California ABA

By Liz Herrera Knapp

The California Association for Behavior Analysis (CalABA) continues its commitment to actively serving our membership, stakeholders, community, and consumers of applied behavior analysis. CalABA continues to remain the largest state association representing over 28,788 certified professionals (BCBA-D, BCBA, BCaBA, and RBT).
CalABA held its 42nd Annual and 1st hybrid (in-person and livestreamed) Conference February 8th–10th in Pasadena, Ca with over 2,545 attendees. CalABA also hosted the 2nd Annual Technology Summit at the conference on February 8th, 2024. CalABA worked with BehaviorLive to host its first-ever hybrid annual conference, which provided nearly 80 CEUs, which are available asynchronously to attendees for up to a year after the conference.

On December 8th, CalABA hosted its first summit on social justice which focused on how applying our science of behavior analysis can make a difference. This conference took place at an intimate venue in Preservation Park in the heart of downtown Oakland. CalABA hosted 150 attendees in person, and hosted the summit virtually on BehaviorLive.

CalABA continued to bring additional virtual events to its membership, which included, “Demystifying Behavior Analytic Consultation to Schools-Reviewing the BACS Model” with Michael Mueller, Ph.D, BCBA-D, IBA; two Invited Presentations with the Adult Service Provider SIG given by Dr. Shane Spiker, Ph.D, BCBA, IBA, LBA, and Lindsay Hauer, BCBA; and a free CEU event hosted by the Adult Service Provider SIG with our former President, Jose Rios, MS, BCBA on “The Evolution of Behavior Intervention Plans for Problem Behavior.” The CalABA Board of Directors convened in-person for their Annual Board of Directors retreat October 8–9, 2023. At the retreat the Board engaged in a strategic planning overview, toured the Convention Center for the 42nd and 43rd Annual Conferences, discussed membership benefits, and reviewed public policy updates and planning.

Additionally, in February of 2024 CalABA released a Request for Proposals for an Equity Diversity and Inclusion consultant to provide consultation services for the development of an Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Strategy for the Association. CalABA is seeking support to design and develop an integrated EDI strategy, roadmap, communication, and implementation plan. CalABA is looking for a consultant to create a vision of EDI work as a collective responsibility and shared journey, create alignment across teams on our EDI work and approach, ensuring that it is grounded in consistent values. and share resources and develop policies for consistent messaging across the organization. More information can be found at: calaba.org/news-and-events/2024/calaba-is-looking-for-support-to-design-and-developan-integrated-edi-strategy-roadmap-communication-and-implementation-plan CalABA has a continued commitment to serving the interests and needs of our membership, and this year continued to support the four CalABA Special Interest Groups: Adult Service Provider SIG (ASPSIG), Behavior Analysts in Education (BAESIG), Bay Area Behavior Analysis Collecgtive (BABAC), and Behavior Analysts in Business (BIBA). This year the SIG Leaders came together to host two CalABA SIG mixers: Meet the SIGs: Virtual Happy Hour on November 14, 2023, and the CalABA SIG Hospitality Suite at the 42nd Annual Conference.
CalABA continues to be actively involved in public policy matters that are related to the practice of applied behavior analysis in California and we are excited to share that we hired Gina Green and Michelle Heid as Public Policy Consultants last year. Our Public Policy Consultants and Public Policy Committee are working to address challenges in our field and to move behavior analysis forward, as well as working to codify BCBAs in statute, where appropriate.

On February 29, 2024, CalABA partnered with CASP to host, “Better Together: Advocacy Efforts to Support ABA and Autism Service Providers in Ca” which was a virtual meeting to update agency leaders and owners, C-Suite professionals, and BCBA. CalABA provided an alert to its membership on January 29th, 2024, for Individuals, Organizations, and Regulatory Entities Involved in Delivery of Applied Behavior Analysis Services on companies promoting a model in which parents are paid to work as Registered Behavior Technicians with their own children. Additionally, CalABA provided frequent public policy updates to its membership including updates on the Medi-Cal Managed Care Health Plan Transitions for 2024, the instruction from Congress to the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM to conduct an independent analysis of the effectiveness of the TRICARE Autism Care Demonstration (ACD) program, in which an hoc committee has been assembled to conduct the analysis and provide a report to Congress, the Department of Managed Healthcare’s Division of Plan Surveys and the DMHC request for Assistance with Investigations, and a Summary of Bills passed in California including, but not limited to, the following:
SB 525 Health Care Worker Minimum Wage—Applies to “covered health care facilities” and sets out 5 wage schedules affecting the 20 facility types that are defined in the law. Some behavior analysts or behavior technicians may be employed by some of those facility types, but as defined they do not include facilities or settings in which ABA services are typically provided (e.g., homes, clinics, centers). SB 525 also increases wages for employees of covered health care facilities beginning June 1, 2024 to $18–$23 / hour depending on the facility type. If you are concerned that this law may affect your organization, you are encouraged to seek legal advice.

AB 1228 Fast Food Worker Minimum Wage—AB 1228 increases the minimum wage for fast food workers to $20 /hour effective April 1, 2024 and establishes a council to determine the minimum wage for such workers in future years. It may affect ABA businesses’ recruitment efforts.
SB 616 Annual Paid Sick Leave—Increases the minimum number of paid sick days an employer must provide to employees who work for them for 30 or more days within a year from 24 hours (3 days) to 40 hours (5 days) per year. This law goes into effect January 1, 2024. It includes provisions regarding various ways employers may implement the law. ABA business owners should make sure their employment policies incorporate the relevant provisions.

Regional Center Rate Increases—Effective January 1, 2024, the minimum wage in California will increase to $16.00 per hour. Regional center service providers that are currently paying a wage below that amount may be entitled to a rate increase. Vendors are encouraged to reach out to their regional centers to determine if they are eligible for a rate increase and if so, how to apply.

Reinstatement of Annual Medi-Cal Redetermination—Throughout the COVID–19 public health emergency, California postponed disenrollments from Medi-Cal based on guidance from the federal government. That meant that those enrolled in Medi-Cal did not have to complete annual redeterminations to keep their coverage, which allowed millions to stay on Medi-Cal. The continuous coverage provision ended on March 31, 2023, so Medi-Cal members now need to renew their coverage. It behooves Medi-Cal providers to help them do that.

Additionally, CalABA supported the following bills:
AB 438 (Rubio) Pupils with exceptional needs: individualized education programs: postsecondary goals and transition services, AB 611 (Weber) Special education: nonpublic, nonsectarian schools or agencies: change in certification status: parental notification, AB 649 (Wilson) Developmental Services, AB 751 (Schiavo) Elder Abuse, AB 1466 (Weber) Pupil discipline: restraint and seclusion: reporting, SB 323 (Portantino) Comprehensive school safety plans: individualized safety plans, SB 483 (Cortese) Pupil rights: prone restraint, SB 509 (Portantino) School employee and pupil training: youth mental and behavioral health: mental health education, and SB 525 (Durazo) Minimum wage: health care workers.