7574.
(a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(1) Children receiving special education and related services are often clients of a regional center and of the California Children’s Services Program, and recipients of county health or mental health services, as well as the beneficiary of private, commercial, or other nongovernment insurance.
(2) Each organization that provides these services may require separate assessments annually and may require parents to provide the same information multiple times on separate required forms.
(3) Multiple assessments can be a burden on families and children who must find the time and resources to travel to several different locations each year for multiple assessments.
(b) With the goal of finding ways to consolidate assessments and the attendant paperwork, the Secretary of California Health and Human Services and the Superintendent of Public Instruction, or their designees, shall do all of the following:
(1) Require the use of an interagency electronic integrated assessment instrument (EIAI) by all authorized, qualified personnel of the state and local agencies that provide services, the treating therapists, physicians, service providers, governmental employees, nonpublic agencies, and other qualified private health practitioners and education professionals, when conducting an assessment.
(2) Ensure that authorization for access to the child’s medical records contained on the EIAI is with the consent of the parents or other legal guardian, or by the adult consumer, and in conformance with federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act laws.
(3) In conjunction with representatives of counties, local education agencies, providers of regional center services, regional center case managers, and other relevant organizations, create the EIAI.
(4) Implement a process whereby all of the following occur:
(A) A comprehensive assessment is completed at least annually to meet the needs of every agency that is required to conduct an assessment.
(B) The comprehensive assessment is completed by a qualified health practitioner or education professional of each relevant discipline.
(C) For elements of the assessment that require unique professional expertise to evaluate a child’s needs and progress, that portion of the EIAI shall be submitted by a provider with expertise in providing or overseeing those services.
(D) The comprehensive assessment findings are input and stored in the EIAI for access by all authorized persons.
(5) Coordinate the agencies responsible for providing services to children with disabilities in utilizing the EIAI and prorate each share of the costs of the special needs assessment among the governmental and private agencies responsible for the assessment in accordance with the agency’s percentage of responsibility for the assessment, and any applicable private insurance carriers of the child.
(6) Further the maximum utilization of all state and federal resources available to provide a child with a disability a free, appropriate public education and related services by limiting assessments, at the discretion of the parent, to one annual interagency assessment per relevant discipline, in lieu of requiring a duplication of assessments within the same discipline.
(c) (1) There is hereby created the Special Children’s Electronic Integrated Assessment Instrument (Special Children’s EIAI) Fund in the State Treasury.
(2) The fund shall contain donations that have been collected and deposited for the purposes of this section, as well as any federal funds made available for purposes of this section. Notwithstanding Section 16305.7, the fund shall also contain any interest and dividends earned on moneys in the fund. No state funds shall be used to implement subdivision (b) of this section.
(3) Subject to paragraph (4), moneys in the Special Children’s EIAI Fund shall be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for implementation of subdivision (b) of this section.
(4) No moneys shall be expended from the fund until the Director of Finance determines that sufficient moneys are in the fund to implement subdivision (b) of this section. If sufficient moneys are in the fund, the Director of Finance shall file a written notice thereof with the Secretary of State. Subdivision (b) shall not be implemented until moneys in the fund are appropriated for purposes of this section.