BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 833
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ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
833 (Bonta)
As Amended April 22, 2015
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes |Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+------+--------------------+---------------------|
|Human Services |7-0 |Chu, Mayes, | |
| | |Calderon, Lopez, | |
| | |Maienschein, | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | |Mark Stone, | |
| | |Thurmond | |
| | | | |
|----------------+------+--------------------+---------------------|
|Appropriations |17-0 |Gomez, Bigelow, | |
| | |Bonta, Calderon, | |
| | |Chang, Daly, | |
| | |Eggman, Gallagher, | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | |Eduardo Garcia, | |
| | |Gordon, Holden, | |
| | |Jones, Quirk, | |
| | |Rendon, Wagner, | |
| | |Weber, Wood | |
| | | | |
AB 833
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| | | | |
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SUMMARY: Establishes a subsidized child care pilot program in
Alameda County. Specifically, this bill:
1)States Legislative intent to build a stable, comprehensive, and
adequately funded high-quality early learning and educational
support system.
2)Permits Alameda County to develop and implement an
individualized county child care subsidy plan, as specified, to
include the following:
a) An assessment to identify the county's goal for its
subsidized child care system, as specified;
b) Development of a local policy to eliminate state-imposed
regulatory barriers to the county's achievement of its
desired outcomes for subsidized child care, as specified;
c) Recognition that all funding sources utilized by direct
child care service contractors in the county are eligible to
be included in the county's plan; and
d) Establishment of measurable outcomes to evaluate the
success of the plan to achieve the county's child care goals
and to overcome any barriers identified in the state's child
care subsidy plan.
1)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. Further 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.
2)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.
3)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.
4)Repeals the provisions of this bill as of January 1, 2021.
5)Declares legislative findings that a special law is necessary
and that a general law cannot be made applicable because of the
unique circumstances in Alameda County, as specified.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Establishes the Child Care and Development Services Act to
provide child care and development services as part of a
coordinated, comprehensive, and cost-effective system serving
children from birth to 13 years old and their parents, and
including a full range of supervision, health, and support
services through full- and part-time programs. (Education Code
(EDC) Section 8200 et seq.)
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2)States the intent of the Legislature that all families have
access to child care and development services, through resource
and referral where appropriate, and regardless of demographic
background or special needs, and that families are provided the
opportunity to attain financial stability through employment,
while maximizing growth and development of their children, and
enhancing their parenting skills through participation in child
care and development programs. (EDC Section 8202)
3)Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to adopt rules
and regulations regarding eligibility, enrollment, and priority
of services. (EDC Section 8263)
4)Requires the Superintendent to adopt rules, regulations, and
guidelines to facilitate funding and reimbursement procedures
for subsidized child care. (EDC Section 8269)
5)Requires the Superintendent to establish a family fee schedule
for subsidized child care, as specified, contingent on income
and subject to a cap. (EDC Section 8273)
6)Establishes the San Mateo County and San Francisco
individualized county child care subsidy plan pilot projects and
provides for them to sunset in 2016 and 2018, respectively.
(EDC Sections 8347 and 8335)
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, this bill will allow Alameda County to retain unspent
child care funds that otherwise would revert to the General Fund
(GF). 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, Proposition 98 (1988) funding and
federal funds. Historically, such reversions have been
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redistributed for child care purposes in subsequent budget years.
COMMENTS:
Subsidized child care: California offers subsidized child care to
parents participating in CalWORKs and to families transitioning
off of and no longer receiving aid. 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, which includes
contracted centers and family child care homes for three- and
four-year olds; and Alternative Payment Programs (APPs), which
provide vouchers that can be used 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. Across the
various subsidized child care programs, there are estimated to be
over 205,000 slots (not including State Preschool). State
Preschool contains close to 150,000 additional slots.
Contracted providers are funded through the receipt of the
Standard Reimbursement Rate (SRR) based on the number of children
enrolled and the hours of care provided. Families may also be
required to pay a family fee if they earn above a certain
threshold income for their family size. The current SRR is $36.10
per child for a full day of care. Adjustment factors are applied
to the SRR in some instances to reflect the increased cost of care
for the different ages and needs of children.
The Regional Market Rate survey calculates the market rates for
child care in each of California's 58 counties and uses these to
establish maximum child care reimbursement rates for child care
services for families in various APP or other voucher child care
programs. States are required to conduct a market rate survey
every two years, but are not required to use the most recent
survey to set rates. Reimbursement rates for licensed providers
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accepting vouchers are currently set at the 85th percentile of the
2009 RMR survey less 10.11%. License-exempt providers are
reimbursed at 60% of the Family Child Care Home ceilings. In
Santa Clara County, for example, the full-time daily RMR for a
preschool-age child in a child care center is $66.77. For that
same child in a family child care home, the RMR is $55.39, and
with a license-exempt provider, the RMR is $33.23.
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).
Child care in Alameda County: 14,206 children are served by
subsidized child care programs in Alameda County (note that these
data do not include the number of children in CalWORKs Stage 1
child care). While Alameda County does not have a centralized
eligibility list that provides an exact number of children
wait-listed for subsidized child care, the Alameda County Early
Care and Education Planning Council has polled a number of
providers in the county and found that there are over 9,750
children on their waitlists. This indicates that there are likely
well over 10,000 children in the county who are eligible for, but
unable to access slots in, local subsidized child care programs.
One study found that, during the period of 2011-12 to 2013-14,
Alameda County lost 22% of its subsidized child care contractors.
San Mateo County and San Francisco pilot programs: AB 1326
(Simitian), Chapter 691, Statutes of 2003, established the San
Mateo County individualized county child care subsidy plan pilot
project and SB 701 (Migden), Chapter 725, Statutes of 2005,
established the San Francisco individualized county child care
subsidy plan pilot project. Both pilots were developed to address
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two significant issues facing subsidized child care in high-cost
counties: 1) that low-income families earning just enough to
afford housing in a high-cost area may be deemed to earn too much
to qualify for assistance with child care by statewide eligibility
standards, and 2) that the statewide SRR paid to contracted child
care centers and family child care homes is often not sufficient
to cover program costs and overhead, particularly in high-cost
areas. Both counties would see a portion of their child care
subsidy funds go unused as low-income families failed to qualify
for eligibility by uniform statewide criteria, and as provider
reimbursement rates made offering subsidized care untenable for
some providers.
San Mateo County's and San Francisco's pilot programs, still in
operation today, offer them the limited local flexibility to
revise eligibility rules and adjust provider rates and family fees
within the context of local evaluation and assessment and
heightened state oversight. Thus, the counties are able to
reinvest otherwise-unused funds through increased reimbursement
rates. Both San Mateo County and San Francisco are also allowed
flexibility regarding eligibility rules. San Mateo County and San
Francisco currently set their eligibility income thresholds at 80%
of the current State Median Income, compared to 70% as the state
does.
Evaluation results for both counties have indicated a number of
successes, including increases in the number of aggregate days of
enrollment in subsidized child care and decreases in the amount of
unspent child care funds returned to the state.
Need for this bill: With close to 10,000 children waitlisted for
subsidized child care, and difficulties retaining contractors,
Alameda County may be a good candidate for an individualized
county child care subsidy plan like those seen in San Mateo County
and San Francisco.
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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 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.
With the ability to revise their eligibility and need
determinations, adjust their reimbursement rates and family
fees based upon a local evaluation and assessment, and
modify their funding requirements, Alameda County will be
able to maximize allocated funding and efficiently use
child care subsidy funds to meet local conditions. As a
result, more children can be served with quality child
care.
Analysis Prepared by:
Daphne Hunt / HUM. S. / (916) 319-2089 FN:
0000609
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