In The Politics of Autism, I discuss services for people with disabilities.
From Legislative Counsel's Digest:
The measure follows a series of recent reports, a state audit and public hearings that revealed racial disparities, inadequate oversight and limited accountability at California’s regional centers — a network of 21 nonprofits that coordinate services for about 400,000 children and adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities.
The Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act makes the State Department of Developmental Services responsible for providing various services and supports to individuals with developmental disabilities, and for ensuring the appropriateness and quality of those services and supports. Pursuant to that law, the department contracts with regional centers to provide services and supports to persons with developmental disabilities.
This bill would enact the Disability Equity and Accountability of 2023, which would make various changes to the act for purposes including gathering relevant data and providing increased oversight of regional center operations and performance. The bill would require an evaluation of regional center performance by the department, which would be implemented using a common set of performance measures. The bill would require the assessments to use performance measures in 7 specific domains: community integration, employment, equity in access, case management, client and family choice, experience and satisfaction, human and civil rights, and health and safety. The bill would require the department to establish standards for theses performance measures, as specified, by July 1, 2024.
The bill would require the department, as part of its planning process for the planning and development of a uniform, statewide data automation system, to develop a charter for approval by the Secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency and the Department of Technology. The bill would require the charter development process to include the participation and input of program consumers and families, researchers and quality and outcome evaluators, regional centers, and service providers. The bill would require the charter to include specified components, including, but not limited to, an impact statement, project guiding principles, and program goals, including maximizing the performance and business processes for the delivery of intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD) system services to regional center consumers.
Existing law requires the department, in consultation with stakeholders, to identify a valid and reliable quality assurance instrument that assesses consumer and family satisfaction, provision of services in a linguistically and competent manner, and personal outcomes, as specified.
This bill would require the department by March 1, 2024, to submit a report to the Legislature describing the extent to which the requirements of this section have not been met, including the surveying of all consumers, including those who have not purchased services, and providing specific steps and the schedule by which these requirements will be met.
Existing law requires regional centers to conduct client assessments, and requires those assessments to be performed within 120 days following intake, and within no more than 60 days following initial intake if delay would expose the client to unnecessary risk to their health and safety, as specified.
This bill would revise those timeframes to require an assessment to be completed within 60 days of intake, and within 30 days of intake for at-risk clients.
Existing law declares the intent of the Legislature to ensure that the individual program plan (IPP) and provision of services and supports by the regional center system is centered on the individual and the family of the individual with developmental disabilities and takes into account the needs and preferences of the individual and the family, as prescribed.
This bill also would declare the intent of the Legislature for the IPP to be developed consistent with the federal Affordable Care Act, as specified, requiring community-based long-term services and supports be person-centered and self-directed, and ensuring that goals in any plan allow for innovation and nontraditional services service delivery. The bill would revise existing complaint procedures for consumers and their representatives, including requiring complaints to be made to the Director of Developmental Services, and requiring the director to issue a written administrative decision within 30 days of receiving the complaint, and send a copy of the decision to the complainant, the director of the subject regional center or state-operated facility, and the service provider, as prescribed.
The bill would revise the criteria applicable to regional center governing boards with which the state contracts, including with respect to terms, the composition of nominating committees, and training. The bill would require the department to establish and adopt a grievance procedure for governing board members, as specified. The bill also would make regional centers subject to requirements of the California Public Records Act.
