Bill Text: CA SB577 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Autism and other developmental disabilities: employment.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-2)

Status: (Passed) 2014-09-18 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 431, Statutes of 2014. [SB577 Detail]

Download: California-2013-SB577-Amended.html

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BILL NUMBER: SB 577	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  JANUARY 6, 2014
	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 15, 2013
	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 9, 2013

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Pavley

                        FEBRUARY 22, 2013

   An act to amend Sections 4850, 4851, 4854, and 4860  of,
to add Section 4868.5 to, and to add and repeal Section 4870 of,
  of  the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating
to developmental disabilities.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 577, as amended, Pavley. Autism and other developmental
disabilities:  pilot program:  employment.
   The Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act authorizes
the State Department of Developmental Services to contract with
regional centers to provide services and support to individuals with
developmental disabilities, including autism. Existing law governs
the habilitation services provided for adult consumers of regional
centers, including work activity programs, as described, and
establishes an hourly rate for supported employment services provided
to consumers receiving individualized services.
   This bill would require  the development and semiannual review
of  a  job exploration and discovery  plan, as
specified,  to be developed if job exploration and discovery
  if community-based prevocational  services are
determined to be a necessary step to achieve a supported employment
outcome. The bill would establish an hourly rate for  job
exploration and discovery   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. 
   This bill would require the State Department of Developmental
Services to establish a pilot program for young adults with autism
and other developmental disabilities to help them find pathways to
financial independence through work. The bill would require the pilot
program to develop and implement a new model for providing
employment services to these individuals and to create financial
incentives for employment service providers, as specified, among
other requirements.  
   The bill would also establish, until July 1, 2018, a pilot program
operative in specified regional centers, pursuant to which the State
Department of Developmental Services would be authorized to allocate
moneys for the support of programs provided by the participating
regional centers to promote the employment of persons with autism and
developmental disabilities. The bill would require the State
Department of Developmental Services and the Department of Finance to
establish, on or before July 1, 2014, the Employment Growth Fund for
these purposes, as specified. The fund would consist of moneys
appropriated by the Legislature from cost savings resulting from the
reduced amount of support payments made to persons with autism and
developmental disabilities who earn wages from gainful employment
attained as a result of their participation in the pilot program, as
specified. The bill would impose specified duties on the State
Department of Developmental Services relating to the pilot program,
including preparing an annual report and designing and implementing
an evaluation of the pilot program, as specified. 
   The bill would also set forth related legislative findings and
declarations.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee:  yes
  no  . State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (a) Individuals with developmental disabilities have to struggle
to find gainful employment. Unemployment amongst the developmentally
disabled population is approximately 80 percent.
   (b) Within the developmentally disabled community, autism is the
fastest growing population, making up approximately 50 percent of the
annual new caseload of regional centers in some parts of the state.
   (c) One in three adults with autism do not have paid work
experience or a college or technical education seven years after
leaving the K-12 school system.
   (d) In order to increase the self-sufficiency of young adults with
autism and other developmental disabilities, including increased
earning capacity and reduced government benefit support, it is
important that the state implement a program to provide
individualized skills assessment, social cue training, and specific
support to ensure their academic and employment success.
   (e) The Governor and the Legislature must address the growing need
for new models of assessment, career training, and expanding
employment opportunities and support options for young adults with
autism and other developmental disabilities between 18 and 30 years
of age. If this population is left without purposefully designed
pathways into employment, these young adults will remain at high risk
of public dependency throughout the course of their lives.
  SEC. 2.  Section 4850 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is
amended to read:
   4850.  (a) The Legislature reaffirms its intent that habilitation
services for adults with developmental disabilities should be planned
and provided as a part of a continuum and that habilitation services
should be available to enable persons with developmental
disabilities to approximate the pattern of everyday living available
to nondisabled people of the same age.
   (b) The Legislature further intends that habilitation services
shall be provided to adults with developmental disabilities as
specified in this chapter in order to guarantee the rights stated in
Section 4502.
   (c) The Legislature further intends that in order to increase
effectiveness and opportunity to gain meaningful employment
opportunities, habilitation services shall also provide  job
exploration and discovery   community-based
prevocational  services to enhance  and promote jobs
skills,   community employment readiness,  develop
social skills necessary for successful  community 
employment, and  provide targeted outreach to employers
  build   a network of community and employment
opportunities  for individuals with developmental disabilities.

  SEC. 3.  Section 4851 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is
amended to read:
   4851.  The definitions contained in this chapter shall govern the
construction of this chapter, with respect to habilitation services
provided through the regional center, and unless the context requires
otherwise, the following terms shall have the following meanings:
   (a) "Habilitation services" means 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.
   (b) "Individual program plan" means the overall plan developed by
a regional center pursuant to Section 4646.
   (c) "Individual habilitation service plan" means the service plan
developed by the habilitation service vendor to meet employment goals
in the individual program plan.
   (d) "Department" means the State Department of Developmental
Services.
   (e) "Work activity program" includes, but is not limited to,
sheltered workshops or work activity centers, or community-based work
activity programs certified pursuant to subdivision (f) or
accredited by CARF, the Rehabilitation Accreditation Commission.
   (f) "Certification" means certification procedures developed by
the Department of Rehabilitation.
   (g) "Work activity program day" means the period of time during
which a Work Activity Program provides services to consumers.
   (h) "Full day of service" means, for purposes of billing, a day in
which the consumer attends a minimum of the declared and approved
work activity program day, less 30 minutes, excluding the lunch
period.
   (i) "Half day of service" means, for purposes of billing, any day
in which the consumer's attendance does not meet the criteria for
billing for a full day of service as defined in subdivision (g), and
the consumer attends the work activity program not less than two
hours, excluding the lunch period.
   (j) "Supported employment program" means a program that meets the
requirements of subdivisions (n) to (s), inclusive.
   (k) "Consumer" means any adult who receives services purchased
under this chapter.
   (l) "Accreditation" means a determination of compliance with the
set of standards appropriate to the delivery of services by a work
activity program or supported employment program, developed by CARF,
the Rehabilitation Accreditation Commission, and applied by the
commission or the department.
   (m) "CARF" means CARF the Rehabilitation Accreditation Commission.

   (n) "Supported employment" means paid work that is integrated in
the community for individuals with developmental disabilities.
   (o) "Integrated work" means the engagement of an employee with a
disability in work in a setting typically found in the community in
which individuals interact with individuals without disabilities
other than those who are providing services to those individuals, to
the same extent that individuals without disabilities in comparable
positions interact with other persons.
   (p) "Supported employment placement" means the employment of an
individual with a developmental disability by an employer in the
community, directly or through contract with a supported employment
program. This includes provision of ongoing support services
necessary for the individual to retain employment.
   (q) "Allowable supported employment services" means the services
approved in the individual program plan and specified in the
individual habilitation service plan for the purpose of achieving
supported employment as an outcome, and may include any of the
following:
   (1) Job development, to the extent authorized by the regional
center.
   (2) Program staff time for conducting job analysis of supported
employment opportunities for a specific consumer.
   (3) Program staff time for the direct supervision or training of a
consumer or consumers while they engage in integrated work unless
other arrangements for consumer supervision, including, but not
limited to, employer supervision reimbursed by the supported
employment program, are approved by the regional center.
   (4) Community-based training in adaptive functional and social
skills necessary to ensure job adjustment and retention.
   (5) Counseling with a consumer's significant other to ensure
support of a consumer in job adjustment.
   (6) Advocacy or intervention on behalf of a consumer to resolve
problems affecting the consumer's work adjustment or retention.
   (7) Ongoing support services needed to ensure the consumer's
retention of the job.
   (r) "Group services" means job coaching in a group supported
employment placement at a job coach-to-consumer ratio of not less
than one-to-three nor more than one-to-eight where services to a
minimum of three consumers 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.
   (s) "Individualized services" means 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
one-to-one, and that decrease over time until stabilization is
achieved. Individualized services may be provided on or off the
jobsite.
   (t)  "Job exploration and discovery"  
"Community-based prevocational services"  means (1) services
provided to enhance  community  employment readiness, 
which may include the use of discovery and job exploration
opportunities,  (2) social skill development services necessary
to obtain and maintain  community  employment  and
to secure and support participation in   , (3) services
to use  internship  , apprenticeship,  and volunteer
opportunities  to provide community-based prevocational skills
development opportunities  ,  (3)   (4)
 services to access and participate in postsecondary education
or career technical education,  (4) services to develop
resume and interview skills, and (5) services to conduct targeted
employer outreach to secure employment   and (5)
building a network of community and employment opportunities  .
  SEC. 4.  Section 4854 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is
amended to read:
   4854.  (a) In developing the individual habilitation service plan
pursuant to Section 4853, the habilitation service provider shall
develop specific and measurable objectives to determine whether the
consumer demonstrates ability to reach or maintain individual
employment goals in all of the following areas:
   (1) Participation in paid work for a specified period of time.
   (2) Obtaining or sustaining a specified productivity rate.
   (3) Obtaining or sustaining a specified attendance level.
   (4) Demonstration of appropriate behavior for a work setting.
   (b) If  job exploration and discovery  
community-based prevocational  services are determined to be a
necessary step to achieve a supported employment outcome, a 
job exploration and discovery  plan shall be 
developed.   developed and may include, but is not
limited to, all of the following:  
   (1) An inventory of potential employment interests.  
   (2) Preferences for types of work environments or situations.
 
   (3) Identification of any training or education needed for the
consumer's desired job.  
   (4) Opportunities to explore jobs or self-employment as a means to
meet the consumer's desired employment outcome.  
   (5) Identification of any personal or family networks the consumer
may use to achieve his or her desired employment outcomes. 

   (c) The habilitation service provider and the regional center
shall review the plan developed pursuant to subdivision (b)
semiannually to document progress towards objectives, additional
barriers, and other changes that impact the consumer's desired
employment outcome. 
  SEC. 5.  Section 4860 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is
amended to read:
   4860.  (a) (1) The hourly rate for supported employment services
provided to consumers receiving individualized services shall be
thirty dollars and eighty-two cents ($30.82).
   (2) Job coach hours spent in travel to consumer worksites may be
reimbursable for individualized services only when the job coach
travels from the vendor's headquarters to the consumer's worksite or
from one consumer's worksite to another, and only when the travel is
one way.
   (b) The hourly rate for group services shall be thirty dollars and
eighty-two cents ($30.82), regardless of the number of consumers
served in the group. Consumers in a group shall be scheduled to start
and end work at the same time, unless an exception that takes into
consideration the consumer's compensated work schedule is approved in
advance by the regional center. The department, in consultation with
stakeholders, shall adopt regulations to define the appropriate
grounds for granting these exceptions. When the number of consumers
in a supported employment placement group drops to fewer than the
minimum required in subdivision (r) of Section 4851, the regional
center may terminate funding for the group services in that group,
unless, within 90 days, the program provider adds one or more
regional centers, or Department of Rehabilitation-funded supported
employment consumers to the group.
   (c) Job coaching hours for group services shall be allocated on a
prorated basis between a regional center and the Department of
Rehabilitation when regional center and Department of Rehabilitation
consumers are served in the same group.
   (d) When Section 4855 applies, fees shall be authorized for the
following:
   (1) A three-hundred-sixty-dollar ($360) fee shall be paid 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.
   (2) A seven-hundred-twenty-dollar ($720) fee shall be paid 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.
   (3) A seven-hundred-twenty-dollar ($720) fee shall be paid 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.
   (e) The hourly rate for  job exploration and discovery
  community-based prevocational  services shall be
forty dollars ($40) per hour for a maximum of 75 hours per calendar
quarter for all services identified and provided in the  job
exploration and discovery   community-based
prevocational  plan as developed pursuant to subdivision (b) of
Section 4854.
   (f) Notwithstanding paragraph (4) of subdivision (a) of Section
4648, the regional center shall pay the supported employment program
rates established by this section. 
  SEC. 6.    Section 4868.5 is added to the Welfare
and Institutions Code, to read:
   4868.5.  (a) The State Department of Developmental Services shall
establish a pilot program for young adults with autism and other
developmental disabilities to help them find pathways to financial
independence through work. The program shall be developed and
implemented to assist those individuals to obtain integrated
employment outcomes that result in sufficient wages and benefits in
order to decrease, over time, their dependency on public financial
support.
   (b) The pilot program described in subdivision (a) shall do all of
the following:
   (1) Develop and implement a new model for providing employment
services to autistic individuals and individuals with other
developmental disabilities or modify an existing model for providing
those services.
   (2) Identify existing support services that may be modified or
combined with supplemental services to provide skills assessment,
training, and transition services.
   (3) Utilize available federal and state incentive programs.
   (4) Create financial incentives for employment service providers
who assist the individuals served by the pilot program to become
successfully employed in jobs that pay wages that equal or exceed the
Social Security Administration's substantial gainful activity level
or result in the individual obtaining employer-based health benefits.

   (5) Develop and implement a protocol for collecting and evaluating
data regarding the outcomes of autistic individuals and individuals
with other developmental disabilities who participate in the pilot
program.  
  SEC. 7.    Section 4870 is added to the Welfare
and Institutions Code, to read:
   4870.  (a) There is hereby established a pilot program in the
following regional centers: Golden Gate Regional Center, East Bay
Regional Center, Alta California Regional Center, Tri-Counties
Regional Center, Orange County Regional Center, and San Diego
Regional Center. If additional regional centers express interest in
participating in the pilot program pursuant to this section, the
department may approve up to two additional regional centers.
   (b) The pilot program shall include all of the following:
   (1) The State Department of Developmental Services and the
Department of Finance shall establish, on or before July 1, 2014, the
Employment Growth Fund for purposes of the pilot project. The fund
shall consist of moneys appropriated by the Legislature for purposes
of this section from cost savings resulting from the reduced amount
of support payments made to persons with autism and other
developmental disabilities who earn wages from gainful employment
attained as a result of their participation in the pilot program, as
follows:
   (A) The sum of two hundred dollars ($200) shall be allocated to
the fund from funds payable to the State Department of Health Care
Services pursuant to the Medi-Cal program to the extent authorized by
federal law for each Medi-Cal eligible consumer of regional center
services for each month that he or she is enrolled in an
employer-paid health benefit plan.
   (B) The sum of one thousand dollars ($1,000) shall be allocated to
the fund from the Department of Rehabilitation, for each consumer of
regional center services who earns a monthly wage that exceeds the
substantial gainful activity level, as established by the federal
Social Security Administration, for at least nine consecutive months
if the Department of Rehabilitation has received cost reimbursement
in that amount from the federal government pursuant to the federal
Ticket to Work program. This sum shall be allocated on a one-time
basis for each consumer who meets that criteria.
   (C) The total amount allocated pursuant to paragraphs (A) and (B)
shall be deposited into the fund on a quarterly basis.
   (2) Each participating regional center shall submit the following
information to the State Department of Developmental Services:
   (A) Information regarding each consumer who receives Medi-Cal
benefits and is subsequently enrolled in an employer-paid health
benefit plan.
   (B) Information regarding each consumer who earns a monthly wage
that exceeds the substantial gainful activity level, as established
by the federal Social Security Administration, for at least nine
consecutive months.
   (3) On and after July 1, 2015, the State Department of
Developmental Services shall allocate funds from the Employment
Growth Fund to supported employment providers who assist consumers to
attain either of the thresholds described in subparagraph (A) or (B)
of paragraph (1).
   (4) The State Department of Developmental Services shall do all of
the following:
    (A) Annually determine the average cost of providing adult
developmental center services to persons with developmental
disabilities in the regional centers participating in the pilot
program and compare that average cost to the actual cost of providing
supported employment services to consumers in the pilot program. The
department, once it has determined the difference between those
costs, shall allocate to the Employment Growth Fund 50 percent of the
savings if the average cost of adult developmental center services
is higher than the actual costs of the supported employment services
provided to any consumer who meets either threshold described in
subparagraph (A) or (B) of paragraph (1).
   (B) Prepare an annual report regarding the number of persons with
developmental disabilities who receive services from the
participating regional centers as a result of the pilot program and
estimated total cost savings to the state across departments as a
result of the program.
   (C) Design and implement an evaluation of the pilot program. If
the pilot program results in a 10 percent or greater average annual
increase in the number of individuals who receive habilitative
services through the pilot program being placed in supported
employment, the department shall submit a recommendation to the
Legislature that the program be expanded statewide.
   (c) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2018, and, as
of January 1, 2019, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute,
that becomes operative on or before January 1, 2019, deletes or
extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.