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. 303.23303.34, 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.