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Archived
News and Projects Olmstead Decision and California State Budget
A previous UCP Budget Update reported that the Budget Conference Committee earlier approved, by a vote of 5-1, the Senate version of the proposed budget implementation language that would require the California Health and Human Services Agency to develop a Olmstead Decision state plan by April 1, 2003.
Below is the actual language that was approved and will be part of the budget "trailer bill" (trailer bills are provisions that specify implementation of various items tied to the state budget, but are separate pieces of legislation that follow - or trail the passage of the actual budget bill.)
The Budget Conference Committee is still meeting on the proposed budget, and actions taken to date can still be changed, though for this issue it would appear not likely.
Olmstead Language (Senate version - adopted by Conference Committee, still pending final approval by both houses)
Item 0530-001-0001 California Health and Human Services Agency (Page 10 of the Conference Committee Agenda, Issue #004)
The California Health and Human Services Agency (CHHS Agency) shall develop a comprehensive plan describing the actions which California can take to improve its long term care system so that its residents have available an array of community care options that allow them to avoid unnecessary institutionalization. The plan shall respond to the decision of the United States Supreme Court in Olmstead v. L.C., 527, U.S. 581 (1999) and shall embody the six principles for an "Olmstead Plan" as articulated by the Federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (the Health Care Financing Administration at the time the principles were first articulated).
The principles include (1) a comprehensive, effectively working plan; (2) a plan development and implementation process that provides for the involvement of consumers and other stakeholders; (3) the development of assessment procedures and practices that prevent or correct current and future unjustified institutionalization of persons with disabilities; (4) an assessment of the current availiability of community intergrated services, the identification of gaps in service availability, and the evaluation of changes that could be made to enable consumers to be served in the most intergrated setting possible; (5) inclusion in the plan of practices by which consumers are afforded the opportunity to make informed choices among the services available to them and; (6) elements in the plan that provide for oversight of the assessment and placement process in order to help ensure that the quality of the services meets the needs of the consumers. The plan is due to the Legislature by no later than April 1, 2003.
NEXT STEPS AND PROSPECTS * Budget Conference Committee is still meeting and has not yet forwarded the budget bill (and related bills) to the floor of both houses - so nothing is final until the budget bill is sent to the Governor. * The issue regarding when the plan is due to the Legislature (4/1/2003) is of concern to many advocates, since the same agency is currently refusing to submit a long delayed report on the future of the state owned and operated Developmental Centers, which was due to the Legislature March 1 a year ago. The Assembly Budget Subcommittee #1 in April defunded the budget of the Secretary of the Health and Human Services Agency for failing to turn over the statutorily required report. That issue is still pending before the Budget Conference Committee. Read More Archived News Stories AB896 General Human Interest Litigation State Budget
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