New Programs Created by AB 1663

Conservatorship Alternatives Program

AB 1663 establishes a Conservatorship Alternatives Program within the help center in each superior court. The program would identify petitions for conservatorships in which less restrictive alternatives, including supported decision-making, may be appropriate to avoid the conservatorship. The program would provide assistance and guidance in considering and implementing those alternatives.

The Supported Decision-Making Technical Assistance Program

AB 1663 creates the Supported Decision-Making Technical Assistance Program (SDM-TAP), a statewide program that would provide support, education, and technical assistance to expand and strengthen the use of supported decision-making. The SDM-TAP would provide guidance, assistance, and training to educational entities, families, service providers, professionals, people with disabilities, courts, attorneys, mediators, and others in California who wish to use or expand SDM in their professional or personal life. Special attention will be provided to communities that have been historically underserved, including speakers of languages other than English, as well as immigrant, native, and rural populations.

The SDM-TAP would also administer grant funding to state or local government entities,such as courts and school districts and non-governmental entities, like nonprofit organizations, that submit project proposals to expand the use of SDM and reduce the use of conservatorship. In deciding and allocating grant funding under this section, SDM-TAP shall consider equity and diversity of grant recipients.

AB 1663 ensures that people with disabilities don’t end up in conservatorships unnecessarily