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.