Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 17, § 56002 - [Operative 5/1/2026] Definitions

(a) The following definitions shall apply to the regulations used in this subchapter:

(1) "Administrator" means the licensee, or the adult designated by the licensee to act in their behalf who assumes responsibility for facility operations.

(2) "Admission Agreement" means the agreement required pursuant to title 22, California Code of Regulations, sections 80068, 85068 and 87568.

(3) "Authorized Consumer Representative" means the parent, or guardian of a minor, conservator of an adult, or person who is legally entitled to act on behalf of the consumer.

(4) "Child With Special Health Care Needs" means a child with a developmental disability who:

1) is receiving services and service coordination from a regional center;

2) is placed in a foster family home, small family home or group home; and

3) has a medical condition that can rapidly deteriorate, resulting in permanent injury or death; or who has a medical condition that requires specialized in home health care, including an internal feeding tube, total parenteral feeding, a cardio respiratory monitor, intervenous therapy, a ventilator, urinary catheterization, ministrations imposed by tracheostomy, colostomy, ileostomy, or other medical or surgical procedures; or special medication regimens, including injection, areosol treatment, and intravenous or oral medication which requires specialized in-home health care.

(5) "Consumer" means an individual who has been determined by a regional center to meet the eligibility criteria of the Welfare and Institutions Code section 4512, and of title 17, California Code of Regulations, sections 54000, 54001 and 54010, and for whom the regional center has accepted responsibility.

(6) "Consumer Notes" means those ongoing notations made in the individual consumer file at the facility which are incidental to specific events in the consumer's life, and which are made at the time of occurrence and are not a part of the quarterly or semi-annual report.

(7) "Consumer Services" means those services which the residential service provider is responsible for implementing as a part of the program design and the consumer's IPP.

(8) "Consumers' Rights" means the rights of regional center consumers residing in facilities, as specified in Welfare and Institutions Code sections 4502, 4502.1, 4503, 4504, 4705 and 4710.6; and title 17, California Code of Regulations, division 2, chapter 1, subchapter 5, sections 50510, 50515(a)(2), (b)(2) and (c), 50520(b), 50530, 50532, 50534, 50536, 50540 and 50960.

(9) "Contact" means any communication between two or more persons or entities by means of face-to-face meetings, phone conversations, or letters.

(10) "Days" means calendar days unless otherwise stated.

(11) "Department" means the State Department of Developmental Services.

(12) "Direct Care Staff" means facility staff, in Service Level 2, 3 and 4 facilities, who personally provide direct supervision and special services to consumers and is synonymous with "Direct Support Professionals". The term includes the licensee, the administrator, management and supervisory staff during that time when they are providing direct supervision and special services to consumers or are involved in performing program preparation functions.

(13) "Director" means the Director of the Department of Developmental Services or their designee.

(14) "Direct Supervision" means those activities in which direct care staff provide care, supervision, training and support to promote the consumer's functioning in the areas of self-care, daily living skills, physical coordination, mobility, behavioral self-control, choice-making, community integration, accessing community resources and participating in leisure time activities.

(15) "Facility" means a licensed community care facility as defined in Health and Safety Code section 1502(a)(1), (4), (5) or (6); or a licensed residential care facility for the elderly as defined in Health and Safety Code section 1569.2(k), which has been vendorized as a residential facility by a regional center pursuant to the requirements of title 17, California Code of Regulations, division 2, chapter 3, subchapter 2.

(16) "Facility Liaison" means the person, or their designee, assigned by the regional center as the principal coordinator between the regional center and the facility.

(17) "Facility Staff" means the administrator and direct care staff employed by the facility who provide direct supervision and special services to consumers residing in the facility, and consultants employed by the facility who provide support to direct care staff.

(18) "Immediate Danger" means conditions which constitute an impending threat to the health and safety of a consumer(s) and which require immediate action by the regional center to safeguard the health and safety of the consumers in the facility.

(19) "Individual Life Quality Outcomes" means desired outcomes for individual life quality and represent life conditions that people have identified as being important in their everyday lives.

(20) "Individual Program Plan (IPP)" means a written plan that is developed by a regional center Interdisciplinary Team, in accordance with the provisions of Welfare and Institutions Code sections 4646 and 4646.5.

(21) "Interdisciplinary Team (ID Team)" means the group of persons convened, in accordance with Welfare and Institutions Code sections 4646 and 4645.5, for the purpose of preparing a consumer's IPP.

(22) "Licensee" means the person who is identified as the licensee on the license to operate as a community care facility which is issued to the facility by the Department of Social Services' Community Care Licensing Division.

(23) "Looking at Service Quality Provider's Handbook" means the publication so entitled and developed by the Department to help administrators and direct care staff increase the quality of their services through a self-assessment of their direct supervision and special services to consumers. The self-assessment is based upon twenty-five individual life quality outcomes. The publication entitled "Looking at Service Quality Provider's Handbook," original edition which bears no revision or publication date, is hereby incorporated by this reference as though fully set forth herein.

(24) "Medication" means any drug or other agent ordered by a physician, and over-the-counter medications used to treat symptoms of illness or injury.

(25) "Natural Environment" means places and social contexts commonly used by individuals without developmental disabilities.

(26) "Noncompliance" means failure to comply with any of the requirements of Title 17, California Code of Regulations, Division 2, Chapter 3, Subchapter 4 or 6.

(27) "Normalization" means life conditions which enable consumers to lead more independent, productive and normal lives which approximate the pattern of daily living of non-disabled persons of the same age and reflect personal choice.

(28) "Personal and Incidental Allowance" means that portion of the Supplemental Security Income/State Supplemental Program (SSI/SSP) payment designated for the personal expenses of the consumer.

(29) "Placement" means the process the regional center and the consumer complete to assist the consumer to locate and make an initial move to a facility.

(30) "Program Design" means the description of consumer services offered by a facility, the functional characteristics of the consumers the facility will serve, and the resources available to meet individual service needs consistent with the facility's service level.

(31) "Program Preparation Functions" means ancillary activities performed by direct care staff or administrators, including, but not limited to, data collection and analysis, development of training plans, staff meetings, consumer meetings and parent conferences.

(32) "Quality Assurance (QA) Coordinator" means that person who is knowledgeable in, and designated by the regional center to be responsible for, managing all elements of the Quality Assurance Plan.

(33) "Quality Assurance (QA) Evaluation" means the process of assessing a specific facility's ability to provide the minimum acceptable level of service required by these regulations and the effects of those services upon the consumers served.

(34) "Quality Assurance Evaluation Team" means a group of two or more persons who perform a QA evaluation and have knowledge of residential services for persons with a developmental disability by virtue of personal, professional or academic experience or training.

(35) "Quality Assurance (QA) Plan" means the written plan developed by each regional center to coordinate the QA evaluation process, ongoing monitoring, and necessary training and technical assistance to assure implementation of these regulations.

(36) "Regional Center" means a diagnostic, counseling and service coordination center for developmentally disabled persons and their families which is established and operated pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code sections 4620 through 4669, by a private nonprofit community agency or corporation acting as a contracting agency. As used in these regulations, any reference to the regional center shall, by reference, be applicable to those agencies or persons with which the regional center contracts or employs to provide service coordination to consumers under the provisions of Welfare and Institutions Code section 4647.

(37) "Regional Center Director" means the Director of the Regional Center or their designee.

(38) "Regional Center Representative" means a person who is employed or designated by the regional center to represent that agency.

(39) "Relocation" means the process the regional center and the consumer complete to enable a consumer to move from one facility to another.

(40) "Residential Service(s)" means the direct supervision and special services which facility staff provide to a consumer during the process of implementing the program design and achieving the objectives of the Individual Program Plan (IPP) for which the residential service provider is responsible.

(41) "Residential Service Provider" means an individual or entity which has been licensed by the Department of Social Services as a community care facility pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 1502(a)(1), (4), (5) or (6); or is defined as a licensed facility for the elderly in Health and Safety Code section 1569.2; has completed the vendorization process pursuant to title 17, California Code of Regulations, division 2, subchapter 2; and has been assigned a vendor identification number beginning with the letter "H" pursuant to title 17, California Code of Regulations, section 54340(a)(1).

(42) "Self Care" means providing for, or meeting, a consumer's own physical and personal needs in the areas related to eating, dressing, toileting, bathing and personal hygiene.

(43) "Service Coordinator" means the regional center or designee agency employee, or their designee, who has responsibility for providing or ensuring service coordination as specified in Welfare and Institutions Code section 4647.

(44) "Service Level" means one of a series of 4 levels which has been approved for each facility by a regional center. Service Levels 2, 3 and 4 have a specified set of requirements that a facility must meet which addresses the direct supervision and special services for consumers within that facility.

(45) "Service Needs" means those consumer needs which require direct supervision and special services, which are identified through the ID Team assessment process.

(46) "Service Outcomes" means the results, for the consumer, of direct supervision and special services provided by the facility's program.

(47) "Special Incident Report (SIR)" means a special incident report as described in title 17, California Code of Regulations, section 54327(c) and (d).

(48) "Special Services" means specialized training, treatment, and/or supervision which are required by the consumer's IPP and provided by direct care staff in addition to direct supervision.

(49) "Submit" means the postmarking or hand delivery of the item required no later than the last day of the timeline allowed.

Notes

Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 17, § 56002

Note: Authority cited: Sections 4681.1, 4695.2(e) and 4748, Welfare and Institutions Code. Reference: Sections 4501, 4502, 4503, 4504, 4646, 4646.5, 4647, 4648, 4681.1, 4695, 4695.2, 4705, 4740 through 4748 and 17710, Welfare and Institutions Code; and Sections 1502(a) and 13131, Health and Safety Code.

Note: Authority cited: Sections 4681.1, 4695.2(e) and 4748, Welfare and Institutions Code. Reference: Sections 4501, 4502, 4503, 4504, 4646, 4646.5, 4647, 4648, 4681.1, 4695, 4695.2, 4705, 4740 through 4748 and 17710, Welfare and Institutions Code; Sections 1502(a) and 13131, Health and Safety Code.

1. New section filed 1-14-91; operative 2-13-91 (Register 91, No. 14).
2. Amendment of section filed 9-20-93 as an emergency; operative 9-20-93. Submitted to OAL for printing only pursuant to Chapter 722, Statutes of 1992, Section 147 (Register 93, No. 39). These regulations shall not be repealed by the Office of Administrative Law and shall remain in effect until revised or repealed, as appropriate.
3. Amendment of section filed 11-23-94; operative 11-23-94 (Register 94, No. 47).
4. Editorial correction of History2 (Register 94, No. 47).
5. Editorial correction of subsections (a)(2) and (24) and capitalizing "S" of "Section" throughout (Register 95, No. 18).
6. Change without regulatory effect amending subsection (a)(21) and Note filed 6-19-95 pursuant to section 100, title 1, California Code of Regulations (Register 95, No. 25).
7. Repealer of subsection (a)(1), subsection renumbering, and amendment of newly designated subsections (a)(20), (a)(38), (a)(40), (a)(41) and (a)(45) and amendment of Note filed 6-29-98 as an emergency; operative 6-29-98 (Register 98, No. 27). A Certificate of Compliance must be transmitted to OAL by 10-27-98 or emergency language will be repealed by operation of law on the following day.
8. New subsections (a)(19) and (a)(22) and subsection relettering filed 6-30-98 as an emergency; operative 6-30-98 (Register 98, No. 27). A Certificate of Compliance must be transmitted to OAL by 10-28-98 or emergency language will be repealed by operation of law on the following day.
9. New subsections (a)(19) and (a)(22) refiled 10-20-98 as an emergency; operative 10-20-98 (Register 98, No. 43). A Certificate of Compliance must be transmitted to OAL by 2-17-99 or emergency language will be repealed by operation of law on the following day.
10. Repealer of subsection (a)(1), subsection renumbering, amendment of newly designated subsections (a)(20), (a)(38), (a)(40), (a)(41) and (a)(45) and amendment of Note refiled 10-20-98 as an emergency; operative 10-27-98 (Register 98, No. 43). A Certificate of Compliance must be transmitted to OAL by 2-24-99 or emergency language will be repealed by operation of law on the following day.
11. Certificate of Compliance as to first 10-20-98 order, including further amendment of subsection (a)(22), transmitted to OAL 12-31-98 and filed 2-17-99 (Register 99, No. 8).
12. Certificate of Compliance as to second 10-20-98 order, including further amendment of section, transmitted to OAL 12-31-98 and filed 2-17-99 (Register 99, No. 8).
13. Amendment of subsection (a)(12), new subsection (a)(13), repealer of subsection (a)(14), renumbering and amendment of former subsection (a)(13) to subsection (a)(14), amendment of subsections (a)(41) and (a)(48) and amendment of Note filed 3-13-2000 as an emergency; operative 3-13-2000 (Register 2000, No. 11). A Certificate of Compliance must be transmitted to OAL by 7-11-2000 or emergency language will be repealed by operation of law on the following day.
14. Reinstatement of section as it existed prior to 3-13-2000 emergency amendment by operation of Government Code section 11346.1(f) (Register 2000, No. 30).
15. Amendment of subsection (a)(12), new subsection (a)(13), repealer of subsection (a)(14), renumbering and amendment of former subsection (a)(13) to subsection (a)(14), amendment of subsections (a)(41) and (a)(48) and amendment of Note filed 7-26-2000 as an emergency; operative 7-26-2000 (Register 2000, No. 30). A Certificate of Compliance must be transmitted to OAL by 11-27-2000 or emergency language will be repealed by operation of law on the following day.
16. Refiling of 7-26-2000 order, including further amendment of subsection (a)(12), new subsection (a)(22), subsection renumbering and amendment of newly designated subsections (a)(23) and (a)(42), 11-27-2000 as an emergency; operative 11-27-2000 (Register 2000, No. 48). A Certificate of Compliance must be transmitted to OAL by 3-27-2001 or emergency language will be repealed by operation of law on the following day.
17. Certificate of Compliance as to 7-26-2000 order transmitted to OAL 3-22-2001 and filed 5-2-2001 (Register 2001, No. 18).
18. Change without regulatory effect amending subsection (a)(48) filed 8-28-2001 pursuant to section 100, title 1, California Code of Regulations (Register 2001, No. 35).
19. Repealer of subsection (a)(43), subsection renumbering, and amendment of newly designated subsection (a)(47) filed 10-25-2001 as an emergency; operative 10-31-2001 (Register 2001, No. 43). A Certificate of Compliance must be transmitted to OAL by 2-28-2002 or emergency language will be repealed by operation of law on the following day.
20. Change without regulatory effect amending Note filed 2-28-2002 pursuant to section 100, title 1, California Code of Regulations (Register 2002, No. 9).
21. Certificate of Compliance as to 10-25-2001 order transmitted to OAL 2-28-2002 and filed 4-10-2002 (Register 2002, No. 15).
22. Change without regulatory effect repealing subsection (a)(42), renumbering subsections and adopting new subsection (a)(47) filed 5-27-2003 pursuant to section 100, title 1, California Code of Regulations (Register 2003, No. 22).
23. Change without regulatory effect amending subsection (a)(2) filed 11-10-2005 pursuant to section 100, title 1, California Code of Regulations (Register 2005, No. 45).
24. Amendment of subsections (a)(1)-(2), (a)(5), (a)(8), (a)(13), (a)(15)-(16), (a)(20)-(21), (a)(36)-(37), (a)(41), (a)(43) and (a)(47) filed 6-11-2025; operative 5/1/2026 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4(b)(3) (Register 2025, No. 24).