Easy to Understand Synopsis of AB 896

For those who are not familiar with Assembly Bill 896, which proposes to

close California's institutions for people with developmental disabilities,

more information is available from this Inclusion Daily Express web page:

http://www.InclusionDaily.com/news/0226ca.htm

A new bill, Assembly Bill 896, has been introduced by Assemblywoman Dion Aroner in the California Legislature that seeks to unify the state's two tiered system of community services and large public institutions.

The problems with California's developmental services system:

1. California has two separate and unequal service systems for people with developmental disabilities. About 3800 people reside in segregated state institutions. 170,000 people receive community services. The institutions are very expensive and the costs are increasing. People in the community don't always get the help they need, because there isn't enough money.

2. Most of the state institutions are old and falling apart. It would cost a lot of money to fix them.

3. People who work in the state institutions are well paid. People who do the same work in the community don't get paid enough, which makes it harder to develop good community services.

4. There aren't enough places in the community that people with developmental disabilities can afford to live.

5. Other states have figured out how to get more help from the federal government to pay for "Medicaid Waiver" services. For example, New York gets twice as much federal money as California.

6. Families don't get enough help. Often children are placed out of home at a higher cost.

AB 896 would help fix these problems by combining the two systems into one system and using all money and resources more fairly for everybody.

Highlights of AB 896

1. Creation of the SHIFT (State Hospital Interagency Fund Transfer) budget which would use the same amount of money now used for a person in the institution or in the community.

2. An annual goal for the regional centers to plan, develop, or purchase community services that will prevent at least 150 people from going into state institutions and creation of community options for at least 400 people in state institutions.

3. A CARE account (Community Augmentation and Resource Enhancement) will be created for regional center use. The CARE account will be used for improving services for people living in the community whose needs are the same as those in the state facilities.

4. Nobody is moved out of a state facility or deflected from admission to a state institution without the benefit of a person-centered, individual program plan and ASSURANCES of excellent community-based services.

5. The money in the SHIFT and CARE accounts will be used to create "models of excellence" for people coming out of state institutions and others with similar needs in the community. These funds can be used to:

a. pay community workers more money

b. use state employees to provide services in the community,

c. fund self-determination programs in which families have greater control of decisions and resources,

d. help families care for family members at home, including stipends to family caretakers when needed,

e. help people lease homes or apartments,

f. pay for program start-up costs,

g. make existing programs better and create new ones,

h. help regional centers to administer added workload.

i. evaluate the Models of Excellence, regarding costs and results.

j. Create the Lanterman Trust Fund that would keep all the money in the developmental services system that would come from the sale or lease of state facilities. AB 896 gives people with developmental disabilities the right to these funds and prevents anybody from taking these resources without paying the fair market price. Lanterman Trust Funds could be used to:

1. provide low interest or deferred interest loans for housing for people with developmental disabilities,

2. create technical centers of excellence to produce adaptive equipment, customized wheelchairs, shoes and other articles needed, statewide, for people with unique needs,

3. give grants for special purposes.

k. The Department of Developmental Services would be required to plan for: closing or making institutions smaller, making the cost of institutions cheaper, help state workers get new jobs, and try to get federal matching funds to help pay for new community services

l. The Secretary of the Health and Welfare Agency would be required to conduct two evaluations: A study of additional ways to unify and streamline a complex system involving numerous state agencies, and a review of the functioning and structure of the regional centers.