AB 2383: Autism Employment and Education Act.

(a)This chapter shall be known, and may be cited, as the Autism Employment and Education Act.

(b)The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(1)Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a lifelong neurological condition estimated to affect as many as one in 88 children. It is now the most common neurological disorder affecting children and one of the most common developmental disabilities.

(2)Many individuals living with ASD will need some level of support over the course of their lives. In cases where adolescents and adults with severe autism are placed into long-term care or other supported housing arrangements, the annual cost of housing, which includes caregiver time, can be four hundred dollars ($400) per day, or approximately one hundred fifty thousand dollars ($150,000) a year.

(3)It is estimated that the lifetime per capita incremental societal cost of ASD is three million two hundred thousand dollars ($3,200,000) per individual or approximately fifty thousand seven hundred ninety-three dollars ($50,793) per year on average.

(4)As of February 2016, Taft Community College is the only occupational and living skills residential program of its kind offered in California, and the program is currently unable to meet the needs of students who apply. The program has been in existence for nearly 20 years and receives the majority of its funding from regional centers in California. More than 80 percent of its graduates are employed by the end of the second year of post graduation services.

(5)According to Disability Planning Data for Riverside County, 10.5 percent of people (about 120,000 people) 21 to 64 years of age have some type of a disability. Of this number, 37 percent are employed, but this data does not indicate whether they are employed full time or part time.

(6)According to a report published in April 2012 by the Autism Society of California, The majority of transition aged families (98 percent) believed that current adult programs are not going to meet their loved-ones needs. Additional findings from this report indicated that only 5 percent of people with ASD graduated from college with a bachelors degree and only 3 percent graduated with a masters or an associate degree. About 12 percent of students with ASD go to college and do not succeed; this is lower than the national average of 14 percent. The number of people with ASD in California remaining at home and not participating in any type of postsecondary educational program is on the rise, going from 13 percent in 2009 to 18 percent in 2012.

(7)According to the Department of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate for individuals with disabilities is 78.5 percent.

(8)Mandated services provided through the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1400 et seq.) end upon completion of high school, yet 60 percent of lifetime costs occur in adulthood. According to the Autism Society, there is a significant disparity in the need for, and the availability of, publicly funded long-term services and supports for people with disabilities. This disparity results in waiting lists estimated to range from 80,000 to 200,000 people nationwide.

(9)It is the intent of the Legislature that implementing a residential, occupational, and living skills program for students with mental disabilities, including autism, will accomplish all of the following objectives:

(A)The program will increase the rate of employment of students with mental disabilities from its current level of around 25 percent to 85 percent.

(B)The program will be a more affordable alternative for families than adult day treatment programs, which may cost nearly twice as much.

(C)The program will enable participating students to live independently, to learn the life skills necessary to become lifelong productive members of their local communities in California, and to not need to relocate out of state in order to receive affordable services.

(D)The program will provide students with mental disabilities a more coordinated continuity of care by incorporating all of their living skills, occupational, social, and recreational development needs into one program.

(a)The Autism Employment and Education Program is hereby established to develop and implement a residential, occupational, and living skills program at each participating community college and California State University campus to help students with mental disabilities, including autism, live independently, obtain employment, and become otherwise self-sufficient after they graduate or withdraw from the campus.

(b)The Autism Employment and Education Fund is hereby established in the State Treasury for purposes of this chapter. The moneys in the fund shall be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges and the Trustees of the California State University for the implementation and administration of this chapter.

(c)The Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges and the Trustees of the California State University shall develop and implement both of the following:

(1)A residential, occupational, and living skills program at each participating college or university, as applicable, to help students with mental disabilities, including autism, live independently, obtain employment, and become otherwise self-sufficient after they graduate or withdraw from the college or university.

(2)Administrative guidelines and other requirements for purposes of developing, implementing, and administering the program described in paragraph (1).

This chapter shall only become operative upon appropriation in the annual Budget Act for the implementation and administration of this chapter.