BILL ANALYSIS Ó SB 309 Page 1 Date of Hearing: August 17, 2011 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Felipe Fuentes, Chair SB 309 (Liu) - As Amended: June 16, 2011 Policy Committee: Human ServicesVote:6 - 0 Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: Yes Reimbursable: No SUMMARY This bill allows child care facilities licensed to provide care for school age children to also provide child care for people between the ages of 18 and 22 who are developmentally disabled and enrolled in a special education program, if certain conditions are met. FISCAL EFFECT Costs associated with this legislation would be minor and absorbable within existing resources. COMMENTS 1)Rationale . The author points to inconsistencies between the Education Code and the Health and Safety Code as the basis for this bill. Young adults who have not yet completed their courses of study are eligible for inclusion in special education programs with minors until age 22. On the other hand, in the world of licensed child day care, 18-year-olds are too old. The problem comes with care provided to school-aged youth who need extended day care services before and after their special education programs. The sponsor of this bill, Ability First, has been advised that its child care license is not valid for adults who are still attending a special education program. To serve this small segment of their population, a separate license-for adult day programs-is required. 2)Background . Until recently, DSS regularly reviewed requests SB 309 Page 2 for individual exceptions to enable special education students with developmental disabilities to attend child day care facilities. However, DSS authority to grant individual exceptions or facility waivers applies only to regulatory licensing requirements, not to statutory requirements. Therefore, that practice was stopped after the passage of the California Child Day Care Facilities Act, which explicitly stated its intent to establish a licensing structure for child day care facilities separate from those facility types administered under the Community Care Facilities Act, which includes, for example, adult day programs serving people with developmental disabilities. This bill would authorize DSS to grant exceptions to the statutory age limit for child day care facilities under conditions specified in the bill. Analysis Prepared by : Julie Salley-Gray / APPR. / (916) 319-2081