California’s developmental services system is growing and so is the work to strengthen it. Originally released in March 2025, the Master Plan for Developmental Services includes 167 recommendations reflecting community input.
The first annual report on the Master Plan for Developmental Services, released at the beginning of April 2026, shares progress from the past year and previews the work ahead. This latest report highlights activities that implement the recommendations. This work focuses on:
- Improving services
- Expanding equity-focused leadership
- Building a stronger workforce
- Increasing transparency
- Modernizing how the State uses data
Work is underway with state and federal partners, individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families, regional centers, advocates, and service providers.
Celebrate these first-year progress highlights with us:
- LOIS: The Governor’s Budget for 2026-27 continues funding for the Life Outcomes Improvement System (LOIS). The project will modernize California’s case management and fiscal systems. It will improve access to information for individuals, families and service providers. It also will support more efficient case management and better oversight.
- More language access: The Department has put in place a Language Access Plan. This plan makes sure key documents are available in our threshold languages: Korean, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Tagalog, Traditional Chinese, and Vietnamese.
- Focus on equity: The Department is discussing potential equity measures with the community. In 2026, we’re planning to publish a dashboard of these measures to track progress and address equity.
- More consistent experiences: In 2026 there will be a statewide definition of “generic services.” This is a major step forward in creating predictable and consistent experiences for individuals and families accessing regional center services. It also will help identify which services people rely on most and improve coordination with other programs.
- Strengthening regional center services: The Administration has proposed several changes to state law to improve the training and skillsets of regional center board members, updating regional center contracts, changing requirements to make it easier for providers to grow their services, and more.
- Access to employment: The proposed Employment Access Alignment would provide support faster for people seeking employment. It also will require the Department and the Department of Rehabilitation to coordinate how supports are paid. This would reduce stress and speed up the path to employment.
Thank you to everyone contributing to this progress and the work yet to come! You can read more implementation highlights, learn about progress so far, and see what’s next for 2026 and beyond in this first annual report.