Disability Thrive Initiative

It’s just a month until the income tax deadline of April 18 and among the new forms and provisions is a new state earned income tax credit for low-income Californians.

The California Earned Income Tax Credit, or Cal EITC, supplements the federal version of that same tax credit. Read more.

Lauren Brady, a Whittier resident, has lived all her life with Rett syndrome, a rare neurological illness that can cause seizures and limits muscle movement. She can’t speak, needs a feeding tube and uses a wheelchair to get around.
“It affects her from head to toe, but we don’t let all of that get in our way,” her mother, Sherri Brady said this week. “Lauren has lots of friends; she goes horseback riding. Next weekend she’s going on a ski trip.”
That Lauren, 19, can even contemplate those activities is testimony to a $2.9 billion a year program run by California Children’s Services, her mother said. The program provides specialized care to some 180,000 children and young adults who suffer from a range of complicated, debilitating illnesses including Rett syndrome, sickle cell anemia, cancer, cerebral palsy, hemophilia and more. Read more.

California political leaders, enabled by the Affordable Care Act, have expanded full-scope Medi-Cal to cover all poor children under 19, regardless of immigration status.

The expansion will “become active” on May 15, Richard Figueroa, program director with The California Endowment, said at the Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Read more.

A lawsuit over how the disabled are treated in California schools triggered a parental panic attack after a federal judge ordered that a database with records on every public school student in the Golden State since 2008 be given to a disabled rights group. But this panic attack triggered a public backlash= Read more.

Sonoma County supervisors are eyeing rent control, just-cause eviction policies and land-use reforms to increase affordable housing as key components of a broad and ambitious new plan to address the county’s housing crisis. Read more.

The legislative battle against some predatory lawsuits – a nearly impossible task at the state level – is jumping from California to Washington, D.C., U.S. Rep. Jerry McNerney said this week.

“A fairly small number of individuals and firms are causing this havoc in our businesses,” McNerney, D-Calif., said while announcing federal legislation aimed at significant reform. Read more.

The Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act is codified in the California Welfare and Institutions Code. This compilation, prepared by the Legislative Counsel, includes the 2015 revisions to the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act and related laws (Divisions 4.1, 4.5, and 4.7 of the Welfare and Institutions Code and Title 14 of the Government Code). For the official and most current versions of the Lanterman Act and other California law, please visit the California Legislative Information website at leginfo.legislature.ca.gov This edition shows all sections as they are in effect on and after January 1, 2016. Click here to access the Department of Developmental Services page for the Lanterman Act.