California Health and Human Services Agency

SDC Fact Sheet For Our Legislative Effort

/ Sonoma Land Trust / 2 Comments

June 1, 2015:

Sonoma County, Parent Hospital Association, Sonoma Ecology Center and the Sonoma Land Trust have produced a two page “fact sheet” for use in our legislative effort to ensure that the closure process for SDC includes meaningful and significant public participation, and that the residents, employees and resources of SDC are honored and protected during this process.  The fact sheet is in direct response to many of the concerns and criticisms that we heard in the Legislature this past year about the quality of care at SDC, and a general lack of knowledge about its many benefits and resources.

Please take a look at the fact sheet provided in the link below.

SDC Fact Sheet

Continuing Talks About SDC Closure

/ Sonoma Land Trust / 4 Comments

June 1, 2015:

The desire to close the Sonoma Developmental Center in three years, as previously stated is too soon. But with this timeline in place, the coalition has been working extra hard to find a way to extend it and create a plan based off the feedback received at the first workshop to delay these closure plans imposed by Governor Brown’s office.

For the latest article on SDC, please click on the link below.

Governor wants to close SDC in three years

Provided courtesy of The Kenwood Press website, by Jay Gamel.

SDC Budget Letter Regarding Proposed Closure of Sonoma Developmental Center in State Budget

/ Sonoma Land Trust / 2 Comments

May 20, 2015:

The following is the letter state legislators representing Sonoma County and the Sonoma Developmental Center have submitted to the Senate and Assembly Budget Committees regarding the recent budget proposal.

“We ask that the Senate and Assembly Budget Committees consider a more reasonable timeline to allow better planning to ensure patient health and safety, community preparedness, and….”

Click on the link below to read the entirety of the letter.

SDC Budget Letter from Dodd, McGuire, Wolk, and Wood

The New Budget, Sonoma Developmental Center’s Possible Future

/ Sonoma Land Trust / 1 Comment

May 19, 2015:

As stated in last weeks article post, Governor Brown has revealed a plan to close the facility by 2018. SDC, and all of the remaining DC facilities in California, are home to the most fragile populations within our state health care system. The Governor’s budget has proposed that the Department of Developmental Services submit the closure plan for the Sonoma Developmental Center to the Legislature by October 1, 2015.  Members of the SDC Coalition and our local legislators are pushing back to extend the timeline for this report, and require a more collaborative and open dialogue with our local elected officials and community groups before submittal of a closure plan.  Stay tuned!

Please check out the following articles below for all of the details.

New Budget calls for closing Sonoma Developmental Center by 2018

PD Editorial: A hasty bid to shut down Sonoma center

Provided courtesy of the Press Democrat website, by Derek Moore.

Governor Proposes Multi-Year Goal for Closure of All Three Developmental Centers

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May 14, 2015:

The following information is provided via CDCAN (CA Disability-Senior Community Action Network):

BREAKING NEWS:
GOVERNOR PROPOSES MULTI-YEAR GOAL FOR CLOSURE OF ALL THREE DEVELOPMENTAL CENTERS  
Target Date for Sonoma Developmental Center Closure 2018 With Closure of Fairview and Porterville Approximately 2021 – Closure Plan And Transition Will Be Based On Recommendations and Work of Developmental Centers Task Force; Includes Recognition of Need of Some Type of State Operated Facility or Crisis Center – Negotiations With Federal Government on Compliance Issues in Sonoma and Other DCs Will Continue Toward A Settlement

SACRAMENTO, CA [CDCAN LAST UPDATED 05/14/2015 – 10:10 AM] – In a stunning move, Governor Brown, in his budget revisions released this morning, includes a major proposal for a plan to close all three of the remaining state owned and operated developmental centers where currently 1,108 adults with developmental disabilities reside, based on the transition and process as recommended by the Developmental Centers Task Force last year.  The closure process would cover several years, with the focus first on Sonoma.

Under the Governor’s proposal, Sonoma Developmental Center in Eldridge, where 408 persons with developmental disabilities reside, would be targeted for closure by 2018, with the other two centers – Fairview Developmental Center in Pomona and Porterville Developmental Center near Bakersfield, slated for closure around 2021.

The Brown Administration made it clear that the closure process and transition would be different from the previous closures of developmental centers, including most recently the closures of Lanterman Developmental Center and Agnews Developmental Center, and be based on the new transition ideas as developed over a two year process by stakeholders who made up the Developmental Centers Task Force last year headed by California Health and Human Services Agency Secretary Diana Dooley.

Those recommendations included looking at different ways the land, once closure of the facilities are completed, can be used and developed possibly for other uses by the Department of Developmental Services. The task force recommendations also recognize the need of some type of state operated facility or crisis center, which would be developed as part of the larger transition of closure of the developmental centers.

The Brown Administration said that negotiations with the federal government will continue on the compliance issues related to Sonoma Developmental Center and the other facilities with the goal of reaching an agreement, and continued support through the closure process.

While the Legislature will likely make adjustments and additions to the Governor’s closure plan, it appears all but certain both houses will approve it.

CDCAN will release a report later today with more details about this proposal and other proposals in the Governor’s budget revisions.

Provided courtesy of CDCAN website, by Marty Omoto.