objectives for RCs.
Amendment number 3 would likely remove the costs of conducting
new annual reviews of RCs-approximately a few hundred thousand
dollars.