The State Independent Living Council (SILC), in cooperation with the Department of Rehabilitation, is responsible for creating and monitoring execution of a State Plan for Independent Living. The plan, which is revised every three years as required by federal legislation, sets the overall policy and budget levels for a network of Independent Living Centers that provide services to people with disabilities who choose to live outside the confines of a hospital or other institution. The council is mandated by, and receives much of its funding from, the federal government.

State Plan for Independent Living (SILC website)

California has a long history of attending to the special needs of citizens with disabilities. Among the first states to open treatment centers for the mentally disabled, the state established two innovative regional pilot projects in San Francisco and Los Angeles, under legislation written by Republican State Senator Frank D. Lanterman and signed into law by Governor Edmund G.. “Pat” Brown, Sr.. Coincidentally, a growing movement across the country for independent during the 1970s, helped to both define and broaden the independent living movement for the disabled. In 1972 the first Center for Independent Living was founded by disability activists in Berkeley, California. According to historian Hale Zukas, who specializes in the independent living movement, conferences were held in Berkeley in 1975 and in Houston in 1977 to define the philosophy and overall approach toward assisting people with disabilities in rehabilitation and life outside of institutions.

The passage of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1975, and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 were major victories in the movement for disability rights, and independent living. After the Federal Rehabilitation Act was amended in 1978, five regional conferences were held around the country for disabled people and advocates to foster the creation of independent living centers and to identify what types of services the centers would provide. The amended Rehabilitation Act added statutory language and funding for the formation of the independent living centers.

The California State Independent Living Council (SILC) was originally established as an Independent Living Advisory Council (ILAC), an adjunct to the Department of Rehabilitation to fulfill federal requirements.  That role changed in 1992 when further amendments to the federal Rehabilitation Act required states to establish autonomous Statewide Independent Living Councils in order to retain federal funding for independent living services. In July 1996, the SILC was established as an independent California state agency under an executive order signed by Governor Pete Wilson.

The Disability Rights and Independent Living Movement (UC Berkeley’s Bancroft Library)

The SILC is also responsible for monitoring the implementation of the plan by the Department of Rehabilitation (DOR) and other groups, as well as determining its overall effectiveness. SILC assists in coordinating DOR efforts with other agencies at the federal and state levels, and assesses needs through quarterly meetings and a series of public forums held throughout the state.  Additionally, SILC advise the legislature and governor on issues of importance to the disabled population of California.

The council is a relatively minor state entity, composed of just 18 volunteers and a small staff, and would-be members may volunteer by filling out an on-line application on the council’s website. All members are appointed by the governor, subject to legislative approval, and serve three year terms. SILC council members are drawn from a variety of backgrounds including business representatives, family members or guardians of people with disabilities, members of other state agencies, a representative of Native American rehabilitation projects, disability advocates, representatives from Independent Living Centers, and the director of the state Department of Rehabilitation.

The council holds quarterly meetings throughout the state to solicit as well as shape public opinion, and to gauge the effectiveness of programs, often in concert with other state entities, such as the Department of Rehabilitation, Department of Social Services, and Department of Health Services. Additionally, the council meets on a regular basis either in its Sacramento quarters or by teleconference. The meetings consist largely of committee reports and planning for the quarterly meeting, and collecting data. The SILC prepares a needs assessment, as a result of the information gathered at meetings, consultation and testimony from experts in the field, and other means. The needs assessment, last issued in 2009, serves as the foundation document for the State Plan for Independent Living.

The council also regularly monitors important state and federal legislation that impacts people with disabilities through its legislative subcommittee.

SILC Meetings

SILC Legislation

The modest budget of the SILC, around $1 million, is consumed by the costs of personnel (a staff of three) and overhead expenses. While the council spends none of its own budget for programs, it does from time to time administer grants and scholarships made available by other agencies.  In June 2011 the SILC announced that grants of $75,000 from federal Title VII funds were awarded under a program created by the council to independent living centers in Berkeley, Fresno/Central Valley, Orange County, San Diego, and Van Nuys/San Fernando Valley. The targeted money was to be used to “seek solutions to support access to services and options for community based living and reduce unnecessary institutionalization.”

The council is funded primarily by the federal government, which mandates its existence as a prerequisite for receiving money for the Independent Living Services and the Centers for Independent Living.

Grant Funds Build a Force for Future Change

3-Year Budget (pdf)

Protest at Capitol

The participants called it “The People’s Day of Reckoning.”

About 130 demonstrators gathered outside the Capitol office of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in July 2009 to protest proposed cuts in health and social service program that affect them. The peaceful gathering, organized by a coalition of various Independent Living Centers, health-care advocates, in-home support service providers, disability rights groups and the Service Employees International Union, blocked the hallway while carrying signs with slogans like “No More Cuts” and “Tax Big Oil.”

Although the California Highway Patrol said public safety was not an issue, officers cited 15 people, mostly in wheel chairs, for trespassing and failure to disperse. No one was arrested. Earlier, the protesters had been addressed by several Democratic legislators who expressed their support. “Continue fighting the good fight— and know that you have friends in the state Legislature,” Assemblyman Manuel Perez told the group.

Schwarzenegger had proposed significant budget cuts that were almost certain to have devastating consequences on disabled people throughout the state. Nick Feldman, a wheelchair-bound Berkeley resident, worried how he would get by without the in-home services targeted by the cuts. “Without this service, I'd be in a nursing home or an institution,” he said.

15 Protesters Cited at Capitol (by Jim Sanders, Sacramento Bee)

Wildfires Wreak Havoc

The Southern California wildfires of October 2003 were devastating for residents throughout the region, but posed special challenges for the 6% of the state’s population with disabilities.

Nineteen fires burned more than 730,000 acres, destroyed 36,000 homes and killed 22 people. A 2004 report prepared by the State Independent Living Council for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger did not quantify the harm done to the disabled, but pointed out their particular vulnerability to natural disasters and pointed out the state shortcomings that exacerbated the situation for them.

The council had participated in statewide disaster planning for years and preparation by people with disabilities for fires and other emergencies is a core part of its mission. It noted that 911 systems lacked compatibility with Telecommunications Devices for the Deaf (TDDs), and were devoid of reverse notification capabilities for advising individuals with disabilities of approaching problems.

Shelters were not designed for accommodating the disabled, lacking even lists of independent interpreters or those at nearby agencies. Television sets were not equipped with captioning and little provision was made for service animals. Communication equipment for people with disabilities was almost non-existent. Media outlets covering the disaster needed to be advised that their cables and equipment pose particular challenges for the disabled. And shelter volunteers would benefit from a modicum of training in how to deal with disabled people.

The Impact of 2003 Wildfires on People with Disabilities (Issue Brief for Governor Schwarzenegger prepared by SILC) (pdf)

Consolidation of Effort

California government has seven departments within the Health and Human Services Agency that deal with long-term care for senior citizens and disabled people. They share a common goal of helping their clients live securely in home and community-based settings to avoid more costly and ineffective institutionalization.

But an April 2011 report by the independent Little Hoover Commission says they are hampered by not being part of an integrated system with coordinated activities, shared information and programs, standardization of assessment and streamlined enrollment.

“California’s long-term care system is broken,” the report stated. “The state has no reliable means of gauging what clients need, what benefits they receive, which services are used by whom, how much each service costs the state, and which programs work the best and are the most cost-effective in keeping people in their homes.”

In examining the history of long-term care and the current hodgepodge of services, the report noted that, in part, the “mosaic has been shaped by the California-born Independent Living Movement of the 1970s” which led to the creation of first the Independent Living Advisory Council in the Department of Rehabilitation, and later the State Independent Living Council (SILC). The movement has had notable success, such as San Diego’s Aging and Disability Resource Connection (ADRC), “one of a handful of centers that have benefited from . . . the program to enhance home and community-based options.” 

Nevertheless, with “sharply reduced resources” and a “projected surge in its senior population,” the commission recommended consolidation of services in a way that “supports and expands local governments’ ability to create integrated service delivery systems that best meet local conditions.” Ideally, the commission stated, a single executive would lead the effort of coordinating services.

That’s not a new idea. As the commission report points out, its own 1996 report, “Long Term Care: Providing Compassion Without Confusion,” recommended pretty much the same thing.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 2005 California Performance Review also recommended similar restructuring. The review proposed moving the activities of SILC and the State Council on Developmental Disabilities to other departments but, as the Hoover Commission report made clear, federal regulations require that the two councils operate independently. 

The commission recommended a massive restructuring and the creation of a new “Division for Adult and Community Living,” which would have responsibility for policy development, budget development, and program and system planning for home, community, and institutional long-term care programs for the elderly and disabled.  SILC would then continue to operate as an independent advisory council within the Health and Human Services Agency.

A Long-Term Strategy for Long-Term Care (Little Hoover Commission) (pdf)

Mike C. Collins, 1997 – 2007