(a) The protection and advocacy agency, in protecting and advocating for the rights of people with disabilities, pursuant to the federal mandate, may exercise any authority specified in this section when one or more of the following occurs: (1) The agency receives a complaint or report of alleged abuse or neglect, or of an incident in which an individual is in serious and immediate jeopardy. (2) The agency determines that probable cause exists that an individual has been or may be subject to abuse or neglect. (3) The agency determines that the health or safety of an individual is in serious and immediate jeopardy. (b) If subdivision (a) applies, the protections and advocacy agency may exercise the authority granted pursuant to subdivision (a) to do all of the following: (1) Investigate any incident of alleged abuse or neglect of any person with a disability. This authority includes reasonable unaccompanied access to a facility, program, or service provider, and authority to examine all relevant records and interview any facility, program, or service provider recipient, employee, or other person who may have knowledge of the alleged abuse or neglect. (2) Pursue administrative, legal, and other appropriate remedies or approaches to ensure the protection of the rights of people with disabilities. (3) Provide information and training on, and referral to, programs and services addressing the needs of people with disabilities, including information and training regarding individual rights and the services available from the protection and advocacy agency. (4) Monitor a facilityâs, programâs, or service providerâs compliance with respect to the rights and safety of individuals with disabilities. (c) The protection and advocacy agency and its authorized agents shall, in addition, have reasonable unaccompanied access to public or private facilities, programs, and service providers, including all areas of the facility, program, or service providersâ premises that are used by, or accessible to, individuals with disabilities and reasonable unaccompanied access to those persons. (1) (A) The protection and advocacy agency shall have reasonable unaccompanied access to all public or private facilities, programs, or service providers, including to users of those facilities, programs, and services, at all times as are necessary, and without advance notice, to investigate incidents of alleged abuse and neglect in accord with paragraph (1) of subdivision (b). (B) Access pursuant to this paragraph includes the opportunity to interview any individual with a disability, employee, or other person, including a person alleged to be the victim of abuse, who might be reasonably believed by the protection and advocacy agency to have knowledge of an incident under investigation. Except as otherwise required by law, the protection and advocacy agency shall not be required to provide the name or other identifying information regarding any individual with a disability or staff with whom it plans to meet or to justify or explain its interactions with those persons. (C) Access to an individual pursuant to this paragraph shall be afforded immediately, except as otherwise provided in paragraph (3), upon request. (2) The protection and advocacy agency shall have reasonable unaccompanied access during reasonable times, which, at a minimum, includes normal working hours and visiting hours, for other advocacy services. Protection and advocacy agency activities shall be conducted so as to minimize interference with service provider programs, respect individuals with disabilitiesâ privacy interests, and honor a recipientâs request to terminate an interview. This access includes, but is not limited to, all of the following: (A) Providing information and training on, and referral to programs addressing the needs of, individuals with disabilities, and information and training on individual rights and the protection and advocacy services available from the agen
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