SECTION 1.

 This act shall be known, and may be cited, as the Disability Equity, Transparency, and Accountability Act of 2024.

SEC. 2.

 (a) The Legislature finds and declares as follows:

(1) The State Department of Developmental Services is responsible for overseeing the coordination and delivery of services and care of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities through the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act.

(2) More than 450,000 Californians with developmental disabilities currently receive services and support funded by the department.

(3) The department contracts with 21 regional centers throughout California to coordinate service provisions to these individuals. These regional centers are private, nonprofit corporations that receive funding allocated by the Legislature and are overseen by the department. For the 2024–25 fiscal year, the state budget allocated fifteen billion three hundred million dollars ($15,300,000,000) to fund regional center services and operations statewide out of fifteen billion eight hundred million dollars ($15,800,000,000) appropriated for the entire program.

(4) California regional centers assert that they are not subject to the California Public Records Act because they are not state entities.

(5) The Legislature has included in the California Public Records Act nongovernmental entities, such as charter schools, that receive public funds and provide core governmental services.

(6) Without formal access to regional center information, there is a significant gap into the transparency of regional center operations and their budgets that makes it difficult to identify and change operational policies and practices generally, and in particular, those that disproportionally restrict services to communities of color.

(7) Regional centers carry out core governmental functions, and the limited statutory disclosure provisions that exist in the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act do not provide significant detail into the overall operation and spending of regional centers and their service authorization decisions.

(8) California has a strong policy preference in favor of providing public access to government records. Access to information concerning the conduct of the people’s business is a fundamental and necessary right of every person in this state. (Gov. Code, Sec. 7921.000.) In 2004, the right of public access was enshrined in the California Constitution with the passage of Proposition 59, which amended the California Constitution to specifically protect the right of the public to access and obtain government records, stating that “[t]he people have the right of access to information concerning the conduct of the people’s business, and . . . the writings of public officials and agencies shall be open to public scrutiny.” Ten years later, voters approved Proposition 42 to further increase public access to government records by requiring local agencies to comply with the California Public Records Act, and with any future amendments to the act, as provided. (Cal. Const., Art. I, Sec. 3(b)(7).)

(9) Regional centers receive the totality of their funding from the state and federal governments, which exceeds fifteen billion dollars ($15,000,000,000) in the 2024–25 fiscal year, for the purpose of providing services for Californians with developmental disabilities, and these services are a core governmental function and should be conducted in the open.

(b) It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this act to ensure that all California regional centers are fully subject to the California Public Records Act in providing services to nearly 500,000 Californians with disabilities and their families, particularly since recent California State Auditor and Little Hoover Commission reports have found that stronger state oversight and transparency are needed to improve the quality and effectiveness of developmental services in California.