BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 833
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Date of Hearing: May 13, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
AB
833 (Bonta) - As Amended April 22, 2015
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY: This bill establishes a 5-year subsidized child care
pilot program in Alameda County. Specifically, this bill:
1)Permits Alameda County to develop and implement an
individualized county child care subsidy plan, as specified.
2)Requires the California Department of Education's (CDE) Child
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Development Division (CDD) to review and either approve or
disapprove any modification of the plan within 30 days of
receiving it. Specifies that CDD may only disapprove those
portions of the plan that are not in conformance with the
provisions of this bill or that are in conflict with federal
law.
3)Requires the county to prepare and submit a report summarizing
the success of the county's plan, as specified, to the
Legislature, the Department of Social Services (DSS), and CDE
each year.
4)Requires a participating contractor to receive any increase or
decrease in funding that the contractor would have received
had the contractor not participated in the plan.
FISCAL EFFECT:
This bill would allow Alameda County to retain unspent child
care funds that otherwise would revert to the General Fund.
Between 2011-12 and 2013-14, the County was unable to spend
approximately 5% of its contracted amounts each year, and
returned over $10 million in unspent child care funding to the
State. That funding is a combination of GF, Prop 98 funding and
federal funds. Historically, such reversions have been
redistributed for child care purposes in subsequent budget
years.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, "In Alameda County, many
children and families are unable to access quality child care
in part by the unintended consequences of living in a high
cost county. Since many families are deemed ineligible due to
the high cost of living and provider reimbursement rates are
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insufficient to cover the cost of care, child care subsidy
funds allocated to Alameda County are not fully expended.
[This bill] provides Alameda County limited local flexibility
with increased state oversight to address the fiscal reality
of high-cost counties, where the cost of living and doing
business is well beyond the state median." This bill would
enable Alameda County to maximize allocated funding and
efficiently use child care subsidy funds by creating an
individualized county child care subsidy plan in Alameda
County like those used in San Mateo and San Francisco
Counties.
2)Background: California offers subsidized child care to parents
participating in CalWORKs and to families transitioning off of
and no longer receiving aid. This child care is offered in
three "stages." DSS administers Stage 1, and CDE administers
Stages 2 and 3. CDE also administers non-CalWORKs child care.
The largest programs are: General Child Care, which includes
contracted centers and family child care homes; the California
State Preschool Program for three- and four-year olds; and
APPs, which provide vouchers to obtain child care in a center,
family child care home, or from a license-exempt provider.
Waitlists for non-CalWORKs child care are common.
Families are typically eligible for subsidized child care if
their income is less than 70% of the 2007-08 State Median
Income (about $42,000 per year for a family of 3), if the
parents have a need related to work, training, or education,
and if the children are up to 12 years old (or 21 years old
for youth with exceptional needs).
In Alameda County, 14,206 children are served by subsidized
child care programs, not including those in CalWORKs Stage 1
child care. Alameda County does not have a centralized
eligibility list that provides an exact number of children
wait-listed for subsidized child care, but the Alameda County
Early Care and Education Planning Council polled providers in
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the county and found that there are over 9,750 children on
their waitlists.
3)Pilot Programs. The individualize county child care pilot
programs in San Mateo and San Francisco Counties were created
to address issues similar to those faced by Alameda County
today. Both counties were seeing a portion of their child
care subsidy funds go unused as low-income families in these
high-cost counties failed to qualify under statewide criteria,
and provider reimbursement rates were insufficient to cover
program costs and overhead. These pilot projects, still in use
today, offer limited local flexibility to revise eligibility
rules and adjust provider rates to meet local needs. As a
result, these counties have been able to reinvest
otherwise-unused funds back into their programs.
4)Prior Legislation:
a) AB 260 (Gordon), Chapter 731, Statutes of 2013, extended
the sunset dates of the San Francisco and San Mateo County
individualized county child care subsidy plans to 2016 and
2018, respectively.
b) The sunset date of the San Francisco plan has been
extended three times as follows: AB 86 (Committee on
Budget), Chapter 48, Statutes of 2013, SB 1016 (Committee
on Budget and Fiscal Review), Chapter 38, Statutes of 2012,
AB 1610 (Committee on Budget), Chapter 724, Statutes of
2010,
c) SB 1225 (Yee), 2010, would have extended the sunset date
of the San Francisco individualized county child care
subsidy plan to 2016. It was held in the Senate
Appropriations Committee.
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d) AB 1304 (Simitian), Chapter 61, Statutes of 2008,
extended the sunset data of the San Mateo County
individualized county child care subsidy plan to 2014.
e) SB 701 (Migden), Chapter 725, Statutes of 2005,
established the San Francisco individualized county child
care subsidy plan pilot project, to sunset in 2011.
f) AB 1326 (Simitian), Chapter 691, Statutes of 2003,
established the San Mateo County individualized county
child care subsidy plan pilot project, to sunset in 2009.
Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916)
319-2081