BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 598 Page 1 Date of Hearing: January 21, 2016 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Jimmy Gomez, Chair AB 598 (Rendon) - As Amended January 14, 2016 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Policy |Human Services |Vote:|7 - 0 | |Committee: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No SUMMARY: This bill standardizes the framework, requirements and evaluation procedures for family child care home education network (FCCHEN) contractors and providers. AB 598 Page 2 FISCAL EFFECT: 1)Ongoing annual costs of $324,000 (salary, benefits and travel costs) to the California Department of Education (CDE) for one Field Services Consultant to conduct the additional monitoring visits required in the bill. 2)One-time cost of $72,000 to CDE to develop regulations for the implementation of a universal complaint procedure. COMMENTS: 1)Purpose. FCCHENs offer the ability for family child care home providers to access training and services aimed at providing high-quality care and education for children. According to the author, "Family Child Care Home Education Networks offer a promising practice model for the state to improve the quality of family child care options in California. It is time to take all the lessons learned through the nearly twenty years of operating these programs and codify the programs to provide for greater statewide consistency of services and increase access to high quality options for families specifically those with infants and toddlers." This bill provides a uniform statutory framework that incorporates best and promising practices regarding FCCHENs. 2)Background. FCCHENs help facilitate the provision of high-quality child care and development services in family child care home settings. The CDE contracts with FCCHEN contractors to provide ongoing training and support to qualified network providers. Providers must meet standards of quality set forth by CDE. Children's developmental progress is closely monitored, and children are evaluated using the Desired Results Developmental Profile (DRDP), which is a CDE-developed formative assessment instrument for young AB 598 Page 3 children and their families, designed to inform instruction and program development. Providers must meet a number of other requirements, including offering parent education. There are two types of FCCHENs in operation. The first operates under the California Family Child Care Home Education Network contract type (CFCC) which utilizes the regional market rate. CDE contracts with 33 agencies/contractors of this type. The second type operates under the General Child Care and Development Program (CCTR) and utilizes the standard reimbursement rate. There are 60 agencies/contractors of this type. Some agencies hold contracts under both provisions. As of April 2015, there were 83 FCCHEN separate contractors serving 1,556 licensed family child care homes which, in turn, served 6,853 children. 3)Technical amendment. There are two types of FCCHENs in operation in California, but the bill, as written, inadvertently only covers one type. The bill should be amended to correct this oversight. 4)Prior Legislation. AB 379 (Mullin), Chapter 897, Statutes of 2004, defined FCCHENs in statute and adopted requirements regarding FCCHEN programs. Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081 AB 598 Page 4