BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 1093
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Date of Hearing: August 6, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
SB 1093 (Liu) - As Amended: June 10, 2014
Policy Committee: Human
ServicesVote:7 - 0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill addresses racial and ethnic disparities in the
regional center system. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires regional centers to provide independent living skills
services, consistent with a consumer's individual program plan
(IPP), whether living independently or in the home of a
parent, family member or another person.
2)Requires regional centers to hold the annual stakeholder
meetings regarding data that includes residency type, race or
ethnicity, and primary language, separately from any meetings
of its board of directors and to schedule the meetings at
times and locations designed to result in a high turnout by
the public and underserved communities.
3)Requires that contracts between the state and regional centers
meet identified needs including culturally and linguistically
appropriate services and supports.
4)Requires each regional center to annually report to the
Department of Developmental Services (DDS) information
regarding its implementation of these provisions and requires
the reports to be posted on DDS's and each regional center's
Internet Web site.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Unknown, but likely minor costs (GF/federal funds) to provide
additional independent living skills services. The bill
specifically provides that independent living skills services
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be available to adult consumers who live in the home of a
parent, family member, or others, not just to those who live
independently. Under current law, such consumers are already
eligible for those services and some are already receiving
them.
Given that most consumers for whom these services would be
deemed appropriate are likely to be already receiving other
services, costs associated with any increase in demand for
independent living skills services is likely to be largely
offset by reductions in other services to those consumers.
2)Unknown, but likely minor costs (GF/federal funds) to regional
centers to consider culturally and linguistically appropriate
services and supports identified as necessary when recruiting
service providers, to the extent that regional centers do not
already do this. Existing law already requires regional
centers to communicate and provide written materials in a
consumer or family's native language and to include cultural
and linguistic competency in governing board training
requirements.
3)Minor costs in the low tens of thousands of dollars (GF) to
regional centers to collect and report additional data and
engage in additional stakeholder outreach. Existing law
requires regional centers to do these things now. This bill
adds to the data elements required to be collected and
requires one public meeting a year to be more accessible to
the public.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . According to the author, years of data collection and
analysis show that there are disparities in services provided
to communities of color; individuals from ethnic and language
diverse populations tend to receive fewer services. The
author contends that this is also true in the regional center
system, and although efforts have been made to document the
disparities occurring in the system, the reporting
requirements have not been enough to reduce disparities. This
bill seeks to address racial and ethnic disparities in the
regional center system and ensure equal access to services.
2)Background The Department of Developmental Services is
responsible for coordinating care and services for about
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250,000 people with developmental disabilities. The vast
majority of these people are served by 21 regional centers,
which are non-profit entities that contract with the state.
The regional centers, in turn, contract with a variety of
vendors to provide direct services to the developmentally
disabled.
In April 2012, prompted by a series of articles in The Los
Angeles Times, the Senate Autism and Related Disorders Select
Committee held an informational hearing to examine the
question of whether consumers across the state received equal
access to regional center services for consumers with autism
spectrum disorders.
Following the hearing, a Taskforce on Equity and Diversity for
Regional Center Autism Services was established to study and
make recommendations to ensure that consumers of regional
center services receive appropriate services, regardless of
race, ethnicity, or other socio-economic factors. Based on the
deliberations of the taskforce, staff of the Select Committee
compiled recommendations and findings of the taskforce into a
draft report.
Among them was the recommendation that DDS continue to explore
opportunities that ensure consistent methods of seeking and
obtaining information related to equity and diversity
performance. The taskforce additionally recommended that DDS
establish measurements within the regional centers' existing
annual performance contracts to inform the state about whether
a regional center's provision of services is equitable. This
bill addresses both of these recommendations.
3)Arguments in support . According to Disability Rights
California, co-sponsor of the bill, SB 1093 clarifies that
independent living skills (ILS) services are available to
regional center consumers whether an individual chooses to
live in the family home or chooses to move out. Disability
Rights California is aware that many individuals with
disabilities from underserved and diverse ethnic and cultural
backgrounds often choose to live at home with their families
as part of their cultural norm. They further assert that some
regional centers require individuals to plan to move out on
their own before providing ILS services. This bill ensures
that an individual receives ILS services, if needed, without
being required to move out of their family home.
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4)Arguments in opposition . The Association of Regional Center
Agencies agrees that improvements need to be made to make
needed services more accessible to certain populations, but
does not believe that the proposals contained in the bill will
lead to improved outcomes in this area. They suggest a study
of existing data, additional research of alternative models of
autism treatment and increased funding for a variety of
services is a better approach. They also maintain a higher
cost estimate of the bill's provisions.
5)Prior Legislation
a) SB 158 (Correa, 2013), would have established a pilot
project to identify underserved communities in regional
center catchment areas and improve Autism identification
and services in those communities. This bill was vetoed by
Governor Brown.
b) SB 208 (Lara, Chapter 656, Statutes of 2013), requires
that a request for proposal prepared by DDS or a regional
center that relates to consumer services and supports
include a section on equity and diversity.
c) SB 319 (Price, 2013), required DDS to ensure regional
centers collect, analyze, and report data in a way that
allows for comparisons across regional centers, and require
regional centers to identify plans to reduce disparities.
This bill died in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
d) SB 321 (Price, 2013), would have required DDS to
establish performance contract guidelines and measures
relating to issues of cultural and linguistic competency.
e) SB 367 (Block, Chapter 682, Statutes of 2013), requires
regional centers to include issues related to cultural and
linguistic competency in governing board training
requirements, to post such training on their Internet Web
site and to annually review the regional center's provision
of services in a culturally and linguistically competent
way.
Analysis Prepared by : Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916)
319-2081
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