Bill Text: CA ACR77 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: California Early Intervention Services Act.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 55-21-1)
Status: (Passed) 2015-09-03 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Res. Chapter 154, Statutes of 2015. [ACR77 Detail]
Download: California-2015-ACR77-Chaptered.html
BILL NUMBER: ACR 77 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
RESOLUTION CHAPTER 154
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 3, 2015
ADOPTED IN SENATE AUGUST 24, 2015
ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY JULY 9, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JULY 9, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 24, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Mark Stone
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Gatto, Lackey, Achadjian, Alejo,
Atkins, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brown, Burke,
Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper,
Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher,
Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon,
Gray, Hadley, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer,
Kim, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty,
Medina, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen, Perea, Quirk,
Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Steinorth, Thurmond, Ting,
Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, and Wood)
(Coauthors: Senators Beall, Monning, Nguyen, Pavley, and Vidak)
MAY 20, 2015
Relative to California Early Intervention Services Act.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
ACR 77, Mark Stone. California Early Intervention Services Act.
This measure would recognize that every child who needs
comprehensive health and early intervention services and supports in
order to achieve his or her developmental potential should have those
services easily accessible, sufficient, responsive, timely, and of
high quality. The measure would further urge the Legislature to
leverage existing efforts and statutes to ensure an accountable,
results-oriented, and coordinated network of resources in order to
provide multidisciplinary early identification and intervention
services and supports to California infants and toddlers.
WHEREAS, The period between a child's birth and third birthday is
a time of intense and ongoing development across the cognitive,
motor, language, and social-emotional domains; and
WHEREAS, Positive health and learning outcomes depend upon
children continually building new skills and abilities along a
developmental trajectory of incremental milestones that begins at
birth; and
WHEREAS, The Legislature passed Assembly Concurrent Resolution 155
in 2014 in recognition that " r]esearch over the last two
decades in the evolving fields of neuroscience, molecular biology,
public health, genomics, and epigenetics reveals that experiences in
the first few years of life build changes into the biology of the
human body that, in turn, influence the person's physical and mental
health over his or her lifetime"; and
WHEREAS, Adversity during the early years can impair development,
and has a cumulative impact, with children exposed to maltreatment
and additional risk factors facing increased likelihood of having one
or more delays in their cognitive, language, or emotional
development; and
WHEREAS, Unaddressed developmental delays and disabilities result
in persistently impaired learning and health outcomes for children;
and
WHEREAS, It is estimated that one in four California children have
moderate or higher risk for a developmental delay, such as speech or
language impairment, and that nationally one in every 68 children
were affected by autism spectrum disorder in 2014; and
WHEREAS, Latino and African American children are more likely to
experience barriers in accessing early identification and
intervention services; and
WHEREAS, The Legislature has previously established through the
California Early Intervention Services Act, in Section 95001 of the
Government Code, that "t]here is a need to provide appropriate early
intervention services individually designed for infants and toddlers
... who have disabilities or are at risk of having disabilities, to
enhance their development and to minimize the potential for
developmental delays"; and
WHEREAS, The California Early Intervention Services Act
additionally established that "e]arly intervention services for
infants and toddlers with disabilities or who are at risk of having
disabilities represent an investment of resources, in that these
services reduce the ultimate costs to our society, by minimizing the
need for special education and related services in later school years
and . . . that] maximize the potential of the individuals to be
effective in the context of daily life and activities"; and
WHEREAS, Early intervention services include targeted health and
education supports for infants and toddlers who have delays or are at
risk of having delays, in order to enhance their development,
improve school readiness, and minimize the potential for later
challenges; and
WHEREAS, The California Early Intervention Services Act previously
established that "the earlier intervention is started, the greater
is the ultimate cost-effectiveness and the higher is the educational
attainment and quality of life achieved by children with disabilities"
; and
WHEREAS, Experts like the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend
routine, regular, and formalized developmental and behavioral
screening for all infants and toddlers as the most effective way of
identifying children in need of supports and services; and
WHEREAS, Fewer than one-third of California infants and toddlers
received the recommended developmental and behavioral screenings
according to 2011-2012 parent reported data; and
WHEREAS, Forty-one percent of parents report having one or more
concerns about their children's physical, behavioral, or social
development; and
WHEREAS, Nearly three out of four California children with special
health care needs under three years of age do not receive early
intervention services they could benefit from, and the 2012 annual
report for California's Early Start program shows that it serves
fewer infants and toddlers with early intervention services than the
national average; and
WHEREAS, A system of universal developmental and behavioral
screenings should work hand in hand with a robust early intervention
system, and should be linked by facilitated family-focused referral,
care coordination, child-centered health homes, and
information-sharing mechanisms to guide and support families while
maintaining accountability; and
WHEREAS, The California Early Intervention Services Act previously
established that "the State Department of Developmental Services,
the State Department of Education, the State Department of Health
Care Services, and the State Department of Social Services coordinate
services to infants and toddlers with disabilities and their
families"; and
WHEREAS, The California Early Intervention Services Act
additionally established that "families be well informed, supported,
and respected as capable and collaborative decisionmakers regarding
services for their child"; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
thereof concurring, That every California child deserves periodic
formal assessment of his or her development for the purposes of
introducing supports and services if needed; and be it further
Resolved, That every child who needs supports in order to achieve
his or her developmental potential deserves that those services be
easily accessible, sufficient, responsive, timely, and of high
quality; and be it further
Resolved, That every parent or caregiver shall be fully engaged
and supported throughout early identification and intervention
processes; and be it further
Resolved, That the Legislature leverage existing efforts and
statutes to ensure an accountable, results-oriented, and coordinated
statewide network of resources, services, systems, and strong local
infrastructures, in order to provide family-centered, comprehensive,
and multidisciplinary early identification and intervention services
and supports to California infants and toddlers; and be it further
Resolved, That the Legislature shall support and promote
community-driven efforts to coordinate referrals and linkages
between, and guide families through the complexities of, the early
identification and intervention systems, through programs and models
such as Help Me Grow California; and be it further
Resolved, That the Legislature invest sufficiently in
comprehensive health and early intervention services and supports in
order to ensure that they meet the health and learning needs of
California's diverse child population, and wisely harness
governmental and other resources toward these common goals; and be it
further
Resolved, That these services and supports build upon existing
efforts, and be embedded and accessible from the places and people
that families know and trust, including pediatric practices and other
health settings, community-based organizations, regional centers,
Early Head Start programs, First 5s, and other local early childhood
programs; and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.
