Wilson OKs Billing Parents of Disabled

Gov. Pete Wilson signed legislation Friday imposing the first fees ever charged to some parents of developmentally disabled children who receive state-supported services.

Wilson, in signing the bill hours after it received final approval in the Senate, said the fee structure will put the state in compliance with federal guidelines and allow California to petition for $47 million in federal matching funds.

Although the federal government must approve the fee schedule before dispensing the $47 million, Wilson told reporters, “We are reasonably assured (the federal aid) will come.”

The Senate, which had previously approved the fee legislation, gave an Assembly-amended version of the bill final legislative approval on vote of 27 to 5.

The bill, as amended in the Assembly, would impose fees on parents whose children live at home and receive medical, counseling and other services if the parents have adjusted gross incomes of more than $71,000. As the bill left the Senate, fees would have been assessed against parents with taxable incomes exceeding $50,000.

Parents traditionally have not been charged for these services regardless of their ability to pay. For that reason, the bill was opposed by a host of groups that support programs for the developmentally disabled, most of whom are mentally retarded young people. Bill opponents fear that it is the first step in what could lead to dismantling of state programs for the mentally retarded or broader fee schedules that could hit families with smaller incomes. Sen. Robert Presley (D-Riverside), the author of the legislation, said: “We tried to make the bill as benign as possible, so it would have the least possible effect on families.”

The bill Wilson signed would apply to only 950 families. The fees would raise about $115,000 a year, Presley said.