BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                            



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                                    THIRD READING


          Bill No:  AB 274
          Author:   Bonilla (D), et al.
          Amended:  8/27/13 in Senate
          Vote:     21

           
           SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE  :  9-0, 7/3/13
          AYES:  Liu, Wyland, Block, Correa, Hancock, Hueso, Huff,  
            Monning, Torres

           SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE  :  7-0, 8/19/13
          AYES:  De Le�n, Walters, Gaines, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg

           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  77-0, 5/29/13 - See last page for vote


           SUBJECT  :    Child care and development services

           SOURCE  :     Author


           DIGEST  :    This bill authorizes, effective July 1, 2014, child  
          care and development providers that contract with Alternative  
          Payment Programs to submit attendance records on a monthly  
          basis.  Also, this bill authorizes contractors to be reimbursed  
          by direct deposit, and authorizes providers to maintain records  
          in electronic format, as specified. 

           ANALYSIS  :    Existing law authorizes local government agencies  
          or non-profit organizations to contract with the California  
          Department of Education (CDE) to operate Alternative Payment  
          Programs and provide alternative payments and support services  
          to parents and child development providers.  Alternative Payment  
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          Programs help parents arrange child care services and makes  
          payments directly to the provider, which may be in-home care,  
          family child care or center-based care, and either licensed or  
          license-exempt.
           
          Current regulations require child care and development providers  
          that contract with Alternative Payment Programs to submit  
          periodic reports that must include:

          1.Days and hours of enrollment and attendance.

          2.Total days of operation.

          3.Services, revenues and expenditures relating to care provided  
            for subsidized and unsubsidized children.

          Parents are required to physically sign-in and sign-out their  
          child when they drop off and pick up their child each day.
           
          Current regulations require, and Management Bulletin issued by  
          CDE clarifies, child care and development providers that  
          contract with Alternative Payment Programs to review attendance  
          records to ensure the days and hours of services used by the  
          parent were broadly consistent with the certification  
          establishing the parent's hours and days of service, and the  
          parent completed the attendance records as required by signing  
          in and out on a daily basis.
           
          Child care and development providers that contract with  
          Alternative Payment Programs are required to maintain records  
          for up to five years. 

          This bill authorizes, effective July 1, 2014, child care and  
          development providers that contract with Alternative Payment  
          Programs to submit attendance records on a monthly basis.  Also,  
          this bill authorizes contractors to be reimbursed by direct  
          deposit, and authorizes providers to maintain records in  
          electronic format, as specified.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :    Appropriation:  No   Fiscal Com.:  Yes    
          Local:  Yes

          According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:


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           Attendance record-keeping:  Potentially significant workload  
            savings for child care providers and AP programs.

           Auditing:  Potentially significant increased auditing workload  
            for the CDE, depending on how providers track attendance  
            moving forward. Additional auditing time could increase costs  
            up to $120,000 in 2014-15, and up to $60,000 annually  
            thereafter. The CDE has indicated that 80% ($96,000 in the  
            first year) of this additional expense would be paid for with  
            Federal Funds and 20% ($24,000 in the first year) with General  
            Fund.

           Direct deposit option:  Minor annual costs to the CDE in  
            per-transaction fees paid to the State Controller to process  
            direct deposit payments.

           SUPPORT  :   (Verified  8/28/13)

          4Cs of San Mateo
          California Alternative Payment Program Association
          Child Action, Inc.
          Child Care Alliance of Los Angeles
          Child Care Links
          Child Care Resource Center
          Child Development Associates, Inc.
          Child Development Resources of Ventura County
          Choices for Children
          Connections for Children
          Contra Costa Child Care Council
          Davis Street Family Resource Center
          Family Resource & Referral Center
          Go Kids, Inc.
          Knowledge Universe
          Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
          Mexican American Opportunity Foundation
          North Coast Opportunities
          Northern Directors' Group
          San Francisco Child Care Planning and Advisory Council
          Santa Cruz County Parents Association
          Service Employees International Union
          Valley Oak Children's Services
          YMCA Childcare Resource Service

           ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT  :    According to the author, "Currently,  

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          daily attendance records for early care and education provided  
          must have a daily sign in/out signature from a parent.  The  
          requirement of daily sign in/out for parents for each child has  
          created many problems for contractors, parents and providers,  
          including providers that may not be paid if signatures were not  
          secured even though care was provided.  This can occur if a  
          parent fails to sign in and out each day and then terminates  
          child care suddenly.  The current process of paper checks for  
          contract allocations has resulted in a delay of funds to  
          contractors potentially delaying voucher payments to child care  
          providers and at times has resulted in lost checks which may  
          take weeks to replace.  The process of electronic direct deposit  
          would alleviate these problems and is a common banking  
          practice."

           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  77-0, 5/29/13
          AYES:  Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom,  
            Blumenfield, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown,  
            Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Ch�vez, Chesbro, Conway,  
            Cooley, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong, Fox,  
            Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon,  
            Gorell, Gray, Grove, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hern�ndez,  
            Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Logue, Lowenthal, Maienschein,  
            Mansoor, Medina, Melendez, Mitchell, Morrell, Mullin,  
            Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea,  
            V. Manuel P�rez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner,  
            Stone, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk,  
            Williams, Yamada, John A. P�rez
          NO VOTE RECORDED: Holden, Linder, Vacancy


          PQ:nl  8/28/13   Senate Floor Analyses 

                           SUPPORT/OPPOSITION:  SEE ABOVE

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