Bill Text: CA AB286 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Developmental services: supported living services.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Failed) 2016-02-01 - From committee: Filed with the Chief Clerk pursuant to Joint Rule 56. [AB286 Detail]
Download: California-2015-AB286-Introduced.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 286 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Achadjian
(Coauthor: Senator Monning)
FEBRUARY 11, 2015
An act to amend Section 4689 of the Welfare and Institutions Code,
relating to developmental services.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 286, as introduced, Achadjian. Developmental services:
supported living services.
Existing law, the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services
Act, requires the State Department of Developmental Services to
contract with regional centers to provide services and supports,
including supported living services, to individuals with
developmental disabilities and their families. Existing law lists the
range of supported living services and supports to include, among
other things, recruiting, training, and hiring individuals to provide
personal care and other assistance, and requires supported living
service providers to conduct comprehensive assessments for the
purpose of getting to know the consumer they will be supporting.
This bill would require direct care workers providing supported
living services to satisfactorily complete 15 hours of training in
behavioral intervention within 3 months from the date the provider
was hired.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 4689 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is
amended to read:
4689. Consistent with state and federal law, the Legislature
places a high priority on providing opportunities for adults with
developmental disabilities, regardless of the degree of disability,
to live in homes that they own or lease with support available as
often and for as long as it is needed, when that is the preferred
objective in the individual program plan. In order to provide
opportunities for adults to live in their own homes, the following
procedures shall be adopted:
(a) The department and regional centers shall ensure that
supported living arrangements adhere to the following principles:
(1) Consumers shall be supported in living arrangements
which that are typical of those in which persons
without disabilities reside.
(2) The services or supports that a consumer receives shall change
as his or her needs change without the consumer having to move
elsewhere.
(3) The consumer's preference shall guide decisions concerning
where and with whom he or she lives.
(4) Consumers shall have control over the environment within their
own home.
(5) The purpose of furnishing services and supports to a consumer
shall be to assist that individual to exercise choice in his or her
life while building critical and durable relationships with other
individuals.
(6) The services or supports shall be flexible and tailored to a
consumer's needs and preferences.
(7) Services and supports are most effective when furnished where
a person lives and within the context of his or her day-to-day
activities.
(8) Consumers shall not be excluded from supported living
arrangements based solely on the nature and severity of their
disabilities.
(b) Regional centers may contract with agencies or individuals to
assist consumers in securing their own homes and to provide consumers
with the supports needed to live in their own homes.
(c) The range of supported living services and supports available
include, but are not limited to, assessment of consumer needs;
assistance in finding, modifying modifying,
and maintaining a home; facilitating circles of support to
encourage the development of unpaid and natural supports in the
community; advocacy and self-advocacy facilitation; development of
employment goals; social, behavioral, and daily living skills
training and support; development and provision of 24-hour emergency
response systems; securing and maintaining adaptive equipment and
supplies; recruiting, training, and hiring individuals to provide
personal care and other assistance, including in-home supportive
services workers, paid neighbors, and paid roommates; providing
respite and emergency relief for personal care attendants; and
facilitating community participation. Assessment of consumer needs
may begin before 18 years of age to enable the consumer to move to
his or her own home when he or she reaches 18 years of age.
(d) Regional centers shall provide information and education to
consumers and their families about supported living principles and
services.
(e) Regional centers shall monitor and ensure the quality of
services and supports provided to individuals living in homes that
they own or lease. Monitoring shall take into account all of the
following:
(1) Adherence to the principles set forth in this section.
(2) Whether the services and supports outlined in the consumer's
individual program plan are congruent with the choices and needs of
the individual.
(3) Whether services and supports described in the consumer's
individual program plan are being delivered.
(4) Whether services and supports are having the desired effects.
(5) Whether the consumer is satisfied with the services and
supports.
(f) The planning team, established pursuant to subdivision (j) of
Section 4512, for a consumer receiving supported living services
shall confirm that all appropriate and available sources of natural
and generic supports have been utilized to the fullest extent
possible for that consumer.
(g) Regional centers shall utilize the same supported living
provider for consumers who reside in the same domicile, provided that
each individual consumer's particular needs can still be met
pursuant to his or her individual program plans.
(h) Rent, mortgage, and lease payments of a supported living home
and household expenses shall be the responsibility of the consumer
and any roommate who resides with the consumer.
(i) A regional center shall not make rent, mortgage, or lease
payments on a supported living home, or pay for household expenses of
consumers receiving supported living services, except under the
following circumstances:
(1) If all of the following conditions are met, a regional center
may make rent, mortgage, or lease payments as follows:
(A) The regional center executive director verifies in writing
that making the rent, mortgage, or lease payments or paying for
household expenses is required to meet the specific care needs unique
to the individual consumer as set forth in an addendum to the
consumer's individual program plan, and is required when a consumer's
demonstrated medical, behavioral, or psychiatric condition presents
a health and safety risk to himself or herself, or another.
(B) During the time period that a regional center is making rent,
mortgage, or lease payments, or paying for household expenses, the
supported living services vendor shall assist the consumer in
accessing all sources of generic and natural supports consistent with
the needs of the consumer.
(C) The regional center shall not make rent, mortgage, or lease
payments on a supported living home or pay for household expenses for
more than six months, unless the regional center finds that it is
necessary to meet the individual consumer's particular needs pursuant
to the consumer's individual program plan. The regional center shall
review a finding of necessity on a quarterly basis and the regional
center executive director shall annually verify in an addendum to the
consumer's individual program plan that the requirements set forth
in subparagraph (A) continue to be met.
(2) A regional center that has been contributing to rent,
mortgage, or lease payments or paying for household expenses prior to
July 1, 2009, shall at the time of development, review, or
modification of a consumer's individual program plan determine if the
conditions in paragraph (1) are met. If the planning team determines
that these contributions are no longer appropriate under this
section, a reasonable time for transition, not to exceed six months,
shall be permitted.
(j) All paid roommates and live-in support staff in supported
living arrangements in which regional centers have made rent,
mortgage, or lease payments, or have paid for household expenses
pursuant to subdivision (i) shall pay their share of the rent,
mortgage, or lease payments or household expenses for the supported
living home, subject to the requirements of Industrial Welfare
Commission Order No. 15-2001 and the Housing Choice Voucher Program,
as set forth in Section 1437f of Title 42 of the United States Code.
(k) Regional centers shall ensure that the supported living
services vendors' administrative costs are necessary and reasonable,
given the particular services that they are providing and the number
of consumers to whom the vendor provides services. Administrative
costs shall be limited to allowable costs for community-based day
programs, as defined in Section 57434 of Title 17 of the California
Code of Regulations, or its successor.
(l) Regional centers shall ensure that the most cost effective of
the rate methodologies is utilized to determine the negotiated rate
for vendors of supported living services, consistent with Section
4689.8 and Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations.
(m) For purposes of this section, "household expenses" means
general living expenses and includes, but is not limited to,
utilities paid and food consumed within the home.
(n) A supported living services provider shall provide assistance
to a consumer who is a Medi-Cal beneficiary in applying for in-home
supportive services, as set forth in Section 12300, within five days
of the consumer moving into a supported living services arrangement.
(o) For consumers receiving supported living services who share a
household with one or more adults receiving supported living
services, efficiencies in the provision of service may be achieved if
some tasks can be shared, meaning the tasks can be provided at the
same time while still ensuring that each person's individual needs
are met. These tasks shall only be shared to the extent they are
permitted under the Labor Code and related regulations, including,
but not limited to, Industrial Welfare Commission Minimum Wage Order
No. 15. The planning team, as defined in subdivision (j) of Section
4512, at the time of development, review, or modification of a
consumer's individual program plan (IPP), for housemates currently in
a supported living arrangement or planning to move together into a
supported living arrangement, or for consumers who live with a
housemate not receiving supported living services who is responsible
for the task, shall consider, with input from the service provider,
whether any tasks, such as meal preparation and cleanup, menu
planning, laundry, shopping, general household tasks, or errands can
appropriately be shared. If tasks can be appropriately shared, the
regional center shall purchase the prorated share of the activity.
Upon a determination of a reduction in services pursuant to this
section, the regional center shall inform the consumer of the reason
for the determination, and shall provide a written notice of fair
hearing rights pursuant to Section 4701.
(p) (1) To ensure that consumers in or entering into supported
living arrangements receive the appropriate amount and type of
supports to meet the person's choice and needs as determined by the
IPP team, and that generic resources are utilized to the fullest
extent possible, the IPP team shall complete a standardized
assessment questionnaire at the time of development, review, or
modification of a consumer's IPP. The questionnaire shall be used
during the individual program plan meetings, in addition to the
provider's assessment, to assist in determining whether the services
provided or recommended are necessary and sufficient and that the
most cost-effective methods of supported living services are
utilized. With input from stakeholders, including regional centers,
the department shall develop and post the questionnaire on its
Internet Web site, and, by June 30, 2012, shall provide it to the
regional centers.
(2) Supported living service providers shall conduct comprehensive
assessments for the purpose of getting to know the consumer they
will be supporting and developing a support plan congruent with the
choices and needs of the individual and consistent with the
principles of supported living set forth in this section and in
Subchapter 19 (commencing with Section 58600) of Chapter 3 of
Division 2 of Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations. The
independent assessment required by this paragraph is not intended to
take the place of or repeat the service provider's comprehensive
assessment.
(3) Upon a determination of a reduction in services pursuant to
this section, the regional center shall inform the consumer of the
reason for the determination, and shall provide a written notice of
fair hearing rights pursuant to Section 4701.
(4) Nothing in this section precludes the completion of an
independent assessment.
(q) Direct care workers providing supported living services shall
satisfactorily complete 15 hours of training in behavioral
intervention within three months from the date the direct care worker
was hired.
