Developmental services: community placement plans and community resource development plans

The law shifts planning toward building community services for people leaving restrictive settings, including state-operated facilities and institutions for mental disease. It also adds public reporting and regional-center accountability for those resources.

What the law does ​

• Replaces annual community placement plans with community resource development plans beginning October 1, 2026.
• Directs the State Department of Developmental Services and regional centers to plan and fund community-based housing, clinical, mental health, crisis, and support services for people transitioning from restrictive settings or living in the community.
• Requires a statewide service to track specialty beds and clinical services, coordinate needs with regional centers, and identify available community options.
• Requires assessments to identify supports and residential options needed for a person to move into the community, with notice and participation rights for clients’ rights advocates.
• Requires the department to develop funding guidelines through public engagement, use provider-directory data, approve regional-center plans, track project progress, and publish funded projects.
• Requires annual and quarterly deidentified reporting on housing capacity, restrictive placements, admissions, lengths of stay, funding, and community-resource outcomes.
• Appropriates $1.5 million from the Federal Trust Fund to the State Department of Developmental Services for obtaining federal early-intervention grant awards through June 30, 2027.

Who it affects ​

• People with developmental disabilities receiving regional-center services, especially people with complex needs or transitioning from restrictive settings.
• Families, legal representatives, and clients’ rights advocates participating in individual planning and transition decisions.
• Regional centers, community residential providers, community crisis homes, and enhanced behavioral supports homes.
• The State Department of Developmental Services and the State Department of Social Services.

Context ​

The new planning framework becomes operative October 1, 2026.