California Developmental Disability Services Quality, Performance, and Outcomes Act of 2025.

Assembly Member Addis's developmental services reform legislation aims to modernize California's system for measuring and tracking outcomes for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The bill requires the Department of Developmental Services to conduct a comprehensive review of existing quality metrics across regional centers and service providers by July 2026, replacing the current patchwork of compliance-based measures with standardized performance tracking.

Under the proposed changes, the department must convene a workgroup of stakeholders and subject matter experts by January 2027 to develop uniform quality and performance measures. These metrics would track outcomes at individual, provider, and system-wide levels while measuring progress on choice, autonomy, and quality of life for program participants and their families. The legislation mandates that these new standards be incorporated into any future statewide information technology system, addressing limitations of the current 40-year-old infrastructure.

The bill responds to findings that California's developmental services system relies primarily on tracking resource expenditures and regulatory compliance rather than individual outcomes. According to the legislative findings, this approach, combined with fragmented data systems, has impeded the state's transition to person-centered services that align with federal home and community-based setting requirements. The department must report to the Legislature by January 2028 on implementation progress, methodology, and initial data from the new measurement framework.