CALIFORNIA LEGISLATIVE LEADERS ANNOUNCE JOINT AGREEMENT ON THE 2022-23 STATE BUDGET - FINAL BUDGET DEAL NEEDS THE GOVERNOR'S APPROVAL 

State Senate and Assembly legislative leaders announced they have reached agreement on the Legislative version of the 2022-23 State Budget. This version of the 2022-23 State Budget includes accelerating Regional Center Service Provider Rate Model Implementation. The final budget deal still needs approval from Governor Gavin Newsom. 

The announcement of a budget agreement between the two houses is one of the final steps toward a final budget deal that will emerge in the coming days when the Governor weighs in with his priorities and final approval. 

 The legislative leaders said that their version of the 2022-23 state budget contains a mix of budget proposals laid out by both houses and the administration. The joint budget agreement includes $37.5 billion in reserves, providing roughly $10 billion in financial relief to Californians, small businesses, and nonprofits by expanding the California Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), establishing the Workers Tax Fairness Credit, covering businesses’ higher unemployment taxes for up to 250 employees until 2024, and allocating $8 billion for the Better for Families Rebate plan. The rebate plan is meant to help taxpayers shoulder the rising consumer goods and energy prices along with rebates for small businesses and nonprofits that had to repay federal unemployment debt and grants to offset the cost incurred by the recently re-enacted Paid Sick Leave program. 

The legislative version of the 2022-23 State Budget also includes a proposal to accelerate the regional center service provider rate model implementation, granting $340 million for fiscal year 2022-23, $32.5 million in 2023-24, and $535 million in 2024-25 with placeholder trailer bill language. The proposal also includes making changes to the current statute to assure fidelity to the rate models and promote workforce stability in the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) service system. This version however still requires agreement and approval from the Governor. 

LINKS TO LEGISLATIVE VERSION OF 2022-23 STATE BUDGET
    Please remember this version reflects agreement between the State Senate and Assembly. This is not the final budget that needs agreement and approval of the Governor, as budget negotiations are still in process: 

SUMMARY OF THE LEGISLATIVE VERSION OF THE 2022-2023 STATE BUDGET
https://sbud.senate.ca.gov/sites/sbud.senate.ca.gov/files/Legislative%20Version%20Summary%20Final.pdf

LEGISLATIVE BUDGET PACKAGE ACTIONS (BY STATE SENATE AND ASSEMBLY) https://sbud.senate.ca.gov/sites/sbud.senate.ca.gov/files/2022-23%20Legislative%20Budget%20Package%20Actions.pdf
https://sbud.senate.ca.gov/sites/sbud.senate.ca.gov/files/2022-23%20Legislative%20Budget%20Package%20Actions.pdf

service providers, be on the lookout for an email invitation to collect data regarding the DSPs employed by your organization

There is an $8,000 incentive payment to each agency who completes the entire data collection instrument and submit their responses before the data collection window closes on June 30th, 2022. 

The California Department of Developmental Services (DDS) is looking to have as many service providers as possible participate in a statewide data collection effort about their Direct Support Professional (DSP) staff who support children and/or adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, specifically, those employed between January 1 and December 31 of 2021.

This DSP Workforce Data Collection instrument is a California-specific version of the nationally recognized National Core Indicators (NCI) Staff Stability Survey tool developed by the Human Services Research Institute (HSRI).  Data collection results will be aggregated (no individual agency information will be made public) and used as quantitative baseline information to inform future policy decisions. The more agencies that participate, the more comprehensive and useful the workforce data will be.

HSRI will be emailing each provider agency a unique link in May 2022.  Please only provide data for your entire organization, even if you receive more than one email and/or operate more than one vendored service.  Once you click on the data collection link, you can download a PDF copy of the data collection instrument for reference, and you can return to the on-line instrument as many times as needed before hitting “submit.”

Data must be entered into the online system by June 30th to be counted.  All agencies who complete the entirety of the data collection instrument before June 30, 2022, will receive an incentive payment for their participation via their vendoring regional center.  DDS will announce the amount of the incentive soon.  Only one incentive payment will be paid to each participating agency.

Questions about the data collection initiative? Visit https://www.dds.ca.gov/rc/vendor-provider/dsp-workforce-survey/ or email DSPWorkforce@DDS.CA.gov.