BILL NUMBER: AB 313 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 1, 2007
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 29, 2007
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Members Benoit, Evans, and Lieu
( Coauthors: Assembly Members
Beall, Berryhill, Jeffries, and
Spitzer )
FEBRUARY 9, 2007
An act to add Article 2.5 (commencing with Section 1596.8791) to
Chapter 3.4 of Division 2 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to
child day care facilities.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 313, as amended, Benoit. Child day care facility
rating system.
Existing law, the California Child Day Care Facilities Act,
provides for the licensure and regulation of specified types of child
day care facilities responsible for the regular care of children.
Existing law requires each child day care facility to post a written
notice accessible to parents and guardians and requires the notice to
include prescribed information. A willful violation of these
provisions is a crime.
This bill would require the State Department of Social Services,
not later than July 1, 2008 by January 1,
2010 , to develop and implement a licensed child day care
facility rating system for quality of care and child safety ,
after implementing an unannounced visitation system .
This bill would require that the department post the ratings
information on the department's Internet Web site, and update the
posted ratings as often as possible to maintain current and accurate
information. It would require each facility to post its rating in a
conspicuous place at the facility. By changing the definition of an
existing crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local
program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) The State Department of Social Services licenses thousands of
child day care facilities statewide that serve over one million
children.
(b) Parents seeking child care for their children should be able
to readily access information about the health and safety records of
child day care facilities licensed by the State Department of Social
Services Community Care Licensing Division.
(c) Legislation needs to be enacted that would ensure that
accurate information on child day care facilities in the
state is provided to child day care consumers by the State Department
of Social Services. The department should also establish a child day
care facility rating system that is regularly updated to include
information about a facility's compliance with relevant state laws
and regulations based on the department's inspection records, or
inspections resulting from child day care consumer
complaints.
SEC. 2. Article 2.5 (commencing with Section 1596.8791) is added
to Chapter 3.4 of Division 2 of the Health and Safety Code,
immediately following Section 1596.879, to read:
Article 2.5. Licensed Child Day Care Facility Rating System
1596.8791. (a) The Legislature finds and declares that the state
licenses approximately 58,000 licensed child day care facilities
serving approximately 1.2 million children. However, there is little
information available to parents about the safety and quality of the
care provided by these facilities.
(b) The goal of this article is to do all of the following:
(1) To provide parents with readily available information about
child day care facilities so that parents will be better
able to make informed decisions relating to their children's child
day care.
(2) To provide child day care providers with feedback
about their services so that they could make changes in order to
improve their services to meet consumer expectations.
(3) To provide state and local policymakers with information so as
to more efficiently target available resources.
1596.8792. (a) The State Department of Social Services shall,
no later than July 1, 2008 by January 1,
2010, and subsequent to implementation of a system of unannounced
visits for family day care homes of at least once every three years,
and for child day care centers of at least once every two years
, develop and implement a rating system for child day care
facilities in accordance with the following requirements:
(1) The department shall review its files and baseline inspection
records, and shall assign a rating to each licensed child
day care facility based on information obtained on the facility for
the period on and after January 1, 2005. If a facility has been
licensed after January 1, 2005, or in cases where there is no
inspection or compliance information for a facility, the facility
shall be identified as a facility that has not been rated due to
insufficient data for rating.
(2) If a child day care facility is given a rating in accordance
with paragraph (1) and, as a result of a department visit or
inspection, the facility's rating needs to be revised, the department
shall update the facility's rating within 30 days from the date of
the visit or inspection.
(3) If a child day care facility has not been visited or inspected
on or after January 1, 2005, the department shall conduct a file
review and update the information on a facility at the earliest
possible time. A facility that desires to update its information for
purposes of the ratings rating system
prior to the time of the department's next regularly scheduled visit
or inspection may request the department to conduct a file review or
make a facility visit or inspection to update the facility's rating.
The department may charge a fee to a facility requesting an
updated rating review to cover the cost of the additional review or
inspection.
(4) If the department determines that a child day care facility's
rating will be changed, it shall provide the facility with written
notification of the rating change prior to the time the department
includes information on the updated rating on its Internet Web site,
if applicable.
(b) (1) The ratings rating system
developed and implemented pursuant to subdivision (a) shall contain
the following information regarding a facility's level of compliance
with state child day care facility licensing laws:
(A) "Not rated" means there is insufficient data for rating a
child day care facility.
(B) "Grade A" means a child day care facility holds a valid
license, is in good standing with the department, and has no pending
compliance issues. A child day care facility that receives a Grade A
rating shall have no documented record, in the prior three years, of
any of the following violations:
(i) A failure to correct a serious deficiency.
(ii) A repeated citation of the same serious deficiency.
(iii) A record of a child's injury as a result of a serious
deficiency.
(iv) A record of a temporary license suspension, or an accusation
for probation or revocation of a license.
(C) "Grade B" means a child day care facility has some licensing
compliance issues within the prior three years. A child day care
facility that receives a Grade B rating is a facility that has a
documented record, in the prior three years, of having received three
or fewer of the following violations:
(i) A failure to correct a serious deficiency.
(ii) A repeated citation of the same serious deficiency.
(iii) A record of a child's injury as a result of a serious
deficiency.
(D) "Grade C" means a child day care facility has some serious,
ongoing licensing compliance issues within the prior three years. A
child day care facility that receives a Grade C rating is a facility
that has a documented record, in the prior three years, of having
been issued a temporary license suspension order, or an accusation
for probation or revocation of the facility's license, or that has a
documented record of having had more than three occurrences of any of
the following violations:
(i) A failure to correct a serious deficiency.
(ii) A repeated citation of the same serious deficiency.
(iii) A record of a child's injury as a result of a serious
deficiency.
(2) For purposes of this paragraph, "serious deficiency" means a
violation of a state law or regulation regulating child day care
facilities that presents an immediate or potential risk to the health
and safety of one or more children at the facility.
(c) The department shall post the facility ratings developed
pursuant to subdivision (a) on its Internet Web site and shall update
the posted ratings as often as possible to maintain current and
accurate information. The department shall also provide each child
day care facility licensed pursuant to this chapter with a written
copy of its rating, as determined pursuant to this article, and all
relevant information used in the determination of that rating. Each
child day care facility shall post its rating in a conspicuous place
at the facility.
SEC. 3. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the
Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the
meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.