2007 Sponsored legislation
Each year PAI legal and legislative staff identify possible legislative fixes for issues affecting people with disabilities. Several legislative proposals are written, and based on priority, political climate and the approval of PAI's Board of Directors, among other factors, PAI decides which if any bills it will sponsor. Then legislative staff work on finding the right legislator to become the author of each bill, and persuading that legislator to take on the bill. This year PAI is sponsoring two bills.
AB 1659 (Lieber)
AB 1659 is an effort to make the special education dispute resolution process effective, fair, transparent, and accessible for parents of students with disabilities. Among other things, this bill ensures:
- Parents and school districts can mutually agree to postpone administrative hearings and pursue informal resolutions instead;
- In order to keep legal costs at a minimum, parties are not required to complete administrative hearing preparations sooner than is required by current law;
- The roles of judges and mediators are separated so that the same individual does not act as both mediator and judge before the same party or their counsel;
- Notice to parents of the reasons for school district proposals/denials;
- Better data to determine accessibility of the process and fairness of results;
- Prompt rulings to ensure continuation of agreed-upon services pending final decisions; and
- Disclosure of documents asserting compliance with corrective actions following State Department of Education determinations of noncompliance by local agencies.
AB 1410 (Feuer)
AB 1410 would require the state to apply to the federal government for a Medicaid waiver to provide more services to people with traumatic brain injury ( TBI). Each year an estimated 22,000 Californians sustain a TBI from violence, athletic injuries, motor vehicle accidents, military service or other causes. However, California offers very few services for this rapidly increasing population, and has never applied for available federal home and community-based waiver services money which 25 other states already receive.
This bill would bring federal funds to help pay for existing services to more people, and would allow people with TBI to receive a new service – supported employment – for which they are not now eligible.
AB 1410 is a very modest bill, aiming to serve 100 Californians with TBI , using already-appropriated state money as a match to the federal funds.