Developmental Disabilities Reform Act

Draft Review & Revision Meeting 8

June 4, 2009
415 Michigan Avenue, NE

Meeting Notes

In attendance: Mark Back, OAG/DDS; Sandy Bernstein, University Legal Services;

Karen Davis, Quality Trust; Emma Hambright, DDS; Mat McCollough, Office of
Disability Rights; Mary Lou Meccariello, The Arc of DC; Elaine Saunders; T.J. Sutcliffe,
The Arc of DC; Bob Williams, DDS; Antoinette Wiseman, Septima Clark Public Charter
School

Meeting notes:

1. Welcome, Introductions and Announcements

Notes from Meeting 7 were distributed. Meeting 7 participants are asked to review the
meeting notes and contact T.J. Sutcliffe (tjsutcliffe@arcdc.net or 202-636-2963) with
any corrections. Meeting notes are not intended to be a transcript of the discussion, but
rather attempt to highlight key items discussed and the resolution of each item.

2. Discussion of criminal background check section

The group revisited its discussion from Meeting 7 regarding criminal background checks
for staff and volunteers at DDA and providers. The majority of meeting participants
agreed to make the following change:

A person who has any of the felonies convictions listed on page 61 of the draft
DDRA will be permanently barred from working as a paid employee at DDA or a
provider agency, or as a volunteer who has unsupervised contact with persons with
developmental disabilities.

Participants noted that this issue may be reviewed further during the DC Council
legislative process.

3. Discussion of services for persons found incompetent in a criminal case

The intent of this section was to continue the current system for persons who are
committed to DDA due to a finding that the person is incompetent to stand trial in a
criminal case, with no change. The only intentional change in the current draft is that
the person would be committed “to the care of DDA” as opposed to a facility.

T.J. Sutcliffe noted that several provisions that exist under current law (including
transfer proceedings and the annual hearing) were inadvertently left out of the current

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draft. The Drafting Subcommittee will ensure that all needed provisions in current law
will be transferred over into the final draft bill.

4. Discussion of legislative review and reporting

The group agreed to make the following changes to this section:

Require a report card on the agency’s implementation of the Comprehensive

Developmental Disability Services Plan (as opposed to the Mayor’s).

Remove the requirement to provide service descriptions (page 74, line 1).

Clarify that grievance data are for grievances filed with the DDS office authorized to
resolve grievances on behalf of the Developmental Disabilities Administration.

Ten years after the legislation takes effect, the Council should conduct a
comprehensive review of the legislation to determine if it has met the goals and
objectives and to determine any if changes are needed to improve the legislation’s
effectiveness. The Mayor should submit recommendations to the Council.

Incorporate waiting list data requirements to track the numbers of people in intake
and the numbers of people not yet receiving services (but for whom services have
been approved).

5. Next meeting

The next meeting will be Thursday, June 11th from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. at the Martin
Luther King, Jr. Library at 901 G Street, NW in room A10. Topics will be: grievances;
legal services, advocates and Court access; and transition from admission and
commitment processes and procedures.

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