“Regional center employees should continue to be given the flexibility to act in good faith and fully advocate for their clients without the fear of being unjustifiably named in a lawsuit,” Ruskin said.

The measure, Assembly Bill 1130, passed through the Legislature without any dissenting votes. Having been recently elected to the State Assembly, this marks the first of Ruskin’s bills to make it to the Governor and be signed into law.

AB 1130 extends the expiration date on an existing program that exempts regional center employees from liability for civil damages where the issue arises from acts of good faith that fall within their normal job parameters. Without this extension of the current program, the employees could be discouraged from fulfilling their obligations to deliver needed services. This bill does not change employees’ criminal liability, nor does it alter regional center agencies’ criminal or civil liability.

“In the five years since this provision was originally enacted, immunity has not limited a consumer, family, or vendor's ability to file a lawsuit of merit against the agency,” Ruskin concluded.

The Association of Regional Center Agencies (ARCA) sponsored this legislation, and it was supported by Inland Regional Center and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).