BILL NUMBER: SCR 120CHAPTERED BILL TEXT RESOLUTION CHAPTER 67 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE JUNE 16, 2014 ADOPTED IN SENATE JUNE 16, 2014 ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 12, 2014 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 12, 2014 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 2, 2014 INTRODUCED BY Senator De Len (Coauthors: Senators Vidak and Walters) (Coauthors: Assembly Members Buchanan, Hall, Maienschein, Mansoor, V. Manuel Prez, Quirk-Silva, Rodriguez, Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chvez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hagman, Roger Hernndez, Holden, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, John A. Prez, Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, and Yamada) MAY 14, 2014 Relative to Year of the Community. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SCR 120, De Len. Year of the Community: developmental disabilities. This measure would proclaim the year of 2014 as the "Year of the Community," and would declare that the Legislature will actively promote the rights of persons with developmental disabilities and their full inclusion into community life. WHEREAS, Forty-five years ago, the State of California enacted the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act, a bold new direction in public-private partnership that fundamentally changed and dramatically improved the quality of life for people with developmental disabilities and their families and that would become a model for the nation; and WHEREAS, The vision to enable people with developmental disabilities to live full, productive, and satisfying lives as active members of their communities was embodied in a statewide network of community-based services and supports with regional centers playing the role of the coordinating hub; and WHEREAS, California's first pilot regional centers for delivering services and supports to persons with developmental disabilities, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, and San Francisco Aid for Retarded Children, were established in 1966, marking the beginning of the regional center system; and WHEREAS, By their achievements, the pilot centers proved the merit of the regional center concept and led to the introduction of Assembly Bill No. 225 in 1969, which enacted the Lanterman Mental Retardation Services Act of 1969, which is currently known as the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act (hereafter Lanterman Act), and which established the statewide system of services for persons with developmental disabilities; and WHEREAS, The statewide system was designed to be organized at the regional level and to produce a dynamic network of local services and supports; and WHEREAS, The increased availability of services and supports in the community precipitated the state's shift from nearly total reliance on large state institutions to a regional service system in which more than 99 percent of children and adults with developmental disabilities receive all of their needed services and supports in the community; and WHEREAS, The regional center system was intended to provide individuals with developmental disabilities with services and supports that are innovative and cost effective, that result in growth and development, that improve the quality of life, and that support inclusion into community life; and WHEREAS, During the decades following the passage of the Lanterman Act, the service system's evolution was enabled by advances in knowledge and technology and by the increasing recognition of the right of people with disabilities to choice and full participation in society, including the rights of children to live at home with their families; and WHEREAS, The 21 regional centers in California continue to expand and diversify their services while serving over 265,000 persons with developmental disabilities and their families; and WHEREAS, The service system has grown increasingly complex, requirements for service providers have grown in sophistication, and expectations for services have become more rigorous due to advances in knowledge and technology; and WHEREAS, The 45th anniversary of the signing of the Lanterman Act is an appropriate time to reaffirm our commitment to the act, and renew our investment in the community system; now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby proclaims the year of 2014 as the "Year of the Community" and the beginning of a decade of renewed commitment to both the vision of the Lanterman Act and the investments needed to ensure a sustainable future for California's community service system; and be it further Resolved, That the Legislature will actively promote the rights of people with developmental disabilities and their full inclusion into community life in California; and be it further Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.