AB2414 - Developmental services: direct support professionals.

Enrolled September 04, 2026 Passed IN Senate August 31, 2026 Passed IN Assembly August 31, 2026 Amended IN Senate August 28, 2026 Amended IN Senate August 21, 2026 Amended IN Senate June 22, 2026 CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION Assembly Bill No. 2414 Introduced by Assembly Member Nguyen February 20, 2026 An act to amend Sections 4474.17, 4511.5, 4512, and 4641.1 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to developmental services. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 2414, Nguyen. Developmental services: direct support professionals. Existing law, the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act, requires the State Department of Developmental Services to contract with regional centers for the provision of community services and supports for persons with developmental disabilities and their families. Existing law finds and declares that direct service professionals are critical to the provision of services and supports to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families. Existing law requires the department to develop or utilize existing curriculum to implement enhanced direct service professional training that promotes services that are person centered and culturally and linguistically sensitive, and that improve outcomes for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. This bill would change the title of direct service professionals to instead be direct support professionals, and would define that latter term as an individual who receives compensation to provide direct support to children or adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, is employed by a service provider receiving regional center funding, and spends at least 50% of their working time completing direct support tasks, as specified. The bill would also make various technical, conforming changes. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 4474.17 of the Welfare and Institutions Code proposed by AB 175 or SB 175 to be operative only if this bill and AB 175 or SB 175 are both enacted and this bill is enacted last. Digest Key Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: NO Local Program: NO Bill Text The people of the State of California do enact as follows: SECTION 1. Section 4474.17 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is amended to read: 4474.17. (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (1) The Supplemental Report of the 2014–15 Budget Package required the State Department of Developmental Services to provide quarterly briefings to update legislative staff about the closures of developmental centers. Chapter 18 of the Statutes of 2017 expanded the scope of these briefings to include information about the development of community-based crisis services following the developmental center closures. The quarterly briefings have evolved to provide detailed information about the development of the community-based safety net, including information about the physical homes and wraparound and mobile crisis services intended to prevent, deescalate, and treat consumers in crisis. (2) The quarterly briefings have provided a valuable opportunity for the department and legislative staff to convene and discuss key issues during the developmental center closure process. They have kept legislative staff, and consequently Members of the Legislature, informed about the department’s progress, challenges, and strategies as it transitioned consumers from a developmental center or an institution into the community and developed a community-based safety net. (3) The imminent final closure of the developmental centers provides an opportunity to consider the ongoing purpose of the quarterly briefings. Once the final developmental center closures are complete, the quarterly briefings can provide an avenue for the department and legislative staff to maintain an important ongoing dialogue about key issues facing the developmental services system. The quarterly briefings will allow the department to keep legislative staff informed about its approach to, and progress in, handling various changes in policy and modes of service delivery. This will be especially important as the consumer population continues to grow and change and as the system continues to move toward consumer choice and community integration. The disposition of the developmental center properties may continue to be a point of inquiry until that subject comes to a conclusion. (4) An important feature of the current briefings has been the department’s willingness to adapt the content over time based on feedback from legislative staff. Mindful of the fact that preparing materials and presentations for these briefings requires department staff resources, the ongoing nature of the quarterly briefings should also remain flexible to both meet the needs of the Legislature and the department’s capacity to prepare for the briefings. Through the briefing discussions themselves, department leadership and legislative staff should come to an agreement about what data and information should be tracked and provided regularly at each briefing, based on what is feasible for the department to provide and considering the priorities of the Legislature. In addition, the department and legislative staff can regularly discuss the range of issues and level of detail that should be provided at briefings, recognizing that every issue cannot be covered at every briefing and that the relative importance of individual issues will shift over time. (5) As the quarterly briefings related to the developmental center closures winddown in the 2019–20 fiscal year, the department and legislative staff could use some of the time in those meetings to discuss and determine the content of the subsequent quarterly briefings. Appreciating that the priorities of the Legislature shift over time, and depending on the department’s capacity, the particular topics and level of detail provided in the briefings can be discussed and revisited on a regular basis, such as annually. (b) Commencing with the first planned quarterly briefing after January 1, 2020, the department shall provide information on topics at quarterly briefings with legislative staff of the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature addressing some or all of the following, pursuant to the planning discussion described in paragraph (5) of subdivision (a): (1) Consumer health and safety, including safety net and crisis services. (2) The person-centered approach to planning, coordinating, delivering, and receiving services, including caseload ratio updates, compliance with home- and community-based services rules, competitive integrated employment, and housing supports. (3) Quality outcomes for consumers. (4) Efforts to identify and reduce disparities in regional center services. (5) Community development through community placement plans and community resource development plans, by regional center, and difficulties or issues in the provision of services or development of resources. (6) Implementation of any rate changes pending and being implemented. (7) Status, efforts, and outcomes related to the department headquarter’s reorganization structure. (8) Regional center accountability, transparency, and oversight efforts. (9) Status on the development of Group Homes for Children with Special Health Care Needs, including information on how the needs of regional center consumers are assessed when developing new homes. (10) Status on the implementation of the provisional eligibility requirement of paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 4512. (11) Information pursuant to the provisions of subdivision (d) of Section 7505. (12) Status on the development of a training curriculum for direct support professionals, pursuant to Section 4511.5. (13) Most recent data regarding average per capita purchase of service expenditures for all age groups, by ethnicity and other factors, in addition to any other data that will aid in the illustration of progress, toward the active closure of racial, ethnic, and other disparities. (14) On an annual basis, status of the department’s efforts to improve oversight of special incidents, as described in subdivision (b) of Section 54327 of Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations, and respond to special incident trends. This annual status update shall include a summary of the most recent annual report regarding special incidents involving individuals with developmental disabilities served by regional centers. SEC. 1.5. Section 4474.17 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is amended to read: 4474.17. (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (1) The Supplemental Report of the 2014–15 Budget Package required the State Department of Developmental Services to provide quarterly briefings to update legislative staff about the closures of developmental centers. Chapter 18 of the Statutes of 2017 expanded the scope of these briefings to include information about the development of community-based crisis services following the developmental center closures. The quarterly briefings have evolved to provide detailed information about the development of the community-based safety net, including information about the physical homes and wraparound and mobile crisis services intended to prevent, deescalate, and treat consumers in crisis. (2) The quarterly briefings have provided a valuable opportunity for the department and legislative staff to convene and discuss key issues during the developmental center closure process. They have kept legislative staff, and consequently Members of the Legislature, informed about the department’s progress, challenges, and strategies as it transitioned consumers from a developmental center or an institution into the community and developed a community-based safety net. (3) The imminent final closure of the developmental centers provides an opportunity to consider the ongoing purpose of the quarterly briefings. Once the final developmental center closures are complete, the quarterly briefings can provide an avenue for the department and legislative staff to maintain an important ongoing dialogue about key issues facing the developmental services system. The quarterly briefings will allow the department to keep legislative staff informed about its approach to, and progress in, handling various changes in policy and modes of service delivery. This will be especially important as the consumer population continues to grow and change and as the system continues to move toward consumer choice and community integration. The disposition of the developmental center properties may continue to be a point of inquiry until that subject comes to a conclusion. (4) An important feature of the current briefings has been the department’s willingness to adapt the content over time based on feedback from legislative staff. Mindful of the fact that preparing materials and presentations for these briefings requires department staff resources, the ongoing nature of the quarterly briefings should also remain flexible to both meet the needs of the Legislature and the department’s capacity to prepare for the briefings. Through the briefing discussions themselves, department leadership and legislative staff should come to an agreement about what data and information should be tracked and provided regularly at each briefing, based on what is feasible for the department to provide and considering the priorities of the Legislature. In addition, the department and legislative staff can regularly discuss the range of issues and level of detail that should be provided at briefings, recognizing that every issue cannot be covered at every briefing and that the relative importance of individual issues will shift over time. (5) As the quarterly briefings related to the developmental center closures winddown in the 2019–20 fiscal year, the department and legislative staff could use some of the time in those meetings to discuss and determine the content of the subsequent quarterly briefings. Appreciating that the priorities of the Legislature shift over time, and depending on the department’s capacity, the particular topics and level of detail provided in the briefings can be discussed and revisited on a regular basis, such as annually. (b) Commencing with the first planned quarterly briefing after January 1, 2020, the department shall provide information on topics at quarterly briefings with legislative staff of the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature addressing some or all of the following, pursuant to the planning discussion described in paragraph (5) of subdivision (a): (1) Consumer health and safety, including safety net and crisis services. (2) The person-centered approach to planning, coordinating, delivering, and receiving services, including caseload ratio updates, compliance with home- and community-based services rules, competitive integrated employment, and housing supports. (3) Quality outcomes for consumers. (4) Efforts to identify and reduce disparities in regional center services. (5) Community resource development plans, pursuant to Section 4418.25, by regional center, and difficulties or issues in the provision of services or development of resources. (6) Implementation of any rate changes pending and being implemented. (7) Progress in closing disparity gaps identified by the department’s equity dashboard, as it evolves over time with input from the community. (8) Regional center accountability, transparency, and oversight efforts. (9) Status on the development of Group Homes for Children with Special Health Care Needs, including information on how the needs of regional center consumers are assessed when developing new homes. (10) Status on the implementation of the provisional eligibility requirement of paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 4512. (11) Information pursuant to the provisions of subdivision (d) of Section 7505. (12) Status on the development of a training curriculum for direct support professionals, pursuant to Section 4511.5. (13) The most recent data, appropriately deidentified to protect the privacy of individuals, regarding average per capita purchase of service expenditures for all age groups by race, ethnicity, residence type, age, and other factors, in addition to any other data demonstrating the status of progress towards eliminating racial, ethnic, and other disparities. For purposes of this paragraph, the department may present dashboards for data and equity published on its internet website. (14) On an annual basis, status of the department’s efforts to improve oversight of special incidents, as described in subdivision (b) of Section 54327 of Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations, and respond to special incident trends. This annual status update shall include a summary of the most recent annual report regarding special incidents involving individuals w [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]