BILL NUMBER: AB 2125 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 10, 2014
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Ridley-Thomas
FEBRUARY 20, 2014
An act to amend Section Sections
8265 , 8265.5, 8266, 8266.1, and 8357 of, and to repeal Section
8265.7 of , the Education Code, relating to child
care.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2125, as amended, Ridley-Thomas. Child care: standard
reimbursement rate: adjustment. rates.
Existing law establishes a system of child care and development
services for children from infancy to 13 years of age and provides
certain requirements for the payment by the state for these child
care and development services. Existing law requires the
Superintendent of Public Instruction to implement a plan that
establishes reasonable standards and assigned reimbursement rates, as
provided, and requires the standard reimbursement rate to be $3,523
per unit of average daily enrollment for a 250-day year, increased by
the cost-of-living adjustment granted by the Legislature.
Existing law requires the plan to require agencies having an assigned
reimbursement rate above the current year standard reimbursement
rate to reduce costs on an incremental basis to achieve the standard
rate and requires the plan to provide for adjusting
reimbursements on a case-by-case basis, as provided.
This bill would add an authorization to adjust that standard
reimbursement rate to provide adequate compensation for education and
training.
This bill would delete these requirements relating to assigned
reimbursement rates and reimbursement adjustments. The bill would
delete references to the standard reimbursement rate and instead
would require the reimbursement rate to reflect the actual current
cost of care in each region per unit of average daily enrollment for
a 250-day year. The bill would make conforming changes.
Existing law applies various adjustment factors to specified
programs for which reimbursement rates are at or below the standard
reimbursement rate, as provided.
This bill would delete the requirement that the adjustment factors
apply to those specified programs.
Existing law authorizes programs above the standard reimbursement
rate to be considered on a case-by-case basis for rate adjustments
due to documented increases in insurance costs.
This bill would delete this provision.
Existing law requires the cost of child care services provided to
CalWORKs recipients to be governed by regional market rates. Existing
law requires regional market rate ceilings to be established at the
85th percentile of the 2005 regional market rate survey for that
region.
This bill would instead establish the market rate ceiling at the
85th percentile of the current regional market rate survey for that
region.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 8265 of the Education Code is amended to read:
8265. (a) The Superintendent shall implement a plan that
establishes reasonable standards and assigned reimbursement rates,
through a single reimbursement system, which vary with the
length of the program year and the hours of service.
(1) Parent fees shall be used to pay reasonable and necessary
costs for providing additional services.
(2) When establishing standards and assigned reimbursement rates,
the Superintendent shall confer with applicant agencies.
(3) The reimbursement system, including standards and rates, shall
be submitted to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee.
(4) The Superintendent may establish any regulations he or she
deems advisable concerning conditions of service and hours of
enrollment for children in the programs.
(b) The standard reimbursement rate shall
be three thousand five hundred twenty-three dollars ($3,523)
reflect the actual current cost of care in each
region per unit of average daily enrollment for a 250-day
year, increased by the cost-of-living adjustment granted by
the Legislature beginning July 1, 1980, or as adjusted to provide
adequate compensation for education and training.
year.
(c) The plan shall require agencies having an assigned
reimbursement rate above the current year standard reimbursement rate
to reduce costs on an incremental basis to achieve the standard
reimbursement rate.
(d) (1) The plan shall provide for adjusting reimbursement on a
case-by-case basis, in order to maintain service levels for agencies
currently at a rate less than the standard reimbursement rate.
Assigned reimbursement rates shall be increased only on the basis of
one or more of the following:
(A) Loss of program resources from other sources.
(B) Need of an agency to pay the same child care rates as those
prevailing in the local community.
(C) Increased costs directly attributable to new or different
regulations.
(D) Documented increased costs necessary to maintain the prior
year's level of service and ensure the continuation of threatened
programs.
(2) Child care agencies funded at the lowest rates shall be given
first priority for increases.
(e)
(c) The plan shall provide for expansion of child
development programs at no more than the standard
reimbursement rate for that fiscal year.
(f)
(d) The Superintendent may reduce the percentage of
reduction for a public agency that satisfies any of the following:
(1) Serves more than 400 children.
(2) Has in effect a collective bargaining agreement.
(3) Has other extenuating circumstances that apply, as determined
by the Superintendent.
SEC. 2. Section 8265.5 of the Education
Code is amended to read:
8265.5. (a) In order to reflect the additional expense of serving
children who meet any of the criteria outlined in paragraphs (1) to
(7), inclusive, of subdivision (b) the provider agency's reported
child days of enrollment for these children shall be multiplied by
the adjustment factors listed below.
(b) The Pursuant to subdivision (a), the
following adjustment factors shall apply to those
programs for which assigned reimbursement rates are at or below the
standard reimbursement rate. In addition, the adjustment factors
shall apply to those programs for which assigned reimbursement rates
are above the standard reimbursement rate, but the reimbursement
rate, as adjusted, shall not exceed the adjusted standard
reimbursement rate. apply:
(1) For infants who are 0 to 18 months of age and are served in a
child day care center, the adjustment factor shall be 1.7.
(2) For toddlers who are 18 to 36 months of age and are served in
a child day care center, the adjustment factor shall be 1.4.
(3) For infants and toddlers who are 0 to 36 months of age and are
served in a family child care home, the adjustment factor shall be
1.4.
(4) For children with exceptional needs who are 0 to 21 years of
age, the adjustment factor shall be 1.2.
(5) For severely disabled children who are 0 to 21 years of age,
the adjustment factor shall be 1.5.
(6) For a child at risk of neglect, abuse, or exploitation who are
0 to 14 years of age, the adjustment factor shall be 1.1.
(7) For limited-English-speaking and non-English-speaking children
who are 2 years of age through kindergarten age, the adjustment
factor shall be 1.1.
(c) Use of the adjustment factors shall not increase the provider
agency's total annual allocation.
(d) Days of enrollment for children having more than one of the
criteria outlined in paragraphs (1) to (7), inclusive, of subdivision
(b) shall not be reported under more than one of the above
categories.
(e) The difference between the reimbursement resulting from the
use of the adjustment factors outlined in paragraphs (1) to (7),
inclusive, of subdivision (b) and the reimbursement that would
otherwise be received by a provider in the absence of the adjustment
factors shall be used for special and appropriate services for each
child for whom an adjustment factor is claimed.
SEC. 3. Section 8265.7 of the Education
Code is repealed.
8265.7. Notwithstanding Section 8265, programs above the standard
reimbursement rate may be considered on a case-by-case basis for
rate adjustments due to documented increases in insurance costs.
SEC. 4. Section 8266 of the Education
Code is amended to read:
8266. (a) Notwithstanding the
provisions of Section 8265, the assigned reimbursement rate
of a center-based child care agency (a) (1)
contracting with the Department of Education, (b)
department, (2) operating under licensing
standards for child care and development facilities specified by
Section 1500 et seq. of the Health and Safety Code and by Title 22 of
the California Administrative Code, Code of
Regulations, and (c) (3) with
less than a majority of subsidized children enrolled in the facility,
shall be equivalent to the fee paid for the same service by families
of nonsubsidized children.
It
(b) (1) It
is not the intent of the Legislature to preclude an agency with a
contract with the department from adjusting the fees charged to
nonsubsidized children during the contract year. In no event
shall the assigned reimbursement rate exceed the standard
reimbursement rate established pursuant to Section 8265.
These
(2) These agencies shall provide
documentation to the department that subsidized children, as
necessary and appropriate, shall receive supportive services through
county welfare departments, resource and referral programs, or other
existing community resources, or all of them.
SEC. 5. Section 8266.1 of the Education
Code is amended to read:
8266.1. Commencing with the 1995-96 fiscal year and each fiscal
year thereafter, for the purposes of this chapter, reimbursement
rates shall be adjusted by the following reimbursement factors for
child care and development programs with a standard
reimbursement rate, but shall not apply to the Resource and
Referral Programs set forth in Article 2 (commencing with Section
8210), the Alternative Payment Programs set forth in Article 3
(commencing with Section 8220), the part-day California state
preschool programs set forth in Article 7 (commencing with Section
8235), the schoolage community child care services programs
set forth in Article 22 (commencing with Section 8460), or
to the schoolage parent and infant development programs:
(a) For child care and development providers serving children for
less than four hours per day, the reimbursement factor is 55 percent
of the standard reimbursement rate.
(b) For child care and development program providers serving
children for not less than four hours per day, and less than six and
one-half hours per day, the reimbursement factor is 75 percent of the
standard reimbursement rate. For providers
operating under the At Risk Child Care Program set forth in Article
15.5 (commencing with Section 8350) and serving children for not less
than four hours per day, and less than seven hours per day, the
reimbursement factor is 75 percent of the standard
reimbursement rate.
(c) For child care and development program providers serving
children for not less than six and one-half hours per day, and less
than 10 and one-half hours per day, the reimbursement factor is 100
percent of the standard reimbursement rate. For
providers operating under the At Risk Child Care Program set forth in
Article 15.5 (commencing with Section 8350) and serving children for
not less than seven hours per day, and less than 10 hours per day,
the reimbursement factor is 100 percent of the standard
reimbursement rate.
(d) For child care and development program providers serving
children for 101/2 hours or more per day, the reimbursement factor is
118 percent of the standard reimbursement rate.
SEC. 6. Section 8357 of the Education
Code is amended to read:
8357. (a) The cost of child care services provided under this
article shall be governed by regional market rates. Recipients of
child care services provided pursuant to this article shall be
allowed to choose the child care services of licensed child care
providers or child care providers who are, by law, not required to be
licensed, and the cost of that child care shall be reimbursed by
counties or agencies that contract with the State Department of
Education if the cost is within the regional market rate. For
purposes of this section, "regional market rate" means care costing
no more than 1.5 market standard deviations above the mean cost of
care for that region. The regional market rate ceilings shall be
established at the 85th percentile of the 2005
current regional market rate survey for that region.
(b) Reimbursement to license-exempt child care providers shall not
exceed 60 percent of the family child care home rate established
pursuant to subdivision (a), effective July 1, 2011.
(c) Reimbursement to child care providers shall not exceed the fee
charged to private clients for the same service.
(d) Reimbursement shall not be made for child care services when
care is provided by parents, legal guardians, or members of the
assistance unit.
(e) A child care provider located on an Indian reservation or
rancheria and exempted from state licensing requirements shall meet
applicable tribal standards.
(f) For purposes of this section, "reimbursement" means a direct
payment to the provider of child care services, including
license-exempt providers. If care is provided in the home of the
recipient, payment may be made to the parent as the employer, and the
parent shall be informed of his or her concomitant legal and
financial reporting requirements. To allow time for the development
of the administrative systems necessary to issue direct payments to
providers, for a period not to exceed six months from the effective
date of this article, a county or an alternative payment agency
contracting with the State Department of Education may reimburse the
cost of child care services through a direct payment to a recipient
of aid rather than to the child care provider.
(g) Counties and alternative payment programs shall not be bound
by the rate limits described in subdivision (a) when there are, in
the region, no more than two child care providers of the type needed
by the recipient of child care services provided under this article.
(h) Notwithstanding any other provision of law,
reimbursements to child care providers based upon a daily rate
may shall only be authorized under
either of the following circumstances:
(1) A family has an unscheduled but documented need of six hours
or more per occurrence, such as the parent's need to work on a
regularly scheduled day off, that exceeds the certified need for
child care.
(2) A family has a documented need of six hours or more per day
that exceeds no more than 14 days per month. In no event shall
reimbursements to a provider based on the daily rate over one month's
time exceed the provider's equivalent full-time monthly rate or
applicable monthly ceiling.
(3) This subdivision shall not limit providers from being
reimbursed for services using a weekly or monthly rate, pursuant to
subdivision (c) of Section 8222.