What SDP is
The Self-Determination Program (SDP) is a way to get your regional center services with more freedom, control and responsibility.
In the traditional system, the regional center buys services for you from its list of vendors. In SDP, you get an individual budget. With your planning team, you decide which services and supports to buy, who provides them, and how they fit your life. A Financial Management Service (FMS) pays your providers and tracks your spending.
California created SDP with a law called SB 468 in 2013 (Welfare and Institutions Code section 4685.8). It started with 2,500 people and opened to everyone eligible on July 1, 2021. A federal Medicaid waiver helps pay for it. That waiver was renewed starting July 1, 2026, for five years.
The five principles of self-determination
Freedom
To plan a life you choose, with the people and supports you want.
Authority
Over a clear amount of money to spend on your supports.
Support
To organize your resources in ways that work for you.
Responsibility
For using public money wisely and for your choices.
Confirmation
That you, and the people you choose, are at the center of every decision.
Who can join
If you get regional center services because of a developmental disability, you can choose SDP.
- You must be eligible for regional center services under the Lanterman Act. Children who only get Early Start services can't join yet, but some children under 3 can.
- If you live in a licensed long-term care facility, you can start if you're expected to move into the community within 90 days.
- If you're eligible for Medi-Cal, you agree to apply for it. Medi-Cal helps bring federal money into SDP. Ask your service coordinator about institutional deeming, which helps some children qualify.
What you agree to do
- Finish the SDP orientation (both parts)
- Use a Financial Management Service (FMS) of your choice
- Use generic resources first, like Medi-Cal, IHSS, school, the Department of Rehabilitation, or private insurance
- Stay within your budget and buy only services allowed in SDP
- Keep a person-centered Individual Program Plan (IPP)
The steps, in order
Here's the path from first question to first service. Each step is one petal in our SDP Journey tool.
Learn about SDP
Ask questions, watch the DDS videos, and talk with people already in SDP.
Tell your service coordinator
Say you're interested and ask that it be written in your IPP.
Orientation, Part A
A free, live, two-hour Zoom session from the State Council on Developmental Disabilities (SCDD). It covers the system, person-centered plans, the IPP and the individual budget. You get a certificate.
Orientation, Part B
Another two-hour session about the spending plan, Independent Facilitators and FMS. Give both certificates to your service coordinator. They'll share your IPP, transition supports, and the budget steps.
Person-centered plan
Describe the life you want. After orientation, your regional center can pay for an initial person-centered plan (up to $1,000) and up to 40 hours of coaching to help you enroll.
Individual budget
Your regional center calculates and certifies your yearly budget with your IPP team.
Choose your FMS
Pick a Financial Management Service and a model: Bill Payer, Co-Employer or Sole Employer. Interview a few first.
Spending plan
List each service, its SDP code, how often, and its cost. Your regional center certifies it.
Start services
Your FMS pays your providers and sends you a monthly statement. Adjust your plan as life changes.
About orientation (since April 1, 2026)
SCDD is the only approved statewide orientation provider. Sessions are online, offered monthly in English and Spanish, and in Arabic, Armenian, ASL, Chinese, Farsi, Hmong, Korean, Tagalog and Vietnamese by request. Attend the full live session to get a certificate. You'll need the person's name and UCI number. Recordings are for learning only. Register on SCDD's orientation page.
Finished orientation before April 1, 2026, or already enrolled? You don't need to take it again.
Your budget and spending plan
Your individual budget is the amount you can spend on services for the year. Your spending plan shows how you'll spend it.
How your first budget is figured (since July 2025)
- Start with the services the regional center authorized for you in the last 12 months.
- Add needed services your IPP team identifies that aren't already authorized.
- Subtract services the regional center pays for outside SDP, and one-time expenses.
If you had less than $2,000 in authorized services in the last 12 months, your IPP team must talk with you about unmet needs. Joining SDP doesn't lower your budget, and it can't be more than your services would cost outside SDP.
Changes during the year
Your budget can go up or down if your needs, circumstances or resources change, and the change would have happened even if you weren't in SDP. For example, you moved, a service ended, or you became eligible for a generic service.
Your spending plan
It lists each service, its SDP service code, how often you'll use it, and what it costs. Before it starts, your regional center certifies that each item:
- Helps with goals in your IPP
- Isn't available from generic resources like Medi-Cal, IHSS, the Department of Rehabilitation, school districts or private insurance
- Is a service allowed by the federal SDP waiver
You can move money between services and budget categories at any time during the budget year, with approval from your regional center or IPP team. The regional center must tell your FMS about a spending plan change within three business days.
The three budget categories
| Category | Example services (with SDP codes) |
|---|---|
| Living Arrangement | Community Living Supports (320), Respite (310, 311), Homemaker (313), Housing Access Supports (314), Live-In Caregiver (312) |
| Employment & Community Participation | Community Integration Supports (331), Participant-Directed Goods and Services (333), Individual Training and Education (334), Employment Supports (335), Technology (336), Non-Medical Transportation (338), Independent Facilitator (340) |
| Health & Safety | Behavioral Intervention (364), Communication Support (360), Crisis Intervention (363), Specialized Medical Equipment (365), therapies, and more |
Paid outside your budget
These don't come out of your individual budget: FMS fees (paid by the regional center since July 1, 2022), insurance co-pays, Competitive Integrated Employment incentives, Paid Internship Program payments, certain rent payments, SSI/SSP, Coordinated Family Supports, and Coordinated Career Pathways.
Amelio Services members have a Spending Plan Helper in their dashboard's library.
Who helps you
- You and your circle
- You lead. Your circle of support is the family, friends and others you choose to help you plan.
- Service coordinator
- Your regional center contact. They lead the IPP process and certify your budget and spending plan. If you don't have an IF, they help with IF tasks.
- Participant Choice Specialist
- Regional center staff who focus on SDP and other self-directed options. At RCOC, reach the SDP team at (714) 796-3760.
- Independent Facilitator (IF)
- Optional. A person you choose and direct who helps with person-centered planning, your budget, finding providers and your IPP. IFs must be trained in self-determination and person-centered planning. An IF can't also provide your other services. If there's a cost, it comes from your budget (code 340).
- Financial Management Service (FMS)
- Pays your providers and workers, checks their qualifications, arranges background checks, handles payroll in employer models, and sends monthly statements. The FMS doesn't control your budget.
- Providers
- The people and businesses who deliver your services, like Amelio Services. In SDP, many providers don't need to be regional center vendors. Your FMS checks that they qualify.
- Supporters
- A conservator, authorized representative, or people who help through a Supported Decision-Making agreement.
How do the three FMS models compare?
Every SDP participant uses an FMS. You also choose a model. Many people use more than one kind of payment through the same FMS, for example paying a business like Amelio Services and also hiring their own workers.
| Bill Payer | Co-Employer | Sole Employer | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who is the employer? | The business or agency you buy from | You and the FMS together. The FMS is the employer of record. | You |
| Your role | Choose providers and approve invoices | Interview, schedule, supervise, approve timesheets | Hire, schedule, supervise, approve timesheets |
| Payroll, taxes, workers' comp | The business handles it | The FMS handles it | The FMS runs payroll. You get workers' comp insurance. |
| Good for | Agencies, businesses and community classes | Hiring your own workers with shared responsibility | The most control, with the most employer duties |
Source: DDS FMS Model Comparison Chart (also in Spanish, Vietnamese and other languages on the DDS FMS page).
Your rights
- SDP is voluntary. You can leave at any time, and the regional center helps you move back to traditional services.
- You keep all your rights as a regional center client, including appeals and fair hearings.
- If you disagree with a decision, like your budget or a service, you can appeal. You have 60 days from the notice to file. To keep your current services during the appeal, file within 30 days of getting the Notice of Action and before the change takes effect. Options include an informal meeting, mediation and a hearing.
- If you move to another regional center area, you can stay in SDP.
Free help with problems
Office of Clients' Rights Advocacy (OCRA), for RCOC: (714) 621-0563, OCRA.RCOC@disabilityrightsca.org
Office of the Developmental Services Ombudsperson: 1-877-658-9731, Ombudsperson@dds.ca.gov (live 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday to Friday)
DDS appeals: Appeals, complaints and comments, 833-538-3723
Common questions
Will SDP give me more money?
Not by itself. Your budget is based on the services you'd get in the traditional system. What SDP changes is how much choice you have in using it.
Do I need an Independent Facilitator?
No. An IF is optional. Many people find one helpful, especially at the start. If you don't use one, your service coordinator helps with those tasks.
Can I hire family members?
Often, yes. In general, legally responsible people, like parents of minor children and spouses, can't be paid for duties they already have. A parent who is an adult child's conservator or has power of attorney may be paid for SDP services they're qualified to provide. Workers who give direct personal care need a background check, except paid family members who live in the same home.
Does SDP pay for IHSS?
No. In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) is a generic resource with its own program. You use generic resources first, and SDP fills in what they don't cover.
How long does it take to start?
It varies. Staying organized helps: keep your certificates, notes and questions in one place. Our SDP Journey tool can help you track each step.
Where can I find providers?
Ask your IF and service coordinator, check the California SDP Network directory of IFs and providers, and see the RCOC FMS provider lists on RCOC's SDP page.
Good to know
These parts are helpful, but you do not need them to get started.
What changed in SDP in 2025 and 2026?
| When | What changed |
|---|---|
| July 2025 | A state law (AB 143) changed how first budgets are calculated, required regional centers to certify spending plans against three tests, and confirmed you can move funds between services with approval. |
| October 2025 | The new Office of the Developmental Services Ombudsperson opened to help people with regional center services, including SDP. |
| March 2026 | DDS asked regional centers to help eligible SDP participants enroll in Medi-Cal and the SDP waiver. |
| April 1, 2026 | Orientation became two required parts, given only by SCDD. |
| July 1, 2026 | The federal SDP waiver was renewed through June 2031. It updates person-centered planning and the IPP format, standardizes FMS rates, adds a new grievance process, and lists services that can be delivered by telehealth. |
| Coming up | DDS is working on statewide SDP standards for all regional centers (due by March 1, 2027) and a written definition of "cost-effective" under AB 143. Check the DDS SDP directives page for updates. |
Where are the official sources?
- DDS Self-Determination Program
- DDS SDP Frequently Asked Questions (updated April 2026)
- DDS directive: Initial Individual Budgets and Spending Plans (November 2025)
- DDS directive: Orientation Update (March 2026)
- DDS directive: Initial Person-Centered Plan and Pre-Enrollment Transition Supports (July 2024)
- DDS Home and Community-Based Services waivers (SDP waiver renewal effective July 1, 2026)
- SCDD SDP Orientation
- Regional Center of Orange County: Self-Determination
This page explains SDP in plain language. It isn't legal advice. Rules can change, so check with your regional center for decisions about your services. Last reviewed October 2026.