2021 - 2022
2021 - 2022
Public Policy Archive
Archived bill and budget advocacy material for the prior year.
AB 313 (Garcia): LEAP Expansion
This bill expands the state Limited Examination and Appointment Program to improve employment outcomes for people with disabilities. The bill also requires state departments to develop a model reasonable accommodation policy for workers with disabilities. Finally, the bill identifies ten state agencies or departments that have the lowest rate of employees with disabilities and requires them set new goals to hiring persons with disabilities. Signed in to law on 10/5/2021.
AB 323 (Kalra): Long-Term Health Facilities
This bill updates long-term care facility citation penalties and standards for negligent care to safeguard nursing home and long-term care facility residents. Specifically, the bill adopts the California State Auditor’s recommendation on skilled nursing facility citation amounts to improve quality-of-care deficiencies in nursing homes and improves California’s Department of Public Health’s (CDPH) enforcement ability by clarifying the confusing causation standard for “AA” citations, replacing the “direct proximate cause” test with the “substantial factor” test. Robust and clear nursing home oversight by CDPH are critical if we are to avert further tragedies that have only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Signed in to law on 10/4/2021.
AB 610 (Kalra): Decriminalizing Pupil Behavior
Currently, school staff are required to contact police on disruptive students. This criminalizes behaviors of students with disabilities. This bill would have given school staff the choice to contact police in response to various student actions, rather than making it mandatory.
AB 1165 (Gipson): Chemical Spray Ban in Juvenile Facilities
This bill would have prohibited the State from purchasing, storing, or using chemical sprays such as pepper spray in juvenile facilities. The majority of youth who are subjected to chemical sprays have one or more disabilities, and AB 1165 would have protected these youth from the physical and psychological harms inflicted by these weapons.
AB 1195 (C. Garcia): Limited Eligibility and Appointment Program: lists
This bill improves the state hiring process for workers with disabilities through the Limited Examination and Appointment Program (LEAP). This bill provides that a state agency may request and be furnished with a referral list of LEAP candidates to better identify and hire applicants with disabilities. This bill was sponsored by Disability Rights California and the Association of California State Employees with Disabilities. Signed in to law on 9/30/2022.
AB 1663 (Maienschein): Protective proceedings
Disabled people and older adults are often forced into conservatorships, a system that takes away their basic civil rights and ability to make decisions for themselves. AB 1663 helps people keep choice and control over their lives. It creates laws so people with disabilities and older adults can get support from people they trust, and not be forced into unnecessary conservatorships.
AB 1663 changed the laws about probate code conservatorships to make sure that people under conservatorship have a voice in the decisions made for them. It makes it easier for people to get out of conservatorships when the conservatorship is no longer necessary. For more information visit the website Support Without Courts for People with Disabilities Signed in to law on 9/30/2022.
AB 1900 (Arambula): Medi-Cal: income level for maintenance
AB 1900 (Arambula): The Medi-Cal share of cost program extends Medi-Cal eligibility to low-income older adults and people with disabilities who have significant health care needs but are just above the free Medi-Cal income limit. The problem is that right now California’s share of cost program only allows an individual to maintain $600 a month to meet their monthly expenses. They must pay the rest of their income towards their health care to become eligible for Medi-Cal. This $600 amount is called the “maintenance need income level” and hasn’t changed since 1989. AB 1900 would raise the maintenance need income level to 138% of the federal poverty level even with the current income eligibility limit for free Medi-Cal. Enacted in the budget with some contingencies and a Jan 2025 start date.
AB 1944 (Lee): Local government: open and public meetings
This bill would have ensured livestreams of public government meetings are required and members of the public can address their elected officials through a call-in or video option. Specifically, AB 1944 would have enhanced opportunities for democratic participation in local government by allowing remote participation options in meetings beyond a declared state of emergency when they are authorized. The bill strived to eliminate physical and statutory barriers for Californians with disabilities to participate in public meetings, and teleconferencing utilized early in the pandemic brought unparalleled access to these forums.
AB 1957 (Wilson): Disparities within the developmental services system
Currently, regional centers and the Department of Developmental Services (DDS) are required to track and report annually on the number of instances where a translation of the individual program plan (IPP) in to an uncommonly spoken language exceeds 60 days from the date of request. AB 1957 extends the regional centers’ and DDS’ reporting obligations to also track and report on the number of instances where a translation of the IPP in to a more commonly spoken language, i.e., a threshold language, exceeds 45 days. The bill also requires the regional centers and DDS to collect and annually report purchase of service data related to social recreation activities. The long-standing limitation on these services has disproportionately affected communities of color who are more reliant on these types of in-home supports. AB 1957 enables the public to monitor how the restoration of these critically important services will affect existing funding disparities. Signed in to law on 9/13/2022.
AB 1990 (Arambula): Department of Fair Employment and Housing: Californians with disabilities: workgroup
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into federal law in 1990. The ADA has been monumental for many living with disabilities; however, it should be viewed as the floor for the rights of the disability community. AB 1990 was an opportunity to form a workgroup with people who can help give the Legislature and Administration ideas to create a Californians with Disabilities Act. California will continue to strive to be the best state in the country for people living with disabilities.
AB 2475 (Quirk-Silva): Pupil placement: special education: foster children: nonpublic, nonsectarian schools or agencies: school of origin
AB 2475 would have clarified that a foster youth’s “school of origin” also includes non-public schools where required by a student’s Individualized Education Program plan. This ensures foster youth can return to their non-public school or public school after they are released from court custody.
AB 2598 (A. Weber): Pupil rights: restorative justice practices
This bill requires CDE to consult with stakeholders to develop evidence-based best practices for restorative justice practice implementation on a school campus and to make these practices available on the CDE's Internet Web site for use by school districts to implement as part of efforts to improve campus culture and climate. Research and data show that punitive and/or zero tolerance school discipline policies that rely on exclusionary punishments are ineffective and stand in the way of student achievement. Data also shows that these punitive discipline policies disproportionately impact Black students, particularly Black males, and students with disabilities. AB 2598 provides schools with evidence based best practices to develop and implement restorative justice practices as an alternative to suspensions and expulsions. This bill will help address existing inequities within our public education system and improve school climate, which leads to increased attendance, reduced feelings of isolation, bullying, classroom disruption, truancy, antisocial behavior, and disputes among students. . Signed in to law on 9/30/2022.
AB 2632 (Holden): Segregated confinement
Solitary confinement is considered torture by the United Nations and a growing body of legal and medical experts. Disability Rights California is part of a coalition that is looking to limit the use of solitary confinement. People with disabilities, especially mental health disabilities, are particularly at risk for long term damage from any amount of time in solitary confinement. This bill would have established limits on the amount of time people can spend in solitary confinement in jails, prisons and immigration detention centers, especially for vulnerable populations such as people with disabilities, younger people, older people and those who are pregnant.
Learn more about AB 2632 (Holden): California Mandela Act on Solitary Confinement
AB 2823 (Levine): Medi-Cal: beneficiary maintenance needs: home upkeep allowance and transitional needs allowance.
This bill aimed to help prevent homelessness for long-term care Medi-Cal beneficiaries who are temporarily residing in a skilled nursing facility and are no longer able to pay their housing expenses due to diverting their income towards share of cost. The home upkeep allowance, also recognized as an allowance for home maintenance, shall be available to long-term care facility residents who are Medi-Cal recipients.
SB 14 (Portantino): Mental Health Excused Absences
This bill ensures our schools are equipped with the skills and knowledge to recognize and respond to mental health challenges and substance use experienced by students. The bill also ensures that youth absences from school for a mental health issue or appointment will be an excused absence in the same fashion absences for physical health ailments or appointments are treated. Signed in to law on 10/8/2021.
SB 281 (Dodd): Medi-Cal: Short-Term Community Transitions program
SB 281 assures continuation of the successful California Community Transitions (CCT) Program through Jan 2028. The CCT Program is a Medi-Cal funded program available through the state Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) to give people who have their medical coverage through Medi-Cal and live in a medical facility the extra help and services they need to move from a medical facility to their own place in the community. Signed in to law on 9/30/2022.
SB 387 (Portantino): Pupil health: school employee and pupil training: youth mental and behavioral health
During the COVID-19 pandemic, an increase number of young people have had feelings of isolation and loneliness, which have contributed to a mental health crisis. SB 387 would have required the California Department of Education to have 75% of classified and certified employees on school campuses complete an evidence-based behavioral health training program.
SB 518 (Laird): Cooperative for Innovation and Self-Determination
This bill intended to create the Cooperative for Innovation and Self-Determination (the Co-op) to serve participants in the Self-Determination Program. Program participants would be able to voluntarily opt out of being served by a regional center and become members of the Co-op. The Co-op would have offered more accessible and efficient services.
SB 639 (Durazo): Ending the Sub-Minimum Wage
SB 639 (Durazo): This bill ends the practice of paying workers with disabilities less than minimum wage in California. The bill also helps transition these workers to competitive integrated employment. Signed in to law on 9/27/2021.
SB 1092 (Hurtado): Developmental Services: Individual Program Plan: Fair Hearings
When a person with I/DD and their regional center disagree about the type or amount of a service they should get, the law provides a process for resolving that disagreement called a “fair hearing.” In fair hearings, disputes are supposed to be heard and decided by a hearing officer who is fair and knowledgeable about the system and the law. The hearing officer is also supposed to conduct the hearing in a manner that is informal and accessible to those who cannot afford to hire a lawyer to represent them.
However, that has not been the experience of many people served by regional centers, especially people of color. Even the Department of Developmental Services has described the current fair hearing system as “cumbersome, difficult to navigate, and intimidating,” particularly for Latinx communities. SB 1092 aims to ensure that people served by regional centers can meaningfully participate in decisions about the services they receive, and in hearings about those services - regardless of their race, ethnicity, English proficiency, or ability to afford legal counsel.
SB 1273 (Bradford): School safety: mandatory notifications
This bill would have eliminated some of the overreaching statutory mandates that require school staff to notify law enforcement about common school-related behavior. Currently school administrators are mandatory reporters to law enforcement for many offenses including possession, bringing a boxcutter or other considered weapon, and behavioral outbursts. The changes made by SB 1273 would have protected students from unnecessary contact with the justice system and help keep students in school.
SB 1480 (Glazer): Remote accessible vote by mail systems
All California voters receive ballots in the mail that they can return in three ways in a signed envelope. However, returning a ballot for someone with a print disability privately and independently can be difficult and in some cases almost impossible. A print disability is not a new disability classification, but refers to a disability that impacts one’s ability to interact with printed materials. Print disabilities include blindness, visual impairments, learning disabilities and other physical disabilities that make it more difficult to hold, read or write on printed materials. This bill would have allowed for people with print disabilities to return their ballots electronically without reading or handling printed material. This was an author sponsored bill and DRC high priority.