BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE HUMAN
SERVICES COMMITTEE
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
BILL NO: SB 1160
S
AUTHOR: Beall
B
VERSION: April 3, 2013
HEARING DATE: April 22, 2014
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FISCAL: Yes
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6
CONSULTANT: Mareva Brown
0
SUBJECT
Employment
SUMMARY
This bill decreases the minimum number of consumers
required for group habilitation services from three to two,
as specified. The bill would recast the term
"individualized services" to provide job coaching and other
supported employment services that decrease over time with
the goal of achieving stabilization, rather than requiring
stabilization be achieved. This bill also would require
that any state department awarding a contract for goods or
services give a bid-scoring preference of 5 percent by a
business that proposes to provide the goods or services to
the state when at least 10 percent of the personnel of the
business involved in doing so are California residents with
developmental disabilities receiving support services under
the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act. This
bill also makes findings and declarations related to the
employment of people with developmental disabilities.
ABSTRACT
Continued---
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Existing law:
1)Establishes the California Department of Developmental
Services (DDS) to administer the Lanterman Developmental
Disabilities Act, which entitles individuals with
developmental disabilities to community services and
supports. (WIC 4500)
2)Establishes private non-profit regional centers to
provide fixed points of contact in the community for
persons with developmental disabilities and their
families, so that these persons may have access to the
services and supports best suited to them throughout
their lifetime. (WIC 4620)
3)Establishes the Employment First Policy and states that
it is the policy of the state that opportunities for
integrated, competitive employment shall be given the
highest priority for working age individuals with
developmental disabilities, regardless of the severity of
their disabilities. (WIC 4869)
4)Defines habilitation services as community-based services
purchased or provided for adults with developmental
disabilities, including services provided under the Work
Activity Program and the Supported Employment Program, to
prepare and maintain them at their highest level of
vocational functioning, or to prepare them for referral
to vocational rehabilitation services. (WIC 4851 (a))
5)Defines group services to mean job coaching in a group
supported employment placement at a job coach-to-consumer
ratio of not less than 1:3 nor more than 1:8 where
services are funded by the regional center or the
Department of Rehabilitation. For consumers receiving
group services, ongoing support services shall be limited
to job coaching and shall be provided at the worksite.
(WIC 4851 (r))
6)Defines "Individualized services" to mean job coaching
and other supported employment services for regional
center-funded consumers in a supported employment
placement at a job coach-to-consumer ratio of 1:1, and
that decrease over time until stabilization is achieved.
Individualized services may be provided on or off the
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jobsite. (WIC 4851 (s))
7)Establishes a small business bid preference for nonprofit
veterans service agencies in awarding state contracts
under all of the following conditions: (MVC 999.51)
a) The goods or services meet the needs of the
contractor and offered at a fair and reasonable price,
b) The nonprofit veteran service agency employs
veterans who receive services for not less than 75
percent of the person-hours of direct labor required
to fulfill the contract.
c) The nonprofit veteran service agency makes payments
into the veterans Social Security and unemployment and
disability benefits, as specified.
d) The agency adheres to labor rules, as specified, is
a 501(c)(3) business, and provides services to
veterans, as specified.
This bill:
1) States various Legislative findings and
declarations about the importance of employment of
individuals with developmental disabilities in
California and the state's high unemployment rate for
these individuals.
2) Modifies the minimum job coach-to-consumer ratio to
1:2, from 1:3. Similarly, reduces the minimum number
of consumers required to participate in group
supported employment from three to two.
3) Modifies the definition of individualized services
to mean job coaching and other services for regional
center-funded consumers in a supported employment
placement, as defined, with services that decrease
over time, consistent with the consumer's
individualized program plan (IPP) and abilities, with
the goal of achieving stabilization, when possible.
Current statute defines individualized services as
decreasing over time "until stabilization is
achieved."
4) Requires that when awarding a contract for goods or
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services, an awarding department of the state shall
give a preference of 5 percent in the scoring of a bid
by a business that proposes to provide the goods or
services to the state when at least 10 percent of the
personnel of the business involved in doing so are
California residents with developmental disabilities
receiving support services under the Lanterman
Developmental Disabilities Services Act.
FISCAL IMPACT
This bill has not been analyzed by a fiscal committee.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
Purpose of the bill:
The author states that for people with the most significant
disabilities, access to ongoing job coaching to maintain
employment is critical. Coaching enables people with
cognitive disabilities to learn and retain job skills in
ways that may be unique to the individual. The author notes
that individual placement, which pairs a single worker with
a job coach, requires the job coaching services to fade
quickly. To enable persons with significant disabilities to
work in the most integrated setting possible, the author
states it is necessary to relax the fading requirement and
allow the level of support to be determined by the
individual needs of the consumer.
Additionally, the author states that group placement, where
small groups of individuals work together to complete a
job, currently requires a group size of three to eight
consumers to a single job coach. Consumers also can work
1:1 with a job coach under individual coaching plans. This
bill would allow groups of two individuals to be included
in group coaching, which enhances integration into the
workforce, and allows smaller businesses to participate in
the program, according to the author. The author also notes
that cost pressures to the Supported Employment Program are
offset by the cost that the same individual would incur in
alternative day programs.
The sponsor notes that language in the bill relating to
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preference in contracts for businesses that employ
individuals with developmental disabilities is loosely
modeled from similar language for disabled veterans.
Developmental Disabilities
The term developmental disability refers to a severe and
chronic disability that is attributable to a mental or
physical impairment that begins before an individual
reaches the age of 18. These disabilities include
intellectual disability, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, autism
and related disorders, and disabling conditions closely
related to intellectual disability or requiring similar
treatment.
California's 21 nonprofit regional centers are part of a
system of care for individuals with developmental
disabilities that is overseen by DDS. DDS is responsible
for coordinating care and providing services for more than
265,000 people who receive services and supports to live in
their communities, as well as approximately 1,300 people
who reside in developmental centers.
Employment First Policy
According to a 2012 report by the State Council on
Developmental Disabilities, 66.5 percent of all working age
Californians were employed, but just 20.5 percent of that
population with cognitive disabilities was employed. That
report, and other efforts on the state and federal level,
resulted in 2013 legislation AB 1041 (Chesbro) Chapter 677,
Statutes of 2013 that created an Employment First policy
for individuals with regional center-funded services who
are working age. The policy states that opportunities for
integrated, competitive employment shall be given the
highest priority for working age individuals with
development disabilities, regardless of the severity of
their disabilities.
Employment Services:
Consumers are placed in employment services programs
according to their individual skills, needs and choices,
and they are provided support services on an individual or
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group basis. In addition to providing employment for
consumers, work programs can also increase opportunities
for individuals to integrate into their communities. Within
employment services, there are different types of programs:
Work Activity Programs (WAPs) are sheltered work
environments for consumers who have acquired basic
vocational and independent living skills. WAP work is
paid at a daily per capita rate based on productivity.
Supported Employment Programs (SEPs) are
community-based programs that focus on helping
consumers obtain, retain or maintain employment in
integrated settings. SEP services focus on finding
competitive work in a community setting for people who
need ongoing support to learn and perform the work.
SEPs often involve on-the-job coaching, and wages paid
directly to the consumer.
If supported employment would best meet a consumer's
employment needs, a regional center will refer the consumer
to the Department of Rehabilitation (DOR), which provides
time-limited employment services to people with
disabilities. If the consumer needs long-term support to
continue in their place of employment, the responsibility
for providing a job coach and maintaining supportive
services shifts back to DDS.
Court decision on sheltered workshops
On April 8, 2014, the US Department of Justice and the
state of Rhode Island agreed to a settlement which avoids
"unnecessary segregation," of placing individuals in work
environments that are sheltered workshops and day treatment
facilities. In a press conference announcing the
settlement, federal officials said that while the
settlement addresses the civil rights of about 3,250 Rhode
Island residents, it could impact 450,000 individuals
across the country that spend their days in sheltered
workshops and day treatment facilities. The consent decree
follows a federal Labor Department determination that a
Rhode Island program abused a federal law that allows the
payment of subminimum wages to people with disabilities.
The employees of that program were being paid an average of
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$1.57 per hour with one worker earning just 14 cents per
hour.
Related legislation:
AB 1626 (Maienschein) 2014, would increase the hourly rate
paid to providers of individualized and group-supported
employment services to $34.24, and increase the fees paid
to interim program providers to $400 and $800,
respectively.
AB 954 (Maienschein) 2013, would have increased the hourly
provider rate for individualized and group SEP services to
$34.24, and increase the fees paid to interim program
providers to $400 and $800. It died in the Assembly
Appropriations committee.
SB 577 (Pavley) 2013, would establish "community-based
prevocational services" to enhance employment readiness for
individuals by exploring job options, and developing social
skills necessary for the workforce, makes other changes.
AB 1041 (Chesbro) Chapter 677, Statutes of 2013, created
the Employment First Policy and required regional centers
to provide consumers aged 16 and older with information
about employment, options for integrated competitive
employment, post-secondary education options, and other
information.
Comments:
1.Staff recommends clarifying language in Section 3 of the
bill as follows:
4870. When awarding a contract for goods or services, an
awarding department of the state shall give a preference of
5 percent in the scoring of a bid by a business that
proposes to provide the goods or services to the state when
at least 10 percent of the personnel of the business
involved in doing so are California residents with
developmental disabilities receiving support services under
the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act.
4870. When a state department awards a contract for goods
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or services, it shall give a scoring preference of 5
percent to a bid by a business in which at least 10 percent
of the personnel who are providing the goods or services
receive support services under the Lanterman Developmental
Disabilities Services Act.
POSITIONS
Support: Alliance Supporting People with Intellectual
and Developmental Disabilities
Association of Regional Center Agencies
California Disability Services Association
Oppose: None received.
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