(a) (1) The hourly rate for supported employment services provided to consumers receiving individualized services is thirty-six dollars and fifty-seven cents ($36.57).

(2) Job coach hours spent in travel to consumer worksites may be reimbursable for individualized services only when the job coach travels from the vendor’s headquarters to the consumer’s worksite or from one consumer’s worksite to another, and only when the travel is one way.

(b) The hourly rate for group services is thirty-six dollars and fifty-seven cents ($36.57), regardless of the number of consumers served in the group. Consumers in a group shall be scheduled to start and end work at the same time, unless an exception that takes into consideration the consumer’s compensated work schedule is approved in advance by the regional center. The department, in consultation with stakeholders, shall adopt regulations to define the appropriate grounds for granting these exceptions. When the number of consumers in a supported employment placement group drops to fewer than the minimum required in subdivision (r) of Section 4851, the regional center may terminate funding for the group services in that group, unless, within 90 days, the program provider adds one or more regional centers, or Department of Rehabilitation-funded supported employment consumers to the group.

(c) Job coaching hours for group services shall be allocated on a prorated basis between a regional center and the Department of Rehabilitation when regional center and Department of Rehabilitation consumers are served in the same group.

(d) When Section 4855 applies, fees shall be authorized for the following:

(1) A three-hundred-sixty-dollar ($360) fee shall be paid to the program provider upon intake of a consumer into a supported employment program. No fee shall be paid if that consumer completed a supported employment intake process with that same supported employment program within the previous 12 months.

(2) A seven-hundred-twenty-dollar ($720) fee shall be paid upon placement of a consumer in an integrated job, except that no fee shall be paid if that consumer is placed with another consumer or consumers assigned to the same job coach during the same hours of employment.

(3) A seven-hundred-twenty-dollar ($720) fee shall be paid after a 90-day retention of a consumer in a job, except that no fee shall be paid if that consumer has been placed with another consumer or consumers, assigned to the same job coach during the same hours of employment.

(e) Notwithstanding paragraph (4) of subdivision (a) of Section 4648, the regional center shall pay the supported employment program rates established by this section.

(f) The department, with regional center participation, shall conduct an annual survey of providers, in a format determined by the department, to collect the following information:

(1) The number of employment placements in the previous 12 months.

(2) Types of employment in which consumers are placed.

(3) The cost components of the rates in subdivisions (a) and (b), including, but not limited to, the amount used for hourly wages of job coaches, administration, and placement search costs.

(4) The number of hours each consumer works and the consumer’s hourly wage.

(5) Any other information determined by the department.

(g) In its 2017–18 May Revision fiscal estimate, the department shall describe the results of the survey described in subdivision (f).

(Amended by Stats. 2017, Ch. 18, Sec. 23. (AB 107) Effective June 27, 2017.)