BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE HUMAN
SERVICES COMMITTEE
Senator Jim Beall, Chair
BILL NO: AB 1626
A
AUTHOR: Maienschein
B
VERSION: February 10, 2014
HEARING DATE: June 10, 2014
1
FISCAL: Yes
6
2
CONSULTANT: Mareva Brown
6
SUBJECT
Developmental services: habilitation
SUMMARY
This bill would increase the hourly rate paid to providers
of individualized and group-supported employment services
from $30.82 to $34.24, and increase the fees paid to
interim program providers from $360 to $400 and $720 to
$800, respectively.
ABSTRACT
Existing law :
1) Establishes the Lanterman Developmental
Disabilities Services Act, which states
that California is responsible for providing an array
of services and supports sufficiently complete to meet
the needs and choices of each person with
developmental disabilities, regardless of age or
degree of disability, and at each stage of life and to
support their integration into the mainstream life of
the community. (WIC 4500, et al)
Continued---
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2) Establishes a system of nonprofit Regional Centers
to provide fixed points of contact in the community
for all persons with developmental disabilities and
their families, to coordinate services and supports
best suited to them throughout their lifetime. (WIC
4620)
3) Establishes an Individual Program Plan (IPP) and
defines that planning process as the vehicle to ensure
that services and supports are customized to meet the
needs of consumers who are served by regional centers.
(WIC 4512)
4) Establishes an individual habilitation services
plan and specifies areas in which consumers must meet
individual employment goals. (WIC 4853, WIC 4854)
5) Defines habilitation services as activities
purchased for regional center consumers, including
services provided under the Work Activity and
Supported Employment programs to prepare and maintain
consumers at their highest level of vocation
functioning or to prepare them for referral to
vocational rehabilitation services. (WIC 4851)
6) Defines supported employment services as those
approved in the IPP to achieve supported employment as
an outcome, as specified. (WIC 4851 (q))
7) Establishes fees and hourly rates for service
providers who work with consumers in various job
development and support activities. (WIC 4860)
8) Requires that when an eligible regional center
consumer is placed on a Department of Rehabilitation
(DOR) waiting list for vocational rehabilitation, as
defined, the regional center shall authorize
appropriate services for the individual as needed
until services can be provided by the vocational
rehabilitation program. (WIC 4855)
9) Requires that when a regional center must authorize
services pending a consumer's acceptance from the DOR
wait list, the following fees shall apply:
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a. A $360 fee to the program provider upon
intake of a consumer into a supported employment
program. No fee shall be paid if that consumer
completed a supported employment intake process
with that same supported employment program
within the previous 12 months.
b. A $720 fee upon placement of a consumer
in an integrated job, except that no fee shall be
paid if that consumer is placed with another
consumer or consumers assigned to the same job
coach during the same hours of employment.
c. A $720 fee after a 90-day retention of a
consumer in a job, except that no fee shall be
paid if that consumer has been placed with
another consumer or consumers, assigned to the
same job coach during the same hours of
employment. (WIC 4860)
This bill:
1) Increases the hourly rate for supported employment
services provided to consumers receiving
individualized or group services from $30.82 to
$34.24.
2) Increases the fee regional centers pay interim
program providers to complete the intake process for a
consumer entering a supported employment program from
$360 to $400.
3) Increases the fee paid for placement of a consumer
in an integrated job and the fee paid after a consumer
is retained in a job for 90 days from $720 to $800.
FISCAL IMPACT
According to an analysis by the Assembly Committee on
Appropriations, increasing the rate paid to service
providers for supported employment would cost the
Department of Developmental Services (DDS) approximately
$10 million (GF) per year and the Department of
Rehabilitation (DOR) approximately $2.5 million (GF) per
year.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
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Purpose of the bill:
According to the author, this bill addresses, in part,
California's commitment to serve persons with developmental
disabilities. Specifically, the bill seeks to raise the
statutory rate associated with helping persons with
developmental disabilities find and keep jobs. The author
states this rate has been artificially depressed due to
repeated state budget decisions, meaning that nearly every
community-based nonprofit agency serving this population
has been losing money in attempting to provide support for
meaningful employment for persons with developmental
disabilities who wish to work.
Regional centers
California's 21 regional centers are non-profit
organizations that provide local services and supports to
individuals through contracts with DDS. Regional centers
provide diagnosis and assessment of eligibility and help
plan, access, coordinate and monitor the services and
supports that are needed because of an individual's
developmental disability. Services for consumers are
determined through an individual program plan (IPP). A
developmental disability is defined as a disability that
originates before an individual attains 18 years of age, is
expected to continue indefinitely, and constitutes a
substantial disability for that individual. It includes
intellectual disabilities, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and
autism spectrum disorders (ASD).
Employment First Policy
AB 287 (Beall) Chapter 231, Statutes of 2009 required the
State Council on Developmental Disabilities to establish a
standing Employment First Committee to identify strategies,
best practices, and incentives, and to develop an
Employment First Policy. The goal of the policy was to
increase the number of people with developmental
disabilities who are employed in integrated work,
self-employment, and microenterprises, and in the number
earning wages at or above minimum wage. The council is
required to report annually to the Legislature outlining
its work and making recommendations.
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In 2011, the State Council released its first report which
included findings that 26.5 percent of working age adults
with developmental disabilities live below the federal
poverty line compared with 13 percent of same-aged adults
in the general population. Other findings included a need
for additional supports for individuals to prepare for and
maintain employment. That report, and a subsequent report
last year,<1> led to the passage of AB 1041 (Chesbro)
Chapter 677, Statutes of 2013, which created a statewide
Employment First Policy. Regional centers are required to
include integrated employment opportunities and services in
a regional center consumer's IPP, as specified.
Department of Rehabilitation
The California Department of Rehabilitation provides
services to consumers that result in employment,
independent living and equality for individuals with
disabilities. Among the services is Vocational
Rehabilitation, which includes employment counseling
training and education, mobility and transportation aids,
job search and placement assistance. To be eligible for
services, an individual must have a physical or mental
impairment that substantially impedes his or her ability to
secure employment and that requires Vocational
Rehabilitation services to prepare for, secure, retain or
regain employment. An individual must also be able to
benefit from DOR services in obtaining employment in an
integrated setting.
Supported Employment Rates
While most other rates for regional center services may
vary based on a number of unique factors, the $30.82
per-hour rate for individual and group-based job coaching
is set in statute. This rate applies whether these services
provided through DOR or DDS.
Generally, consumers are referred for job coaching services
from their regional center to DOR. However, when DOR is at
-------------------------
<1>
http://www.scdd.ca.gov/res/docs/pdf/HQ-%20Employment%20First
%20Report%208-9-11.pdf
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capacity, based on language in WIC 4855, DDS consumers and
other DOR applicants may be placed on a waiting list for
services. If a regional center consumer is wait-listed,
statute permits a regional center to refer directly to a
provider using statutorily set rates, until space is
available in the DOR programs. This bill seeks to increase
the hourly rate as well as the intake, job placement and
job retention fees paid to a vendor when a consumer is
placed into the program by a regional center. The hourly
rate proposed in this bill would return to the rates
established in 2006. That rate was reduced in 2008, when
budget shortfalls led to a 10 percent cut.
Service Provider Rates
A study released in January 2014 by the Association of
Regional Center Agencies (ARCA) identified a number of
needed consequences of insufficient provider rates. Rates
within the Developmental Services system have been frozen
and / or cut repeatedly in the past decade, even prior to
massive budget reductions that were taken to address budget
shortfalls in the Great Recession.
The report, entitled "Inadequate Rates for Service
Provision in California," concluded that the goal of
quality services and achievement of outcomes for consumers
is "unachievable within the limitations of the current
rates." It noted that longstanding underfunding of the
service system undermines progress and the adequacy of the
community-based provider network.
Related legislation:
AB 954 (Maienschein) 2013, was identical to this language.
It was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee's
Suspense File.
SB 577 (Pavley) 2013, requires the development and
semiannual review of a plan if community-based
prevocational services are determined to be a necessary
step to achieve a supported employment outcome for adult
consumers of regional centers. Establishes an hourly rate
for community-based prevocational services of $40 per hour
for a maximum of 75 hours per calendar quarter for all
services identified and provided in the plan. SB 577 will
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be heard in the Assembly Human Services committee this
month.
AB 1041 (Chesbro) Chapter 677, Statutes of 2013, created a
statewide Employment First Policy and sets forth
requirements related to the inclusion of integrated
employment opportunities and services in a regional center
consumer's individual program plan (IPP).
AB 287 (Beall) Chapter 231, Statutes of 2009, established
an Employment First Committee within the State Council on
Developmental Disabilities, which established a statewide
Employment First Policy that provided the foundation of AB
1041.
PRIOR VOTES
Assembly Floor 77 - 0
Assembly Appropriations 17 - 0
Assembly Human Services 7 - 0
POSITIONS
Support: Association of Regional Center Agencies
Center for Autism and Related Disorders
East Bay Developmental Disabilities
Legislative Coalition
Exceptional Children's Foundation
Futures Explored
San Diego - Imperial Counties Developmental
Services, Inc.
State Council on Developmental Disabilities
SoCal APSE
The Arc and United Cerebral Palsy California
1 individual
Oppose: None received
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