Budget Changes Affecting Regional Center Services

July 2021 Budget Trailer Bill

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On this webpage we provide a summary of some of the changes to regional center services that are the result of the recently enacted Developmental Services Budget Trailer Bill, AB 136.

  • Provisional eligibility for Regional Center services: Effective July 1, 2021, the Developmental Services Budget Trailer Bill, AB 136 expanded eligibility for Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act (Lanterman Act) services, by allowing a child who is three or four years of age to be provisionally eligible for regional center services under specified conditions. 

    According to this provision, if a child who is three or four years of age is not otherwise eligible for regional center services as a result of a developmental disability as specified in W&I Code section 4512(a)(1), the child shall be provisionally eligible for regional center services if the child has a disability that is not solely physical in nature and has significant functional limitations in at least two of the following areas of major life activity, as determined by a regional center and as appropriate to the age of the child: Self-care, Receptive and expressive language, Learning, Mobility, and Self-direction
     
  • Restoration of camping, social recreation and other services. Effective July 1, 2021, changes to Welfare and Institutions (W&I) Code section 4648.5 restores regional center authority to fund camping services and associated travel expenses; social recreation activities; educational services for children three to 17, inclusive, years of age; and nonmedical therapies, including, but not limited to, specialized recreation, art, dance, and music.

    At Harbor Regional Center we are in the process of reaching out to to reestablish vendor status with social recreation service providers in our area. We are planning a survey of our clients/families to determine which social recreation services they are currently using or would like to access with regional center support, if this would meet a need identified on the individual program plan.
    Spanish and more languages are available here 
     
  • Rate Increases for Specified Services: Some rate increase for specified services became effective January 1, 2020, pursuant to SB 81 (Chapter 28, Statutes of 2019). Additional services received rate increases, effective January 1, 2021, pursuant to AB 79 (Chapter 11, Statutes of 2020). AB 136 (Chapter 76, Statutes of 2021) deleted an earlier provision that these rate increases provided by SB 81 and AB 79 would end on December 31, 2021. Therefore these rates will remain in effect.
     
  • Changes to the Paid Internship Program(PIP): As of July 16, 2021, the revised funding guidelines for the PIP are as follows [W&I Code sections 4870(a)(1) to (3)]: (1) Internships shall not exceed 1,040 hours per year for each individual placed in an internship. (2) Payments for internship hours under this program shall include all required employer-related costs. (3) Individuals participating in an internship shall be paid at or above minimum wage and equal to the customary wage paid by the employer for the same or similar work performed by individuals who do not have disabilities. 

    Current paid internships that began prior to July 16, 2021, should be converted to the maximum number of hours (1,040), including the number of hours already completed. W&I Code sections 4870(a)(4) and (5) authorize payments to regional center service providers for placement of an individual in a paid internship.
     
  •  The Self Determination Program (SDP) is available statewide as of July 1, 2021, on a voluntary basis to all eligible regional center clients. Harbor Regional Center is providing monthly orientations to clients interested in the SDP program.
     
  • Self Determination Program Individual Budget Development and Spending PlanSelf-Determination Program (SDP), participants have the authority to control a certain amount of money to purchase needed services and supports. This amount of money is called an individual budget. The purpose of the DDS document linked here is to provide the requirements for determining the amount of the individual budget and how this amount can be used.