Require county DD boards to provide early intervention services

hb939_00_IN

As Introduced

136th
General Assembly

Regular
Session
H. B. No. 939

2025-2026

Representatives White, A., Odioso

Cosponsors: Representatives Lett,
Salvo

To
amend sections 5126.15, 5180.31, and 5180.32 and to enact section
5126.16 of the Revised Code
to
require county boards of developmental disabilities to provide early
intervention services to eligible children.

BE
IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:

Section
1.
That
sections 5126.15, 5180.31, and 5180.32 be amended and section 5126.16
of the Revised Code be enacted to read as follows:

Sec.
5126.15.
(A)
A county board of developmental disabilities shall provide service
and support administration to each individual three years of age or
older who is eligible for service and support administration if the
individual requests, or a person on the individual's behalf requests,
service and support administration. A board shall provide service and
support administration to each individual receiving home and
community-based services. A board may provide, in accordance with the
service coordination requirements of 34 C.F.R.
303.23
303.34
,
service and support administration to an individual under three years
of age eligible for early intervention services under 34 C.F.R. part
303. A board may provide service and support administration to an
individual who is not eligible for other services of the board.
Service and support administration shall be provided in accordance
with rules adopted under section 5126.08 of the Revised Code.

A
board may provide service and support administration by directly
employing service and support administrators or by contracting with
entities for the performance of service and support administration.
Individuals employed or under contract as service and support
administrators shall not be in the same collective bargaining unit as
employees who perform duties that are not administrative.

A
service and support administrator shall perform only the duties
specified in division (B) of this section. While employed by or under
contract with a board, a service and support administrator shall
neither be employed by or serve in a decision-making or policy-making
capacity for any other entity that provides programs or services to
individuals with developmental disabilities nor provide programs or
services to individuals with developmental disabilities through
self-employment.

(B)
A service and support administrator shall do all of the following:

(1)
Establish an individual's eligibility for the services of the county
board of developmental disabilities;

(2)
Assess individual needs for services;

(3)
Develop individual service plans with the active participation of the
individual to be served, other persons selected by the individual,
and, when applicable, the provider selected by the individual, and
recommend the plans for approval by the department of developmental
disabilities when services included in the plans are funded through
medicaid;

(4)
Establish budgets for services based on the individual's assessed
needs and preferred ways of meeting those needs;

(5)
Assist individuals in making selections from among the providers they
have chosen;

(6)
Ensure that services are effectively coordinated and provided by
appropriate providers;

(7)
Establish and implement an ongoing system of monitoring the
implementation of individual service plans to achieve consistent
implementation and the desired outcomes for the individual;

(8)
Incorporate identified trends and patterns of unusual incidents and
major unusual incidents into amendments of an individual's service
plan for the purpose of improving and enhancing the quality and
appropriateness of services rendered to the individual.

Sec.
5126.16.
(A)
A county board of developmental disabilities shall provide early
intervention services to all eligible individuals residing in the
county as part of the state's part C early intervention services
program, as described in section 5180.30 of the Revised Code.

(B)
Early intervention services provided by a county board shall include
all of the following in accordance with 34 C.F.R. 303.13:

(1)
Occupational therapy;

(2)
Physical therapy;

(3)
Special instruction;

(4)
Speech-language pathology services.

(C)(1)
Each county board shall pay the costs incurred in providing early
intervention services pursuant to this section.

(2)
Each county board shall include details regarding the funding of
early intervention services in the county board's strategic plan and
written early intervention services policy required in rules adopted
by the department of developmental disabilities.

(D)
Within ninety days after the end of each state fiscal year, each
county board shall submit to the department of children and youth a
statement of the expenses incurred by the board in providing the
early intervention services required by this section, including all
documentation required by the department pursuant to rules adopted
under section 5180.32 of the Revised Code.

Sec.
5180.31.
(A)

The
department of children and youth may do any of the following as the
lead agency to implement the state's part C early intervention
services program, as described in section 5180.30 of the Revised
Code:

(A)
(1)

Enter into an interagency agreement with one or more other state
agencies to implement the program and ensure coordination of early
childhood programs;

(B)
(2)

Distribute program funds through contracts, grants, or subsidies to
entities that are program service providers;

(C)
(3)

Establish a system of payment to program service providers.

(B)
Except as provided in division (C) of this section, the department
shall reimburse each county board of developmental disabilities for
at least one-half of the costs the board incurs in funding early
intervention services pursuant to section 5126.16 of the Revised Code
as part of the state's part C early intervention services program, as
documented in the statement of expenses submitted to the department
pursuant to that section.

(C)
Reimbursable costs specified in division (B) of this section shall
not include any expenditures for services, activities, or functions
that are funded, in whole or in part, through the service
coordination grant administered by the department or through funds
provided under Title XX of the "Social Security Act," 42
U.S.C. 1397.

Sec.
5180.32.
The
director of children and youth shall adopt rules in accordance with
Chapter 119. of the Revised Code that are necessary to implement the
state's part C early intervention services program, including rules
that specify all of the following:

(A)
Eligibility requirements to receive program services;

(B)
Eligibility requirements to be a program service provider;

(C)
Operating standards and procedures for program service providers,
including standards and procedures governing data collection, program
monitoring, and program evaluation;

(D)
Procedures to appeal the denial of an application to receive program
services or the termination of program services;

(E)
Procedures to appeal a decision by the department of developmental
disabilities to deny an application to be a program service provider
or to terminate a provider's status;

(F)
Procedures for addressing complaints by persons who receive program
services;

(G)
Criteria for the payment of program service providers;

(H)

Documentation
of expenses to be submitted by county boards of developmental
disabilities related to funding the provision of early intervention
services as part of the program;

(I)
Procedures for the reimbursement to county boards of developmental
disabilities for expenses incurred in funding the provision of early
intervention services as part of the program;

(J)

The
metrics or indicators used to measure program service provider
performance.

Section
2.
That
existing sections 5126.15, 5180.31, and 5180.32 of the Revised Code
are hereby repealed.