BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 1087
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Date of Hearing: June 26, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Jim Beall Jr., Chair
SB 1087 (Walters) - As Amended: June 7, 2012
SENATE VOTE : 37-0
SUBJECT : After School Education and Safety (ASES) Programs and
Organized Camps
SUMMARY : This measure would double the hours by which an after
school program operated by a city, county or non-profit could
operate, and expands the definition of an organized resident
camp and organized day camp. Specifically, this bill :
1)Increases the number of hours a week from 30 to 60 that an
after school program operated by a city, county or non-profit
may operate.
2)Exempts from licensure under the California Child Day Care
Facility Act (CDCFA) and the California Community Care
Facilities Act (CCCFA) any local after school program
administered by a city, county or non-profit that operates for
no more than 60 hours a week.
3)Prohibits a pupil from attending a locally operated ASES
program for more than 30 hours a week.
4)Restricts a locally operated ASES program from receiving
additional funding pursuant to this subdivision.
5)Establishes the definition of an Organized Resident Camp
(ORC), as specified.
6)Establishes the definition of an Organized Day Camp (ODC), as
specified.
7)Deletes the authority of the Department of Social Services to
determine by regulations whether ORCs or ODCs should be
licensed.
8)Requires ODC staff to have a criminal background check as
required by subdivision (a) of Section 30751 of Title 17 of
the CCR.
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9)Requires ORCs or ODCs operated by a city or county to comply
with this chapter.
10)Requires the CDPH to seek public input when amending the ORC
and ODC rules and regulations.
EXISTING LAW
1)Establishes the ASES program to create incentives for
establishing locally driven before and after school enrichment
programs both during schooldays and summer, intersession, or
vacation days that partner public schools and communities to
provide academic and literacy support and safe, constructive
alternatives for youth.
2)Exempts locally operated and funded after school programs not
affiliated with the ASES program to be exempt from child care
licensure if they operate for no more than 30 hours per week.
3)Exempts from child care licensure recreation programs operated
by the Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Boys Club, Girls Club, or Camp
Fire, or similar organizations as determined by regulations of
the Department of Social Services (DSS).
4)Establishes the California Child Day Care Facilities Act
(CCDCFA) to provide a comprehensive, quality system for
licensing child care facilities to ensure a quality day care
environment and states that good quality child care services
are essential services for working parents.
5)Sets licensing requirements and provides authority to DSS to
develop and adopt regulations to administer the act, including
the authority to set licensing standards for facilities that
provide nonmedical care to children under the age of 18.
6)Defines a "day care center" as any child day care facility
other than a family day care home, and includes infant
centers, preschools, extended day care facilities, and school
age child care centers.
7)Requires all employees of child day care centers to undergo a
criminal background check and clearance.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
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COMMENTS :
SB 1087 is a reintroduction of SB 737 (Walters) from last year,
which was vetoed by the Governor. Here is the Governor's veto
message:
I am returning Senate Bill 737 without my signature.
I agree with the author's intent to clarify and simply the
regulation of organized camps, but this measure does not
achieve this goal. I am directing the Department of Public
Health and Department of Social Services to work with the
author and interested advocates to resolve this issue in
the coming year.
Need for the bill
According to the author, "SB 1087 is a re-introduction of SB 737
which passed last year, but was vetoed by the Governor based on
some concerns raised by the Department of Public Health and the
Department of Social Services, which we have addressed in this
bill. This bill defines an "organized day camp" and makes
technical changes to add and correct outdated names of youth
serving organizations that provide recreation programs. The
bill also specifies appropriate oversight and approval for ropes
and challenge courses operated by organized camps, and require
camps to provide written operating plans or proof of
accreditation to their local health departments. SB 1087 also
allows ASES programs operated by city, county or nonprofit
organizations to operate up to 60 hours per week instead of the
current 30 hours. The 30 hour limitation makes it difficult to
serve students who attend kindergarten and typically attend
school for half days, and for students who have parents with
non-traditional work schedules."
ASES Program
The ASES Program was established by Proposition 39 in 2002 to
school districts with grant based funding for after school
programs in three-year terms. This proposition amended
California Education Code (EC) sections 8482-8482.55 to expand
and rename the former Before and After School Learning and Safe
Neighborhood Partnerships Program (ASLSNP) Program as the ASES
Program.
According to the California Department of Education (CDE), ASES
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programs are created through partnerships between schools and
communities to provide literacy support, academic enrichment,
and safe, constructive alternatives for students in kindergarten
through grade nine (K-9). Funding is designed to provide
elementary and middle schools that submit applications to
establish before and after school programs with a three-year
grant. According to the CDE, by definition, an ASES program is
one that receives ASES grant funding.
Under current law, ASES programs are exempt from child care
licensure because they are associated and located on local
school campus. This exemption allows locally operated and
funded ASES programs to operate for a reasonable number of hours
before and after the school day without having to pursue a child
care license. This can be seen in the legislative history of
Section 8484.3 of the Education Code, which provides for this
specific licensure exemption.
Section 8484.3 of the Education Code was initially established
by SB 1756 (Lockyer), Chapter 320, Statutes of 1998 that created
the initial ASLSNP Program. Under this measure locally operated
ASES programs were exempted from licensure if they operated for
no more than 20 hours a week. Three years later, the state
adopted AB 6 (Cardenas), Chapter 545, Statutes of 2001
increasing the allowable hours of operation to 30.
According to the co-sponsors of this bill, the YMCA and the
California Collaboration for Youth (CCY), "the current 30 hour
limitation makes it difficult to serve students who attend
kindergarten and typically attend school for half days, and for
students who have parents with non-traditional work schedules."
In order to balance the operational need of ASES programs with
state health and safety concerns, this measure restricts any one
pupil from attending an ASES program for more than 30 hours, but
would allow the program to operate for up to 60 hours a week.
However, by doubling the number of hours an ASES program may
operate, it can create ambiguity as to whether it is providing
ASES services or child care services.
Organized Camps
Organized camps are currently defined as programs and facilities
that operate recreational programs, typically summer camp or
related programs associated with the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts,
and the Boys and Girls Club, which are exempt from the licensure
under the CCDCFA.
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According to the CCY, this measure is need to "define an
'organized day camp' and makes technical changes to add and
correct outdated names of youth serving organizations that
provide recreation programs."
This measure does "modernize" the definition of organized camps,
by splitting it into two definitions to refer to those organized
camps that operate by day and those that provide residentially
based camps. It adds an organized camp operated by the YMCA to
the list of license exempt camps and deletes the authority of
the DSS to identify "similar organizations" that could be
exempted from licensure. It also limits the application of
existing organized camp regulations to some but not all
applicable sections of Title 17 of the CCR, including health
supervision, safety supervision, and firearms requirements.
This raises concerns as to whether it weakens standards by which
the state provides for the health and safety of children who
attend ORCs and ODCs. It is also uncommon for state statute to
cite the CCR, as state statute pre-empts regulations.
SB 1087 would also establish a process by which locally operated
ORCs and ODCs would file operating plans and ACA accreditation
with their local health department. This new process would
supersede Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations, which
governs the operating procedures of organized camps and would
likely require the CDPH to revise its existing regulations or
promulgate additional regulations to implement this measure.
It is unclear why it is necessary to establish new procedures
for the accreditation of ORCs and ODCs when existing regulations
appear sufficient. Under current regulations, organized camps
are required to comply with requirements including but not
limited to:
1) Camp safety requirements
2) Operational notifications and filings
3) Operating procedures
4) Water availability and quality
5) Hygiene and sanitation
6) Facility and food service safety
7) Health and safety supervision
8) Firearm safety
9) Emergency procedures
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SB 1087 would exempt ODCs from complying with health and safety
supervision, firearm safety and emergency procedures. It is
reasonable to modernize and bring the definition of an organized
camp into alignment with current practice, however, it does not
appear necessary to substantially supersede existing regulations
with statute that could potentially lessen the health and safety
standards by which organized camps shall comply.
Differences between an ORC and ODC
As proposed, the measure establishes separate definitions for an
ORC and ODC, however, an ORC is not required to have children
stay overnight and an ODC is allowed to have children stay
overnight for up to three night. This is problematic as it blurs
the line between the two. According to the author, the allowance
for children to stay over three nights is to allow ODCs to take
campers on extended fields trips, such as a trip to Disneyland.
To ensure that there is no ambiguity of whether a camp is a ORC
or ODC, it should be clarified that the three overnight stays
are for field trips.
Criminal Background Checks
Under current regulations, all organized staff shall not have
direct unsupervised contact with campers without first obtaining
a satisfactory criminal history record check from the California
Department of Justice, Bureau of Criminal Identification, or
U.S. Department of Justice National Sex Offender Public
Registry. Under this requirement, a staff person only has to
have a background check conducted under one of the three
entities listed, which does not provide a comprehensive
assessment of whether the person is allowed to have unsupervised
contact with children.
The bill should be amended to provide stricter background check
requirements similar to those required of staff employed by
state licensed child care agencies, but be reflective of
concerns noted by the International Health, Racquet and
Sportsclub Association's support if amended letter to apply
appropriate background check requirements for staff under the
age of 18.
RECOMMENDED AMENDMENTS
Committee staff recommends the following amendments:
1)On page two, line 10 after "60 hours per week" add the
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following language to read: " but not allow a pupil to attend
an ASES program for more than 30 hours per week"
2)On page two, lines 13 and 14 delete "A pupil shall not attend
an ASES program for more than 30 hours per week."
3)On page three, line three after "similar organizations" add as
determined by regulations of the department
4)On page three, line six add a comma after "(commencing with
Section 1596.90)"
5)On page three, line 15 delete "Programs, retreats," delete
lines 16 through 19, and delete "of Regulations" on line 20.
6)On page three, line 31 after "seasonally" for five consecutive
days or more by day,
7)On page three, delete lines 32 and 33 and delete "6 of Title
17 of the California Code of Regulations." on line 34.
8)On page three, line 38 after "overnight stays" insert for
purposes of an off-site field trip
9)On page three, on line 39 delete "If an" and delete line 40.
10)On page four, delete lines one through 11.
11)On page four, line 22 delete "Other similar camping
associations." and insert "The Girl Scouts of the USA."
12)On page four, line 23 after "Each employee" add the following
language to read:
18 years of age and older of an organized resident camp and an
organized day camp shall obtain a criminal history check from
the California Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of
Investigation. All staff, regardless of age shall have their
name checked on United States (US) Department of Justice's
National Sex Offender Registry. No person shall be permitted
to work for an organized day camp or an organized residential
camp if he or she is listed as a sex offender on the US
Department of Justice's National Sex Offender Registry or has
been convicted of any of the following:
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(1) An offense specified in Section 220, 243.4, or 264.1,
subdivision (a) of Section 273a or, prior to January 1,
1994, paragraph (1) of Section 273a, Section 273d, 288, or
289, subdivision (c) of Section 290, or Section 368 of the
Penal Code, or was convicted of another crime against an
individual specified in subdivision (c) of Section 667.5 of
the Penal Code.
(2) A felony offense specified in Section 729 of the
Business and Professions Code or Section 206 or 215,
subdivision (a) of Section 347, subdivision (b) of Section
417, or subdivision (a) or (b) of Section 451 of the Penal
Code.
13)On page four, line 23 delete "of an organized day camp `shall
have a" and lines 24 and 25.
14)On page five, line 11 delete "If the local health department
does not respond within the," line 12 and "or operating plan
shall be deemed approved."
15)On page five, line 32 after "following" add , as approved by
the Department of Public Health
16)On page five, delete line 36.
17)On page six, amend lines five through 13 to read:
The State Department of Public Health shall review, amend and
adopt, as necessary, regulations governing organized resident
camps and organized day camps in consultation with , in
amending the rules and regulations pertaining to organized
resident camps and organized day camps as set forth in
Sections 30700 to 30753, inclusive, of Title 17 of the
California Code of Regulations, shall make reasonable efforts
to obtain the input and advice of organizations in the field.
organizations that operate organized resident camps and
organized day camps and other stakeholders, including the
public, to implement this chapter no later than January 1,
2015. All costs incurred by the participating organizations
shall be borne by the organizations themselves. The department
shall implement this section in the most cost-effective manner
deemed feasible.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
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Support
Aldersgate Retreat Center
American Camp Association, California
American Day Camp
AstroCamp
California Collaboration for Youth (Co-Sponsor)
California State Alliance of YMCAs (Co-Sponsor)
Camp Conrad-Chinnock
Camp Fire USA Inland Southern California Council
Camp Kinneret
Camp Ocean Pines
Camp Ronald McDonald for Good Times
Camp Whittier
Catalina Island Camps
Catalina Sea Camp
Central Valley Tennis Camp
Colvig Silver Camps
Diabetic Youth Foundation
Dunn School and Dunn Summer Program
Forest home, Inc.
Four Winds Westward Ho
Friends of Camp El-O-Win
Gold Arrow Camp
High Sierra Camp, Inc.
Hume Lake Christian Camps
Indian Hills Camp
Jameson Ranch Camp
Los Angeles County 4-H Summer Camp
Mission Springs Camp and Conference Center
Mount Hermon Christian Camps and Conference Center
Mountain Camp
Pall Adventures
Peninsula Activities
Plantation Farm Camp
Redwood Glen, Camp and Conference Center
San Gabriel Valley YMCA
Santa Maria Valley YMCA
Shasta family YMCA
Sierra Adventure Camps
Southern California Lutheran Camps
The Bar 7a7 Ranch
Tocaloma Summer Day Camp
Tom Sawyer Camp
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Tumbleweed Day Camp
YMCA East Bay
YMCA of Central Bay Area
YMCA of Greater Long Beach
Yosemite Sierra Summer Camp
3 Individuals
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Opposition
SummerKids Camp
Analysis Prepared by : Chris Reefe / HUM. S. / (916) 319-2089