Many people with disabilities who want to work are dissuaded from doing so by the risk of losing eligibility for Medicare and Medi-Cal, which pays for essentials such as wheelchairs, ventilators and personal care services. AB 925 joins the 1999 Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act and the 250% California Working Disabled Program as part of a continuing effort to address these and other work disincentives.

Assemblywoman Dion Aroner of Berkeley authored the bill with the expertise of her Chief Consultant to the Assembly Human Services Committee, Sherry Novick. The bill’s policy was crafted with the California Work Group on Work Incentives and Health Care (CWG), a grassroots coalition of disability advocates, benefit planners, consumers and other stakeholders. WID and the Center for Independent Living in Berkeley staff the CWG.

AB 925 contains the following provisions:

• Requires California’s new Labor and Workforce Development Agency, in collaboration with the Health and Human Services Agency, to create a sustainable, comprehensive strategy to bring people with disabilities into employment at a rate that is as close as possible to that of the general adult population.

• Allows state-funded personal care services to be available in the workplace.

• Uses the newly empowered Governor’s Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities to increase cooperation between the Department of Health Services and the Employment Development Department, other state agencies and private employers. Currently, the lack of communication between these departments commonly results in misinformation to people with disabilities who wish to work, but believe they will lose their health coverage if they do so.

• Ensures better program and physical accessibility for "one stop" employment centers and requires that state and local Workforce Investment Boards include people with disabilities as board members, if permitted by federal law.

• Provides for coordinated benefits planning training across multiple agencies, such as the Departments of Health, Social Services and Rehabilitation, when funds become available.

The bill had formerly contained provisions for raising the asset limit and maximum earning potential for eligibility for the Medi-Cal Buy-In Program, among other provisions. These provisions would have allowed people with disabilities to earn and save more money so that if they lose a job or are transitioning to another job, they can still access the Medi-Cal Buy-In Program and not be forced to turn to state-funded SSI/SSP to keep their health care. However, the bill passed the Legislature with significant changes because of California's $24 billion budget deficit. Provisions were removed that were estimated to increase the state's General Fund costs to the Medi-Cal budget.

The current AB 925 signed by the governor sends a clear message to state government that health care is an important part of enabling people with disabilities to work. AB 925 will advance workforce inclusion public policies and will lay the groundwork for future changes to remove work disincentives.