Bill Text: CT HB06860 | 2015 | General Assembly | Comm Sub

Connecticut House Bill 6860 (Prior Session Legislation)

Bill Title: An Act Concerning A Pilot Project To Improve Transitional Services For Employable Young Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Spectrum: Committee Bill

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-03-20 - Favorable Change of Reference, Senate to Committee on Appropriations [HB06860 Detail]

Download: Connecticut-2015-HB06860-Comm_Sub.html

General Assembly		*Substitute Bill No. 6860*
*January Session, 2015*		_____HB06860HS_APP031715____

AN ACT CONCERNING A PILOT PROJECT TO IMPROVE TRANSITIONAL SERVICES FOR EMPLOYABLE YOUNG ADULTS WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:

Section 1. (Effective July 1, 2015) (a) For purposes of this section, (1) "young adult" means a person not younger than twenty-one years of age and not older than thirty-one years of age, and (2) "employable" means capable of working not less than twenty hours per week.

(b) The Commissioner of Rehabilitation Services, in consultation with the Commissioner of Developmental Services, shall establish a two-year pilot program in Hartford and New Haven counties to provide not more than one hundred employable young adults with autism spectrum disorder with vocational training and information designed to improve employment opportunities. The pilot program shall include (1) an informational campaign designed to increase awareness about (A) available vocational services and eligibility for such services; and (B) the impact, or lack thereof, of paid employment on public assistance benefits, (2) outreach to potential employers, (3) identification of barriers to access to vocational services offered by the Department of Rehabilitation, (4) a strategy to break down such barriers, (5) family counseling to ensure participants in the pilot program can work scheduled hours, and (6) job coaches who work through the Department of Developmental Services.

(c) Not later than July 1, 2016, the Commissioner of Rehabilitation Services, in consultation with the Commissioner of Developmental Services, shall report, in accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a of the general statutes, to the joint standing committees of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters concerning public health and human services regarding (1) the percentage of participants in the pilot program who are employed not less than twenty hours per week compared to the percentage of employable young adults with autism spectrum disorder in Hartford and New Haven counties who are not participants in the pilot program and who are employed not less than twenty hours per week, (2) the cost of the pilot program, and (3) recommendations to expand the pilot program.