As used in this chapter:
(1) "Applicant" means a person who is believed to have intellectual disability, one or more related disabilities, one or more head injuries, one or more spinal cord injuries, or an infant at high risk of a developmental disability who has applied for services of the South Carolina Department of Disabilities and Special Needs.
(2) "Client" is a person who is determined by the Department of Disabilities and Special Needs to have intellectual disability, a related disability, head injury, or spinal cord injury and is receiving services or is an infant at risk of having a developmental disability and is receiving services.
(3) "Commission" means the South Carolina Commission on Disabilities and Special Needs, the policy-making and governing body of the Department of Disabilities and Special Needs.
(4) "County disabilities and special needs boards" means the local public body administering, planning, coordinating, or providing services within a county or combination of counties for persons with intellectual disability, related disabilities, head injuries, or spinal cord injuries and recognized by the department.
(5) "Day programs" are programs provided to persons with intellectual disability, related disabilities, head injuries, or spinal cord injuries outside of their residences affording development, training, employment, or recreational opportunities as prescribed by the Department of Disabilities and Special Needs.
(6) "Department" means the South Carolina Department of Disabilities and Special Needs.
(7) "Director" means the South Carolina Director of the Department of Disabilities and Special Needs, the chief executive director appointed by the commission.
(8) "Disabilities and special needs services" are activities designed to achieve the results specified in an individual client's plan.
(9) "High risk infant" means a child less than thirty-six months of age whose genetic, medical, or environmental history is predictive of a substantially greater risk for a developmental disability than that for the general population.
(10) "Least restrictive environment" means the surrounding circumstances that provide as little intrusion and disruption from the normal pattern of living as possible.
(11) "Improvements" means the construction, reconstruction of buildings, and other permanent improvements for regional centers and other programs provided by the department directly or through contract with county boards of disabilities and special needs, including equipment and the cost of acquiring and improving lands for equipment.
(12) "Intellectual disability" means significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the developmental period.
(13) "Obligations" means the obligations in the form of notes or bonds or contractual agreements issued or entered into by the commission pursuant to the authorization of this chapter and of Act 1377 of 1968 to provide funds with which to repay the proceeds of capital improvement bonds allocated by the State Fiscal Accountability Authority.
(14) "Regional residential center" is a twenty-four hour residential facility serving a multicounty area and designated by the department.
(15) "Related disability" is a severe, chronic condition found to be closely related to intellectual disability or to require treatment similar to that required for persons with intellectual disability and must meet the following conditions:
(a) It is attributable to cerebral palsy, epilepsy, autism, or any other condition other than mental illness found to be closely related to intellectual disability because this condition results in impairment of general intellectual functioning or adaptive behavior similar to that of persons with intellectual disability and requires treatment or services similar to those required for these persons.
(b) It is manifested before twenty-two years of age.
(c) It is likely to continue indefinitely.
(d) It results in substantial functional limitations in three or more of the following areas of major life activity: self-care, understanding and use of language, learning, mobility, self-direction, and capacity for independent living.
(16) "Residential programs" are services providing dwelling places to clients for an extended period of time with assistance for activities of daily living ranging from constant to intermittent supervision as required by the individual client's needs.
(17) "Revenues" or "its revenues" means revenue derived from paying clients at regional residential centers and community residences but does not include Medicaid, Medicare, or other federal funds received with the stipulation that they be used to provide services to clients.
(18) "State capital improvement bonds" means bonds issued pursuant to Act 1377 of 1968.
(19) "Department" shall mean the State Department of Administration as constituted pursuant to Chapter 11, Title 1.
HISTORY: 1990 Act No. 496, Section 1; 1993 Act No. 181, Section 1078; 2011 Act No. 47, Section 2, eff June 7, 2011.