California Advocacy
Autism Speaks advocates to protect the rights, services, and supports of people with autism.
In 2024, several California bills that we supported were signed into law, which are helping to strengthen supports for autistic students and address gaps in funding for disability services. We also joined many other advocates in fighting against a proposed year-long delay in previously approved state funding for developmental disability service providers. In 2025, we are particularly focused on implementing these 2024 California policy wins and hope to work with the state developmental disability agency on a long-term plan to meet the needs of people with autism and other intellectual or developmental disabilities.
Because of Autism Speaks’ federal & state advocacy, California...
- Has an Autism Center of Excellence at Stanford University.
- Received funding to train future health professionals at 4 health and academic institutions to provide better health care services for autistic Californians (Children's Hospital Los Angeles and University of California, Los Angeles in Los Angeles, CA, University of California, Davis in Davis, CA, and University of California, San Diego in La Jolla, CA).
- Received funding to track autism prevalence and other important data about the characteristics and demographics of autistic children in California (at the University of California, San Diego).
- Received funding to train future developmental behavioral pediatricians at 4 sites (Stanford University, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, University of California, Davis, and University of California, San Diego), helping address the national shortage of DBPs who specialize in care for autistic children.
- Research institutions have been awarded over $515 million in autism research funding since FY15, including almost $54 million in FY23 (most recent year available).
- Law enforcement agencies and other organizations have received 7 grants (over $982,000) because of Kevin and Avonte’s Law, to help prevent deaths and injuries associated with autistic individuals wandering from safety.
- Has an autism insurance law requiring health plan coverage of relevant services including applied behavior analysis (ABA) in state-regulated private insurance plans and Medicaid.
- Has lowered the required age for transition-age planning (effective July 1, 2025) for all students who have an Individualized Education Plan, to begin in freshman year so can get an earlier start to planning for post-high school supports and opportunities.