Developmental services: statewide Self-Determination Program.

Under existing law, the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act, the State Department of Developmental Services contracts with regional centers to provide services and supports to individuals with developmental disabilities. Under existing law, the regional centers purchase needed services and supports for individuals with developmental disabilities through approved service providers, or arrange for their provision through other publicly funded agencies. The services and supports to be provided to a regional center consumer are contained in an individual program plan (IPP) , developed in accordance with prescribed requirements. Existing law establishes, contingent upon approval of a federal waiver, the Self-Directed Services Program, and requires the program to be available in every regional center catchment area to provide participants, within an individual budget, greater control over needed services and supports. This bill would require the department, contingent upon approval of federal funding, to establish and implement a state Self-Determination Program, as defined, that would be available in every regional center catchment area to provide participants and their families, within an individual budget, increased flexibility and choice, and greater control over decisions, resources, and needed and desired services and supports to implement their IPP, in accordance with prescribed requirements. The statewide program would be phased in over 3 years, serving up to 2,500 regional center consumers during the phase-in period, and thereafter, available on a voluntary basis to all eligible regional center consumers. The bill would require the department to, among other things, apply for federal funding for the program by December 31, 2014. This bill would provide that program participants receive an individual budget, as prescribed, to be used for the purchase of services and supports necessary to implement the participant's IPP. The bill would require program participants to agree to, among other things, manage self-determination services and supports within the individual budget. The bill would require the department to require nonvendored providers of services and supports who meet specified criteria to submit to a criminal background check, as specified. The bill would require the department, with respect to this background check, to submit fingerprint images and related information to the Department of Justice, and would require the Department of Justice to provide specified responses to the department. The bill would require the Department of Justice to charge a fee sufficient to cover the cost of processing this request. The bill would, among other things, require each regional center to be responsible for implementing the program as a term of its contract, and to establish a local voluntary advisory committee to provide oversight of the project. The bill would require the State Council on Developmental Disabilities to form a volunteer statewide committee to, among other things, identify self-determination best practices. The bill would require the State Council on Developmental Disabilities, in collaboration with specified entities, to issue to the Legislature a report regarding the status of the program and recommendations to the program, as specified, and would require the department, beginning January 10, 2017, to provide to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature prescribed information relating to the program.