Bill Text: CA SB579 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Developmental services: Commission on Oversight

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2014-06-17 - Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author. [SB579 Detail]

Download: California-2013-SB579-Amended.html

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BILL NUMBER: SB 579	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  JANUARY 27, 2014
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JANUARY 15, 2014
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JANUARY 6, 2014
	AMENDED IN SENATE  SEPTEMBER 11, 2013
	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 9, 2013

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Berryhill

                        FEBRUARY 22, 2013

   An act to add and repeal Section 4751 of the Welfare and
Institutions Code, relating to developmental services.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 579, as amended, Berryhill. Developmental services: Commission
on Oversight Efficiency and Quality Enhancement Models.
   The Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act authorizes
the State Department of Developmental Services to contract with
regional centers to provide services and supports to individuals with
developmental disabilities. The services and supports to be provided
to a regional center consumer are contained in an individual program
plan, developed in accordance with prescribed requirements.
   The California Community Care Facilities Act provides for the
licensure and regulation of community care facilities, including
residential facilities, adult day programs, small family homes, and
group homes, by the State Department of Social Services.
   Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to
license and regulate various types of health facilities, and requires
the State Department of Public Health and the State Department of
Developmental Services to jointly develop and implement licensing
regulations appropriate for intermediate care
facilities/developmentally disabled-nursing and intermediate care
facility/developmentally disabled-continuous nursing.
   This bill would establish the Commission on Oversight Efficiency
and Quality Enhancement Models to investigate methods of implementing
a unified and consistent oversight and quality enhancement process
that ensures the welfare, community participation, health, and safety
of individuals with developmental disabilities who are served in
programs licensed by the Community Care Licensing Division of the
State Department of Social Services. The bill would require the
process to also enhance accountability and quality review processes
for the services directly provided by regional centers. The bill
would require the Governor, Senate Committee on Rules, and the
Speaker of the Assembly to appoint members to serve on the
commission, as prescribed.  The bill would require the State
Department of Developmental Services to provide staff support to the
commission. 
    The bill would require the commission to recommend a strategy for
uniform data collection that provides reliable, valid, and
actionable data from multiple stakeholder perspectives and that may
be consistently deployed at regional centers. This bill would require
the commission to review current regulations and relevant statutes
to better focus on reliable data to measure outcomes for individuals
served and the impact of services on the lives of individuals and
their families, in accordance with prescribed characteristics. The
bill would require the commission, by June 30, 2015, to determine the
best methods for collecting input on relevant regulatory standards
and statutes, and to request public input on those standards, as
specified. The bill would require the commission to review and
compile, by September 30, 2016, the input received and to submit, by
December 31, 2016, a report on its recommended regulatory and
statutory changes to the Legislature and the State Department of
Developmental Services. 
   This bill would require the commission to propose, in its report,
a process by which relevant regulations and statutes governing the
Licensing and Certification Division of the State Department of
Public Health may be reviewed by a future commission. 
   These provisions would be repealed on January 1, 2018.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 4751 is added to the Welfare and Institutions
Code, to read:
   4751.  (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (1) Evaluation of the services that people with developmental
disabilities receive from both service providers and regional centers
is a critical component of the service system.
   (2) There is evidence that the current system, in which three
state-funded entities, the State Department of Developmental
Services, the regional centers, and the Community Care Licensing
Division of the State Department of Social Services, are charged with
monitoring and maintaining quality services and supports for people
with developmental disabilities, is duplicative and confusing and
fails to produce data essential for service improvement.
   (3) The efficiency and efficacy of the oversight and quality
review processes can be significantly enhanced by unifying the
current duplicative quality review system, thus conserving limited
state and service providers' resources while simultaneously improving
the lives of people with developmental disabilities in California.
   (b) The Commission on Oversight Efficiency and Quality Enhancement
Models is established to investigate methods of implementing a
unified and consistent oversight and quality enhancement process.
This process shall ensure the welfare, community participation,
health, and safety of all those with developmental disabilities who
are served in programs currently licensed by the Community Care
Licensing Division of the State Department of Social Services. The
commission shall give the utmost attention to ensure that the results
of its work do not reduce the quality of oversight and monitoring of
the health and safety of persons with developmental disabilities.
This process shall also enhance accountability and quality review
processes for the services directly provided by regional centers.
   (c) The commission shall be composed of not more than 12 members
as follows:
   (1) Three public members appointed by the Senate Committee on
Rules, with one appointee who is from the advocacy community, one
appointee who is a provider of day program services, and one
appointee who represents regional centers.
   (2) Three public members appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly,
with one appointee who is a consumer or family member, one appointee
who is a provider of residential services, and one appointee who
represents regional centers.
   (3) Three public members appointed by the Governor with the
consent of the Senate. The Governor shall request and consider
nominations of persons from the advocacy community, the provider
community, the regional center system, consumers and family members,
and subject experts in data collection and licensing oversight for
these appointments.
   (4) The State Department of Developmental Services, the State
Department of Social Services, and the California Health and Human
Services Agency may each select a representative to participate on
the commission. 
   (d) The State Department of Developmental Services shall provide
staff support to the commission.  
   (d) 
    (e)  The commission may appoint advisory groups to
provide specialized input to assist the commission in its work.

   (e) 
    (f)  The commission shall examine existing regulations
and statutes, and recommend changes to the State Department of
Developmental Services, as specified in subdivision  (g)
  (h)  . 
   (f) 
    (g)  (1) The commission shall recommend, and include in
its final report, a strategy for uniform data collection that
provides reliable, valid, and actionable data from multiple
stakeholder perspectives and that may be consistently deployed at
regional centers. The strategy shall address, to the fullest extent
possible, all of the following:
   (A) Service provider and regional performance.
   (B) Outcomes consistent with individual program plan goals.
   (C) Flexibility of implementation.
   (D) Field-based data entry and analysis.
   (E) Documentation, measurement, and analysis of the strategy's
implementation.
   (F) Usage of data currently being collected by regional centers
and the State Department of Developmental Services.
   (G) Regional center and service provider resource needs to
implement the strategy.
   (2) The commission shall consider, but is not limited to, the
experience, outcomes, and data provided by the National Core
Indicators, the Agnews Developmental Center, and the Bay Area Quality
Management System, and from current quality reviews of unlicensed
Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act support models,
including family home agencies and supported living, in developing
the strategy's structure, standards, and data collection
methodologies. 
   (g) 
    (h)  The commission shall review current sections in
Titles 17 and 22 of the California Code of Regulations and relevant
statutes to better focus on reliable data to measure outcomes for
individuals served and the impact of services on the lives of
individuals and their families. Recommendations for the strategy and
regulatory change shall reflect the following characteristics:
   (1) Be lean, simple, efficient, and understood by the people
served and those who serve them.
   (2) Avoid unnecessary redundancies of process, permissions,
oversight, and enforcement.
   (3) Base objective reviews on quality standards that, in
accordance with Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act
principles, address individual outcomes, including, but not limited
to, health, safety, independence, choice, empowerment, inclusion, and
participation in community life. Outcome measures are to be
consistent with performance measures for regional centers.
   (4) Base subjective reviews of the impact on individuals and
families on satisfaction data collected by an independent third party
that surveys a statistically significant sample of service providers
and individuals and families providing or receiving those services.
   (5) Shift the focus of quality efforts to a service enhancement
model that encourages and recognizes service provider and regional
center improvements.
   (6) Include multiple options for proactive consumer protections,
including screening for qualified providers, an emphasis on an
evolving improvement system of coaching and mentoring service
providers toward quality, and an immediate response capacity to
address people in imminent danger.
   (7) Report aggregate service and individual outcomes to highlight
excellence, innovation, and satisfaction in the services provided and
in the lives of individuals with developmental disabilities.
   (8) Enhance transparency, accountability, quality standards, and
measurement processes for the services directly provided by regional
centers consistent with regional center performance contracts.
   (9) Provide consumers, families, service providers, and regional
center staff the opportunity to participate in system evaluation.
   (10) Ensure that the results of oversight, quality enhancement,
and assurance review activities are available in plain language to
people with developmental disabilities and their families so they can
be informed consumers of the services that they receive. 
   (h) 
    (i)  (1) On or before June 30, 2015, the commission
shall determine the best methods of collecting input on relevant
statutes and sections of Titles 17 and 22 of the California Code of
Regulations.
   (2) These methods shall include, but not be limited to, the
following:
   (A) At least two public meetings, with one meeting held in
southern California and one meeting held in northern California.
   (B) The electronic submission of comments.
   (3) The commission shall request public input concerning the
revision, retention, or removal of relevant statutes and sections of
Titles 17 and 22 of the California Code of Regulations affecting only
programs meeting both of the following:
   (A) Under the partial or exclusive oversight of the Community Care
Licensing Division of the State Department of Social Services.
   (B) Provide services and supports exclusively or primarily to
persons with developmental disabilities.
   (4) The commission shall solicit comment on issue areas including,
but not limited to, the following:
   (A) Certification and vendorization processes.
   (B) Complaints.
   (C) Quality oversight and monitoring requirements.
   (D) Decertification and devendorization processes.
   (E) Conflict and duplication in statutes and regulations. 

   (i) (1) 
    (j)  On or before September 30, 2016, the commission
shall review and compile the input received based on its relevance to
the criteria described in subdivision  (g)  
(h)  . On or before December 31, 2016, the commission shall
submit to the Legislature and the State Department of Developmental
Services a report on its recommended changes to Titles 17 and 22 of
the California Code of Regulations and any recommended statutory
changes. The commission shall also recommend, based on input
received, the most effective entity or entities for enforcing the
regulations. 
   (2) In its report, the commission shall propose a process by which
relevant regulations and statutes governing the Licensing and
Certification Division of the State Department of Public Health,
guided by the criteria described in subdivision (g), may be reviewed
by a future commission if one is established.  
   (j) 
    (k)  A report to be submitted pursuant to subdivision
 (i)   (j)  shall be submitted in
compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code. 
   (k) 
    (l)  This section shall remain in effect only until
January 1, 2018, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later
enacted statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2018, deletes or
extends that date.