BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 762 Page 1 Date of Hearing: May 6, 2015 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Jimmy Gomez, Chair AB 762 (Mullin) - As Amended April 8, 2015 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Policy |Human Services |Vote:|7 - 0 | |Committee: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable: No SUMMARY: This bill directs the Department of Social Services (DSS) to create a single license for day care centers serving children from birth to kindergarten. Specifically, this bill: 1)Directs DSS, in consultation with stakeholders including the California Department of Education, to adopt regulations to AB 762 Page 2 develop and implement a single integrated license for a day care center serving children from birth to kindergarten by January 1, 2018. 2)Requires, during the period of January 1, 2018, to December 1, 2018, an existing day care license to be converted to a single integrated license upon annual renewal and that, prior to this conversion, a day care center licensee continue to meet regulatory requirements and inspection standards for the age groups of children receiving care in that center. 3)States that licensees shall not be required to pay an additional fee for this conversion to a single integrated license, other than the annual fee, and that a new applicant for a single integrated license may be charged a fee commensurate with the previous cost for dual licenses. 4)Directs day care centers with an optional toddler program to, beginning January 1, 2016, extend the toddler component to children up to three years old, and repeals the optional toddler program beginning January 1, 2018. FISCAL EFFECT: 1)One-time costs to DSS in the range of $210,000 to $250,000 (GF) annually, in 2016 and 2017, assuming two full-time analyst positions and one part-time office assistant position, to staff and conduct the stakeholder meetings and meet other requirements of the regulatory process described in the bill. Additional potential costs for travel and per diem. 2)One-time costs to DSS in the range of $100,000 to $200,000 (GF) for regulatory and policy development due to the tight timeframe and complex nature of the proposed regulations. AB 762 Page 3 3)Unknown, but potentially significant costs to DSS between January 1, 2018, and December 31, 2018, for case management workload to manually convert all license types to an integrated license as each license becomes eligible for renewal. Additionally, the phase-in approach contained in the bill will require DSS to maintain parallel licensing and inspection structures during the year-long conversion process. 4)Unknown, but likely minor costs to DSS to educate and train staff for the fee renewal conversion process and on the new regulations for facility inspection purposes. 5)Potential fee increase for current providers. The bill, as written, creates a dual fee structure for providers with new applicants paying more than existing providers will pay to convert their existing license. The bill is silent on whether the lower fee for current providers will persist in future years or whether current providers will pay the higher fee charged to new applicants going forward. 6)Staff notes that the full extent of the implementation costs will not be known until the new regulations are developed. COMMENTS: 1)Purpose. According to the author, this bill "streamlines the bifurcated child care licensing system by creating a single license that reduces the administrative burden, removes the 'toddler component' option process, and aids centers in keeping child care slots filled by preventing the immediate movement of children based on their birthdate." AB 762 Page 4 2)Background: The California Child Day Care Facilities Act governs the licensure and operation of child day care centers and family day care homes. This law, and adopted regulations, establish general health and safety requirements, staff-to-child ratios, and provider training requirements. The Community Care Licensing Division (CCLD) of DSS is responsible for licensing and monitoring the state's 10,453 day care centers, which, as of June 30, 2014, provided 588,058 child care slots. CCLD is required to conduct unannounced site visits of all licensed child day care facilities and homes at least once every five years. CCLD also conducts annual visits of facilities with poor histories of compliance and those that are required to have yearly visits by federal law. Additionally, 30% of those facilities not required to be inspected yearly are randomly selected for annual inspection. The Governor's 2015-16 January budget proposal requires DSS to phase-in increased inspection frequency to once every three years starting January 2017, for all facilities, including child care facilities. Infant centers serve children less than two years old, preschool child care centers serve children between the ages of two and when they start school, and school-age child care centers serve children who have entered the first grade or are in a child care program exclusively for children in kindergarten and above. A "combination center" is any combination of centers that is owned and operated by one licensee at a common address. In California, separate licenses are required for serving infants and for serving preschool-age children. Thus, owner/operators of combination centers serving both populations must get two licenses and undergo separate inspection and compliance processes for each AB 762 Page 5 license. In addition, an optional toddler program is available to both centers that serve preschool-age children and centers that serve infants. These centers can create a special program component for children between the ages of 18 and 30 months; the program has its own staffing ratio and maximum group size requirements, but is considered an extension of the infant or preschool license and does not require a separate license. Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081