BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 273
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Date of Hearing: May 8, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 273 (Rendon) - As Amended: April 8, 2013
Policy Committee: Education
Vote:6-1
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill establishes the California Partnership for Infants and
Toddlers Act of 2013 (CPIT Act), which provides supplemental
funding to serve infants and toddlers from birth to three years
of age. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI), on or
before March 1, 2014, to apply to the California Children and
Families Commission (First 5 California) for moneys received
pursuant to the California Children and Families (CCF) program
to provide funding to agencies who serve infants and toddlers
via a supplemental grant.
2)Establishes that the moneys received by the SPI for these
purposes are continuously appropriated and are required to be
expended by the SPI by making supplemental grants available to
qualifying general child care and development of infant and
toddler agencies that serve these children at an amount not
less than $2,500 annually per child.
3)Requires the moneys received to be used to offer support
services to enrolled children and families, including, but not
limited to, health and nutrition, home visitation, early
childhood mental health, parental involvement, and
supplemental early learning services.
4)Requires the SPI, in consultation with First 5 California, to
determine which general child care and development infant and
toddler contracting agencies and support services qualify for
funding. Further requires the SPI to establish standards to
ensure quality child care, based on the federal Early Head
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Start program model and other evidence-based services provided
to these children.
5)Requires the SPI to minimize and simplify the administrative
and reporting requirements for contracting agencies. Further
requires the SPI, on or before March 1, 2017, to submit a
report to the Legislature evaluating the effectiveness of the
supplemental grants with regard to supporting the healthy
development and school readiness of children.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Annual GF/98 costs, of at least $2.5 million, to provide a
supplemental grant for infant and toddlers, as specified. The
author has indicated he is working with First 5 about
utilizing their revenue as a funding source for this measure.
The First 5's November 2012 Financial Statement indicated its
child care account has a surplus of $25,000. At this time, it
is unclear
if these funds or any other of the commission's funds are
available to implement this measure.
2)According to the LAO, the Governor's proposed 2013-14 Budget
"does not contain notable reductions for child care and
preschool programs. Based primarily on minor changes in
funding for the three stages of CalWORKs child care, overall
funding for child care and preschool programs would increase
by $12 million (one percent) compared to the revised
current-year level. The Governor proposes only very small
changes (less than $1 million) in GF spending for non-CalWORKs
child care programs and in Proposition 98 spending for State
Preschool. Additionally, the Governor's proposal does not
include a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for any child care
or preschool program, as the 2012-[Budget Act] suspended COLAs
for these programs through 2014-15."
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . In the 2013 State of the Union, President Obama
challenged Congress to expand early childhood education
programs. Specifically, the president's proposed 2014 Budget
provides $1.4 billion "to establish a new Early Head
Start-Child Care partnership [to] support communities that
extend the availability of Early Head Start as well as child
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care providers that can meet high standards of quality for
infants and toddlers." At this time, there are no further
details on this proposal.
According to the author, "Research shows that children who
participated in Early Head Start had significantly larger
vocabularies and scored higher on standardized measures of
cognitive development, and that children and parents had more
positive interactions, and parents provided more support for
learning. Many different home visiting programs have been
shown to significantly reduce the occurrence of child
maltreatment and abuse, and improve children's health and
school success." This bill proposes to augment child care
programs that serve children from birth to age three, as
specified.
2)How many infants and toddlers are currently being serviced in
general child care centers ? General child care programs,
administered by SDE, are state and federally funded programs
that use centers, and family child care home networks operated
or administered by either public or private agencies and local
educational agencies. These agencies provide child development
services for children from birth through 12 years of age and
older children with exceptional needs. According to SDE, the
following chart details the number of infants and toddlers
served in Title 5 child care centers over the last three
years:
--------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------
Source: SDE Monthly Child Care Report Oct. 2009 (archived
data), Oct. 2010 (archived data), Oct. 2011 (preliminary
data).
Note: Data represents a "point in time" and does not
reflect annual aggregate figures. Counts represent the
total number of unduplicated children served in Title 5
Child Care Centers under the age of 36 months.
Title 5 general child care centers (licensed centers and
family child care homes) that have direct service contracts
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with SDE earn a standards reimbursement rate (SSR).
Specifically, contractors are paid at a daily SSR for each
eligible child they serve. The SSR is the same in all regions
of the state, with additional funds provided to centers that
care for infants, toddlers, and children with special needs.
In the 2011-12 fiscal year, the SSR full-day rate was $58.45
for infants and $48.13 for toddlers.
This bill proposes a supplemental grant of not less than
$2,500 for infants and toddlers served in general child care
programs.
3)The California Children and Families Commission (First 5
California) established by the enactment of Proposition 10 in
November 1998, is funded by a tax on tobacco products
equivalent to $.50 per pack of cigarettes. Current law
establishes the California Children and Families Trust Fund
(Trust Fund) to receive this tax revenue and requires the
revenues to be appropriated for the purposes of promoting,
supporting, and improving the development of children from
birth to five years of age and to offset certain revenue
losses to tobacco education and prevention programs.
4)Previous related legislation . AB 2286 (Bonilla) increased the
subsidized child care rates for infant and toddler care. This
bill was held on this committee's Suspense File in May 2012.
Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916)
319-2081