Bill Text: NJ A3245 | 2010-2011 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Establishes priority of preferences for community settings for persons with developmental disabilities transitioning from developmental centers.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-09-20 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Human Services Committee [A3245 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2010-A3245-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman VALERIE VAINIERI HUTTLE
District 37 (Bergen)
SYNOPSIS
Establishes priority of preferences for community settings for persons with developmental disabilities transitioning from developmental centers.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning persons with developmental disabilities and supplementing chapter 6D of Title 30 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. The Director of the Division of Developmental Disabilities in the Department of Human Services, in the implementation of the plan developed pursuant to P.L.2006, c.61 to transition into the community from State developmental centers those persons with developmental disabilities who have expressed a desire to live in the community and whose individual habilitation plan so recommends, shall consider the type and location of a community residential setting for a person with a developmental disability transitioning from a developmental center based on the following order of priority:
(1) the preference of the person with a developmental disability, if capable of indicating a preference, and if able to reside in the person's preferred setting as determined by the person's interdisciplinary team;
(2) the preference of the person's parent if there is no legal guardian, or the person's legal guardian in consultation with the parent, as appropriate;
(3) the preference of the person's case manager or other professional on the person's interdisciplinary team; and
(4) the department's commitment to serving persons with developmental disabilities in the least restrictive setting.
b. As used in this section, "interdisciplinary team" means an individually constituted group of persons responsible for the development of an individual habilitation plan for a person with a developmental disability established pursuant to section 10 of P.L.1977, c.82 (C.30:6D-10).
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill concerns implementation by the Department of Human Services (DHS) of its plan, "Path to Progress," which was established to help transition persons with developmental disabilities residing in State developmental centers into the community. P.L. 2006, c. 61 required the development of the plan, in accordance with the principles of the United States Supreme Court's decision in Olmstead v. L.C., 527 U.S. 581 (1999), to ensure that those persons with developmental disabilities who have expressed a desire to live in the community and whose individual habilitation plan so recommends, can do so. This bill establishes an order of priority for considering preferences for community residential settings for persons with developmental disabilities transitioning into the community.
Specifically, the bill requires the Director of the Division of Developmental Disabilities in DHS to consider the type and location of community residential settings for those transitioning from developmental centers based on the following order of priority:
· the preference of the person with a developmental disability, if capable of indicating a preference, and if able to reside in the person's preferred setting as determined by the person's interdisciplinary team;
· the preference of the person's parent if there is no legal guardian, or the person's legal guardian in consultation with the parent, as appropriate;
· the preference of the person's case manager or other professional on the person's interdisciplinary team; and
· the department's commitment to serving persons with developmental disabilities in the least restrictive setting.
The bill defines "interdisciplinary team" as an individually constituted group of persons responsible for the development of an individual habilitation plan for a person with a developmental disability pursuant to section 10 of P.L.1977, c.82 (C.30:6D-10).
The bill takes effect immediately.
