BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1819
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Date of Hearing: April 2, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION
Isadore Hall, Chair
AB 1819 (Hall) - As Introduced: February 18, 2014
SUBJECT : Family day care home: smoking prohibition.
SUMMARY : Prohibits the smoking of tobacco products in a
private residence that is licensed as a family day care home.
EXISTING LAW
1)Prohibits the smoking of tobacco products in a licensed day
care home during the hours of operation.
2)Prohibits or restricts the smoking of tobacco products in
various places, including, but not limited to, school
campuses, public buildings, places of employment, retail food
facilities, and health facilities.
3)Defines "tobacco product" to mean any product containing
tobacco, as specified, including, but not limited to,
cigarettes, loose tobacco, cigars, snuff, chewing tobacco, or
any other preparation of tobacco.
4)Requires that group homes and small family homes that provide
residential foster care to a child to maintain a smoke-free
environment.
5)Establishes the California Child Care Facilities Act to
provide a comprehensive, quality system for licensing child
care facilities and family day care homes to ensure that
working families have access to healthy and safe child care
providers and that child care programs contribute positively
to a child's emotional, cognitive, and educational
development, and are able to respond to and provide for the
unique characteristics and needs of children.
6)Defines a "family day care home" as a home that regularly
provides nonmedical care, protection and supervision for 14 or
fewer children, in the provider's own home, for less than 24
hours per day.
7)Requires the Department of Social Services Community Care
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Licensing Division (CCLD) to conduct an unannounced
investigation in response to a complaint filed against a
licensed child care home or facility within ten days of the
complaint being filed.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
Purpose of the bill: According to the author, AB 1819 requires
licensed family day care homes to maintain a smoke free
environment for the children that are under their care and
protection. While current law prohibits smoking tobacco products
in a family day care home during the hours of operation, this
policy only protects children from immediate exposure to
secondhand smoke. It does nothing to protect children from
tobacco residue that lingers in the air and on surfaces hours
after cigarettes have been extinguished and that pose as
dangerous a threat to children's health.
This measure will have a direct impact on reducing childhood
exposure to second and thirdhand smoke and decrease the chance
of a child developing health issues related to smoking.
Effects of secondhand smoke on children : While exposure to
secondhand smoke is harmful to adults and can trigger various
health complications, the physical effects of exposure to smoke
can be particularly dangerous to infants and children because
their bodies are still developing.
The Surgeon General has cited hundreds of medical studies and
reports proving the toxic effects of tobacco smoke on infants
and children, including the following findings.
1) Both babies whose mothers smoke while pregnant and
babies who are exposed to secondhand smoke after birth
are more likely to die from sudden infant death syndrome
than babies who are not exposed to secondhand smoke.
2) Secondhand smoke exposure causes acute potentially
fatal respiratory tract infections, such as bronchitis
and pneumonia, in infants and young children, and
respiratory symptoms, including cough, phlegm, wheezing,
and breathlessness, among school-aged children.
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3) Exposure to secondhand smoke causes children with
asthma to experience more frequent and severe attacks
than children in non-smoker households.
4) Children exposed to secondhand smoke are at
increased risks for eye and ear infections and are more
likely to need operations to insert ear tubes for
drainage.
5) Children who live in households with smokers have a
greater risk of getting lung cancer during their
lifetimes than children raised in a smoke-free
environment. Even if children living with smokers do not
immediately show physical effects of exposure to
secondhand smoke, they may eventually develop cancer or
other smoking-related chronic diseases.
6) Children exposed to secondhand smoke are more likely
than those in nonsmoking households to experience
learning and behavioral problems and to become smokers in
adolescence or adulthood.
Thirdhand Smoke : Over the last several years, research has
begun to reveal the health impacts of thirdhand smoke.
Described as the residual chemicals left on indoor surfaces as a
result of smoking, it is commonly considered to be the left over
residue from secondhand smoke, which includes cancer-causing
chemicals such as nicotine and benzene, toxic metals like
chromium and lead, and harmful gases like carbon monoxide and
ammonia.
In many cases, thirdhand smoke can remain long after smoking has
stopped and become imbedded in common household items, such as
carpets, curtains, furniture, etc. In the case of children,
especially infants and toddlers, thirdhand smoke presents an
even greater health risk. As they explore and put their hands
or toys in their mouths, they could touch, swallow or inhale
compounds from thirdhand smoke. Their age and early
developmental stages makes them more vulnerable than adults to
the effects of environmental hazards due to their developing
immune system, and thus, are more likely to be exposed to
thirdhand smoke.
In a report released in June 2013 by the University of
California's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory entitled
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Thirdhand smoke causes DNA damage in human cells it was found
that "thirdhand smoke-the noxious residue that clings to
virtually all surfaces long after the secondhand smoke from a
cigarette has cleared out-causes significant genetic damage in
human cells." Specifically, the research demonstrated that
thirdhand smoke has the potential to become more damaging to a
person's health than acute smoke or secondhand smoke exposure
due to the interaction of residual chemicals of thirdhand smoke
with existing indoor pollutants. Long after a person smokes,
the lingering nicotine and other chemicals can become more
condensed and potent, and in some cases become new pollutant
compounds that are carcinogenic, thus presenting greater
long-term health risks, such as uncontrolled cell growth and the
formation of cancerous tumors later in life.
These findings are particularly disturbing, because it indicates
that thirdhand smoke cannot be eliminated by the airing out of
indoor spaces or restricting exposure to secondhand smoke.
Rather, the safest environment is a smoke-free environment where
cigarette smoke and fumes are never present.
Monitoring of a no smoking ban : Under current law, smoking is
not allowed in many community care facilities, including
licensed child care facilities and licensed children's
institutions (group homes), which provides an existing example
of how a no smoking ban on family child care homes could be
enforced.
Also available is the state's complaints process, which can
serve as an effective way to enforce a no smoking ban, as it
allows any person, for any reason to file a complaint, either
verbally or written, against a licensed facility. For example,
if a parent, when dropping of his or her child at a family child
care home, or a neighbor of a family child care home provider,
suspects or witnesses a family child care home provider smoking,
that person can file a complaint with CCLD. Once a complaint is
filed, CCLD is required to conduct an investigation into the
merits of the complaint within ten days to determine if the
complaint is legitimate and should be pursued further.
There also exists the state's requirement to conduct regular
unannounced licensing inspections once every five years.
Although many consider this schedule insufficient to adequately
monitor and assess whether community care and child care homes
and facilities are providing for the health and safety of those
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under there care, it does provide another mechanism of
oversight.
Arguments in Support: The California Chapter of the American
College of Emergency Physicians states that AB 1819 protects
children from exposure to second and thirdhand smoke by
prohibiting smoking of tobacco products in a family day care
home.
They further argue that tobacco residue continues to linger in
the air, and on surfaces long after a cigarette has been
extinguished. The 2014 Surgeon General's Executive Summary
report indicates that exposure to secondhand smoke has been
causally linked to cancer, respiratory, and cardiovascular
diseases, and to adverse effects on the health of infants and
children. If children are not protected from the lasting impact
of second and thirdhand smoke, such health issues will require
continued medical attention and increased healthcare costs.
Double Referred : This measure was previously heard in Assembly
Human Services Committee on Tuesday, March 25, 2014. The measure
successfully passed with a vote of 5-2.
Prior Legislation : AB 352 (Hall), Chapter 291, Statutes of 2013.
Prohibited the smoking of tobacco products in foster care homes.
SB 648 (Corbett), 2013-2014 Legislative Session. Extends the
restrictions and prohibitions against the smoking of tobacco
products to include restrictions or prohibitions against
electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) in various places,
including, but not limited to, places of employment, school
campuses, public buildings, day care facilities, retail food
facilities, and health facilities. (Pending in Assembly
Governmental Organization Committee)
SB 332 (Padilla), Chapter 264, Statutes of 2011. Codified a
landlord's right to prohibit smoking on their properties.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
American Academy of Pediatrics, California
American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network
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American Lung Association in California
California Alternative Payment Program
California Chapter of the American College Emergency Physicians
National Association of Social Workers, California Chapter
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Felipe Lopez / G. O. / (916) 319-2531