BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de León, Chair
AB 290 (Alejo) - Child Day Care: Childhood Nutrition Training
Amended: May 20, 2013 Policy Vote: Human Services 6-0
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: August 30, 2013
Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-Hernandez
SUSPENSE FILE. AS PROPOSED TO BE AMENDED.
Bill Summary: AB 290 requires that a newly licensed teacher or
director of a day care center or family day care home who
receives health and safety training also complete at least one
hour of childhood nutrition training, as specified.
Fiscal Impact (as proposed to be amended): The Emergency
Management Services Agency (EMSA): Significant one-time workload
to create new standards, notify training providers of new
requirements, and to receive and review updated curriculum from
those providers.
Regulations: Likely minor workload for EMSA to re-open and
revise regulations, with a flexible timeframe.
Background: Existing state law, the California Child Day Care
Facilities Act, establishes a statewide comprehensive system for
licensing child day care facilities to ensure a quality day care
environment. (HSC 1596.7 et seq.)
Federal law establishes the Child and Adult Care Food Program
(CACFP) and identifies nutritional standards for meals in such
facilities. (7 CFR 226.20)
Existing state law further requires that state child care
centers adhere to CACFP nutrition standards, but participation
in the reimbursement program is optional. Family day care homes
are not required to adhere to CACFP standards.
Existing state law requires EMSA to establish training standards
for child care center directors and teachers and providers in
licensed child care homes. (HSC 1596.8661 (b))
Existing state law specifically requires that at least one
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director or teacher at each day care center, and each family day
care home licensee who provides care, shall have at least 15
hours of health and safety training, as specified, to include:
a) pediatric first aid; b) pediatric cardiopulmonary
resuscitation; and, c) a preventative health practices course or
courses that include instruction in the recognition, management,
and prevention of infectious diseases, including immunizations,
and prevention of childhood injuries. (HSC 1596.866)
Proposed Law: This bill requires that, for licenses issued on or
after January 1, 2015, a director or teacher who receives the
health and safety training shall also have at least one hour of
childhood nutrition training as part of the preventive health
practices course or courses. The bill would require the
childhood nutrition training to include content on
age-appropriate meal patterns and information about
reimbursement rates for the federal CACFP, as specified.
Staff Comments: Under existing law, the EMSA establishes health
and safety (including preventative health) training standards
for child care center directors and teachers and providers in
licensed child care homes. Entities seeking to provide training
that meets those standards submit proposed curriculum to EMSA
for review, along with a $240 review fee; curriculum is reviewed
upon initial submission and every two years thereafter. Once
curriculum is approved, the training provider transacts with
individuals interested in receiving the training to provide
training and an official certificate of completion. Verification
of training completion is part of the requirement for licensure
by the Department of Social Services (DSS). The DSS simply
verifies that the child care licensee has completed a training
program approved by EMSA.
For licenses issued on or after January 1, 2015, this bill would
add (at least) one hour of required training in childhood
nutrition, as specified, to the one-time preventive health
practices training already required of providers. This bill
places a new requirement on the licensee, which he or she would
pay for in fees charged by the training provider. It requires
curriculum revision by training providers; any costs to those
providers could also be recovered by fees charged to licensees.
What is not covered by fees is the significant workload EMSA
will incur to update the standards and revise regulations in the
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one-year timeframe. EMSA will also have notify training
providers of the changes, and review all curriculum changes
prior to implementation on January 1, 2015. EMSA charges $240
per curriculum review, which is an amount set in regulations (as
opposed to giving EMSA the authority to fully recover its
costs), and it does not cover staffing costs beyond the actual
time spent on curriculum review for a particular training
provider.
Prior to budget reductions in recent year, beginning in 2009-10,
EMSA had 2.5 Associate Governmental Program Analysts (AGPAs),
and 1 full time clerical staff person assigned to the Child Day
Care program. The program now consists of 1 AGPA and a .5
clerical staff position. To implement this bill, the sole staff
person will need to review every training provider's new
curriculum in 2014 (in order to continue providing training
under new rules that take effect January 1, 2015); all training
providers will need to make the changes to their curricula and
be reviewed, whether or not they were scheduled for a 2014
renewal review under existing law.
In addition to doing twice as many reviews as normal next year,
the sole Child Day Care staff person would be responsible for
taking the lead to create the new standards by which training
curriculum will be evaluated, and be involved in revising
regulations before the reviews could even begin. Absent
additional staff, it does not seem possible to implement the
bill in its prescribed timeline. The program will need at least
one additional limited-term AGPA, and likely a full-time
clerical staff person, to complete the work required by this
bill by the required deadline.
AS PROPOSED TO BE AMENDED: Author's proposed amendments would
delay implementation to January 1, 2016, and authorize EMSA to
implement the new requirement using a management bulletin (or
similar means) until regulations can be revised.