Every regional center or state-operated facility shall, as a condition of continued receipt of state funds, have an appeals procedure for resolving conflicts between the regional center or state-operated facility and recipients of, or applicants for, service. The State Department of Developmental Services shall promulgate regulations to implement this chapter, which shall be binding on every regional center or state-operated facility.

(a) (1) Any public or private agency receiving state funds for the purpose of serving persons with developmental disabilities not otherwise subject to the provisions of this chapter shall, as a condition of continued receipt of state funds, adopt and periodically review a written internal grievance procedure.

(b) An agency that employs an appeals procedure mandated by any other statute shall be considered to have an approved procedure for purposes of this chapter.

(c) (1) The regional center’s and the state-operated facility’s appeals procedures for informal meetings, mediations, and fair hearings shall be stated in writing, in English and any other language that may be appropriate to the preferred language of the applicants and recipients served by the regional center or the state-operated facility.

(2) All recipients and applicants, and persons having legal responsibility for recipients or applicants, shall be informed verbally of, and shall be notified in writing in their preferred language of, the regional center’s or the state-operated facility’s appeals procedures for informal meetings, mediations, and fair hearings when they apply for service, when they are denied service, when notice of service modification is given pursuant to Section 4710, and upon request.

(d) If, in the opinion of any person, the rights or interests of a claimant who has not personally authorized a representative will not be properly protected or advocated, the State Council on Developmental Disabilities and the clients’ right advocate assigned to the regional center or state-operated facility shall be notified, and the State Council on Developmental Disabilities may appoint a person or agency as representative, pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 4541, to assist the claimant in the mediation and fair hearing procedure. The appointment shall be in writing to the authorized representative and a copy of the appointment shall be immediately mailed to the regional center director or the state-operated facility director.

(e) This section shall become operative on March 1, 2023.

(Repealed (in Sec. 31) and added by Stats. 2022, Ch. 49, Sec. 32. (SB 188) Effective June 30, 2022. Operative March 1, 2023, by its own provisions.)