State budget

By Jordan Lindsey, Executive Director, The Arc & UCP California Collaboration

This year’s state budget was finalized within the context of a $46.8 billion deficit.  Since Governor Gavin Newsom released his initial proposed budget in January – which included a 12-month delay in $1 billion of new funding for regional center services – the legislature has held dozens of budget committee hearings to develop a plan that addresses the deficit.

Thousands of advocates from across the state took action in response to the Governor’s proposed $1 billion delay in funding for services supporting people with developmental disabilities and their families.  Nearly 20,000 Californians spoke out against delaying the full implementation of the regional center rate models, and sent more than 120,000 emails, tweets, and petition messages to Governor Newsom and legislators to invest the full amount on July 1, 2024, as promised in previous budgets.  As a result of this effort, the final budget agreement successfully pushed back against the Governor’s proposal of a 12-month delay and instead shortened it to a six-month delay.

This six-month delay, however, will continue to exasperate the monumental staffing shortage and strain a system of supports and services that is already unable to provide adequate access to essential services, leaving thousands across the state without support.

The Arc of California’s detailed summary of California’s enacted 2024-25 budget and its impact on people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and their families is continued on our website by clicking the link below. Click HERE to download official statement and summary.

REGIONAL CENTER SERVICES 

• Rate Model Implementation: A six-month delay in rate increases for developmental services, totalling a loss of $500 million (Total Funds), in lieu of the one-year delay proposed iby Governor Newsom in the May Revision.  The implementation of the fully funded rate models, as reflected in the DDS Rate Study, will now occur January 1, 2025.
• Rate Model Implementation: Existing law requires the department to implement a hold harmless policy, as specified, for providers whose rates exceed rate model recommendations, to freeze a provider’s existing rates until June 30, 2026, and then to adjust the provider’s rates to equal the rates for other providers in the provider’s service category and region. Existing law requires the department, beginning July 1, 2024, to implement a similar hold harmless policy for providers whose rates in effect on January 1, 2023, exceed 90% of the rate model.  This budget agreement instead would begin implementation of the latter hold harmless policy on January 1, 2025.
• Social Recreation and Camp Services: Requires regional center purchase-of-services policies to promote access to social recreation services, camping services, and nonmedical therapies, in ways that promote community inclusion and access for children, individuals who experience disparities, and individuals who are unable to afford paying for services upfront. Prohibits regional centers from enacting restrictive purchase-of-services policies that generally prohibit or disfavor the purchase of social recreation, camping, and nonmedical therapies. Requires regional centers, by October 1, 2024, to designate points of contacts regarding access to social recreation, camping, and nonmedical therapies. Requires, by January 1, 2025, regional centers to adopt procedures aimed at increasing the availability of vendors for social recreation, camping, and nonmedical therapies, including for those services to be funded directly through participant-directed services. Requires, by March 1, 2025, various regional center staff to complete training regarding social recreation and other services. Requires DDS to report various information regarding trends in access to social recreation and other services to the Legislature, including information on complaints, appeals, technical assistance to regional centers, and demographic data on service access.
• Remote Individual Program Plan and Individualized Family Service Plan Meetings: Extends the option for an individual or family served by a regional center to choose to have their individual program plan (IPP) or, for infants and toddlers, individualized family service plan (IFSP), held remotely. Requires a regional center to hold an in-person IPP meeting at a time and location convenient for the individual served if the regional center has not held an in-person IPP meeting or other in-person meeting in the previous 12 months. Requires a regional center to hold an in-person IFSP meeting at a time and location convenient for the family served if the regional center has not held an in-person IFSP meeting or other in-person meeting in the previous six months. Prevents the in-person meeting requirements for IPP and IFSP meetings from impeding timely access to services. Requires the in-person meeting requirements to remain in effect pending a review by the Department of Developmental Services (DDS) review, in coordination with stakeholders, no later than May 14, 2026.
• Early Intervention Provisional Eligibility Assessments: Allows a regional center to concurrently assess an infant or toddler referred for early intervention services for provisional eligibility or full eligibility for regional center services.  Requires a regional center to assess a child who qualifies for early intervention services but has not been found to have a developmental disability or to be provisionally eligible, at least 90 days before they turn 3 years of age, for purposes of determining their eligibility for regional center services.
• Repeal of Regional Center Family Fees: Repeals the Family Cost Participation Program and Annual Family Program Fee.
• Probability Sampling: Allows DDS and regional centers to utilize probability sampling and statistic extrapolation when conducting fiscal audits of service providers.
• DDS Internship Program: Makes the direct support professional internship program subject to an appropriation by the Legislature.

IN-HOME SUPPORTIVE SERVICES (IHSS): Rejects proposed cut to IHSS regardless of immigration status and IHSS Backup Provider system.

SUPPLEMENTAL SECURITY INCOME/STATE SUPPLEMENTAL PAYMENT (SSI/SSP) BASE GRANTS: Supplemental Security Income/State Supplemental Payment (SSI/SSP) base grants: Maintains a 3.2-percent federal SSI cost-of-living adjustment and maintains the 9.2-percent SSP increase, which took effect on January 1, 2024. These adjustments raise the maximum SSI/SSP grant levels to $1,183 per month for individuals and $2,023 per month for couples

ADULT PROTECTIVE SERVICES: Rejects proposed cuts to Adult Protective Services expansion and training.

SPECIALITY DENTAL CLINICS: Restores $50 million in infrastructure grants to dental clinics to improve access to dental care for children with special health care needs.

• HEALTH CARE WORKERS WAGE INCREASES IMPLEMENTATION: Implements health care minimum wage law subject to two potential triggers. The first trigger is related to the Administration submitting a new federal waiver for an additional Quality Assurance Fee, which will generate billions for hospitals. The second being weather revenues out-perform projections by more than three percent. Under this action, it is expected that SB 525 will be implemented as early as October, but no later than January 1, 2025.

INCLUSIVE PRESCHOOL AND EARLY EDUCATION

• Inclusive Early Education Expansion Program: Restores $100 million for the Inclusive Early Education Expansion Program (IEEEP).  Funding for the program was completely eliminated earlier in the year with an earlier adopted budget.
• Children With Exceptional Needs: Previous budget agreements required at least 5% of part-day and full-day California state preschool program contracting agency’s funded enrollment to be reserved for children with exceptional needs. The act required, commencing July 1, 2025, at least 7.5% and, commencing July 1, 2026, at least 10% of a part-day and full-day preschool program contracting agency’s funded enrollment to be reserved for children with exceptional needs, as provided. This budget agreement would delete the above provisions relating to the 7.5% and 10% reservations for children with exceptional needs in part-day and full-day California state preschool programs and would instead indefinitely extend the provision relating to the 5% reservation for children with exceptional needs in part-day and full-day California state preschool programs.

PRIVATE ATTORNEY GENERAL ACT (PAGA) REFORM

• Reform penalty structure:

– Encourages compliance with labor laws by capping penalties on employers who quickly take steps to fix policies and practices, and make workers whole, after receiving a PAGA notice, as well as on employers that act responsibly to take steps proactively to comply with the labor code before even receiving a PAGA notice.

– Creates new, higher penalties on employers who act maliciously, fraudulently or oppressively in violating labor laws.

– Ensures that more of the penalty money goes to employees by increasing the amount allocated to employees from 25% to 35%.

• Reducing and streamlining litigation:

-Expands which Labor Code sections can be cured to reduce the need for litigation and make employees whole quickly.

-Protects small employers by providing a more robust right to cure process through the Labor and Workforce Development Agency (LWDA) to reduce litigation and costs.

-Codifies that a court may limit both the scope of claims presented at trial to ensure cases can be managed effectively.

• Improving measures for injunctive relief and standing:

– Allows courts to provide injunctive relief to compel businesses to implement changes in the workplace to remedy labor law violations.

-Requires the employee to personally experience the alleged violations brought in a claim.

MASTER PLAN ON DEVELOPMENTAL SERVICES: The budget agreement makes various findings and declarations regarding the developmental services system in California, and establishes legislative intent that the Master Plan for Developmental Services strengthens accessibility, quality, and equity of the developmental services system for all individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities and their families, regardless of language or other factors. Requires the Secretary of California Health and Human Services, in coordination with DDS, to lead the development of the implementation of the master plan for developmental services. Requires the Secretary to solicit input from individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families, professionals in the developmental services field, and a broad range of subject matter experts. Requires the Secretary and DDS to submit an initial report of the master plan to the Legislature and Governor by March 15, 2025. Requires the Secretary and DDS to work with various state agencies and departments to implement the master plan. Requires the Secretary to submit regular master plan updates to the Governor and Legislature beginning March 15, 2026.

STRENGTHENING STATE ENFORCEMENT: Give the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) the ability to expedite hiring and fill vacancies to ensure effective and timely enforcement of employee labor claims