BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



          SENATE COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
                               Senator McGuire, Chair
                                2015 - 2016  Regular 

          Bill No:              AB 982
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          |Author:   |Eggman                                                |
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          |Version:  |July 2, 2015           |Hearing    | July 14, 2015   |
          |          |                       |Date:      |                 |
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          |Urgency:  |No                     |Fiscal:    |Yes              |
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          |Consultant|Mareva Brown                                          |
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            Subject:  Child care and development:  eligibility:  homeless  
                                      children


            SUMMARY
          
          This bill expands the list of entities that can formally  
          identify a child as being eligible for subsidized child care  
          services to include a local educational agency liaison for  
          homeless children and youths, a Head Start program, or a  
          transitional shelter. The bill also expands the list of  
          conditions that make a family eligible for child care to include  
          a homeless child. 

            ABSTRACT
          
          Existing law:

          1)Establishes the Child Care and Development Services Act in  
            California law to provide a comprehensive, coordinated, and  
            cost-effective system of child care and development services  
            for children from infancy to 13 years of age and their  
            parents, including a full range of supervision, health, and  
            support services through full- and part-time programs and to  
            provide an environment that is healthy and nurturing for all  
            children in child care and development programs. (EDC 8201)

          2)Requires the Superintendent to adopt rules and regulations for  
            eligibility, enrollment and priority of services and require  
            that in order to be eligible for federal- and state-subsidized  








          AB 982 (Eggman)                                           PageB  
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            child development services a family must meet a least one of  
            the following, in each of the following areas: (EDC 8263)

               a.     Is a current aid recipient, income eligible,  
                 homeless or the children are recipients of protective  
                 services, among others. 
               b.     A family needs child care services because the child  
                 is identified by a legal, medical or social services  
                 agency as a recipient of protective services or being  
                 neglected, abused, or exploited, as defined, or because  
                 the parents are engaged in vocational training leading,  
                 as specified, or employed or seeking employment, seeking  
                 permanent housing for family stability or incapacitated.

          3)Requires the following priorities be set for services:

               a.     First priority shall be given to abused or neglected  
                 children who are recipients of child protective services  
                 or children who are at risk of being neglected or abused,  
                 upon written referral from a legal, medical or social  
                 services agency, as specified.
               b.     Second priority shall be given equally to  
                 income-eligible families, as specified. (EDC 8263 (b))


          4)Requires the Superintendent to set criteria for, and to grant  
            specific waivers of, the priorities established in this  
            subdivision for agencies that wish to serve specific  
            populations, including children with exceptional needs or  
            children of prisoners. These new waivers shall not include  
            proposals to avoid appropriate fee schedules or admit  
            ineligible families, but may include proposals to accept  
            members of special populations in other than strict income  
            order, as long as appropriate fees are paid. (EDC 8263 (b)(3))



          5)Establishes criteria for promoting continuity of services  
            within child care and development programs for enrolled  
            children. (EDC 8263 (c))

          6)Establishes, in federal law, the McKinney-Vento Homeless  
            Assistance Act, which provides federal funding for local  
            homeless assistance projects.  (42 USC § 11301, et seq.)









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          7)Includes in the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act,  a  
            definition of a homeless child or youth as one who lacks a  
            fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence including: 

             a)   Children and youths who are sharing the housing of other  
               persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a  
               similar reason; are living in motels, hotels, trailer  
               parks, or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative  
               adequate accommodations; are living in emergency or  
               transitional shelters; are abandoned in hospitals; or are  
               awaiting foster care placement; 
             b)   Children and youths who have a primary nighttime  
               residence that is a public or private place not designed  
               for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping  
               accommodation for human beings; 
             c)   Children and youths who are living in cars, parks,  
               public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing,  
               bus or train stations, or similar settings; and
             d)   Migratory children living in the circumstances described  
               above. (42 USC § 11434a)

          1)States the intent of the Legislature that homeless youth are  
            entitled to a meaningful opportunity to meet the challenging  
            state pupil academic achievement standards to which all pupils  
            are held.  (EDC 48850(a)(1))
          
          This bill:

             1)   Adds to the list of professionals who can identify a  
               family as having eligibility for subsidized child care  
               services a local educational agency liaison for homeless  
               children and youths, as specified, a Head Start program or  
               a transitional shelter. These professionals can affirm that  
               specific conditions exist to qualify a child for subsidized  
               care.


             2)   Adds homelessness to the risk factors to be considered  
               in assessing eligibility for subusidized child care  
               services in addition to the existing criteria of neglect,  
               abuse, and parental engagement in work or work-finding  
               activities, among others.










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            FISCAL IMPACT
          
          An Assembly Appropriations Committee analysis identified this  
          bill as having negligible state fiscal impact.

            BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
          
          Purpose of the bill:

          The author states that early childhood services are extremely  
          valuable for homeless children. Research overwhelmingly shows  
          high quality educational experiences in the preschool years can  
          have a positive effect and long-term benefit throughout a  
          child's education, according to the author. High-quality  
          preschool education and early learning have been shown to  
          increase high school graduation rates, reduce crime and  
          delinquency, lead to greater employment and wages as adults, and  
          contribute to more stable families, the author states. 

          Yet, according to the author, research shows that parents  
          experiencing homelessness are less able to access childcare  
          subsidies than other low-income parents.<1> Mothers who have  
          experienced homelessness receive government subsidies for  
          childcare much less often than those at-risk of homelessness or  
          those with stable housing. They are more likely to have  
          unreliable childcare and are less likely to access center-based  
          care, the author states. Mothers who have experienced  
          homelessness are more likely to be forced to leave jobs or  
          school due to lack of childcare, according to the author. This  
          bill would allow professionals who work with homeless families  
          to identify those families as meeting eligibility requirements  
          for state or federally subsidized care.
          
          Homelessness among children

          Homeless families with children comprise 37 percent of the  
          overall homeless population, according to data from the U.S.  
          Department of Housing and Urban Development. In 2013, more than  
          ---------------------------
          <1> Institute for Children, Poverty & Homelessness (May 2012).  
          Profiles of Risk: Child Care. New York: Author. ("This brief  
          uses data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a  
          national survey tracking nearly 5,000 families for five years  
          after the birth of each family's focal child.") 








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          1.2 million public school children were homeless, an increase of  
          roughly 25 percent from the 2009-10 school, according to various  
          U.S. Department of Education data sources. Overall, 2.5 million  
          children experienced homelessness nationally in 2013 - or 1 in  
          30. State data indicates nearly a quarter of California's  
          homeless children live in Los Angeles County and more than 80  
          percent, or 224,161 children, were living in doubled-up  
          situations, which include cohabitating with other families,  
          "couch surfing," or living in a garage.  Another 17,844 were  
          living in shelters, 10,073 lived in motels and hotels, and 7,578  
          were unsheltered.  

          The National Center on Family Homelessness at the American  
          Institutes for Research ranked  California 48th overall on its  
          report card of child homelessness, just above Mississippi and  
          Alabama, respectively. It ranked 48th in the extent of child  
          homelessness, just above New York and Kentucky, based on HUD  
          data showing that nearly 530,000 children were homeless in  
          California in 2012-13, an increase of 20,000 children from one  
          year prior and of nearly 90,000 from two years earlier. 

          California also ranked second-to-last in policy and planning  
          efforts, above only Wyoming. Despite positive marks for having a  
          state housing trust fund, California continues to have poor  
          access to housing for children and their families: Just 1,650  
          emergency shelter beds for families, 4,602 transitional housing  
          units and 5,064 permanent supportive housing units exist  
          statewide.

          McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act 
          
          The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act provides funding for  
          shelters and addresses educational needs of homeless youth,  
          among other identified responsibilities. The Act requires  
          homeless children to be able to enroll in school even without  
          all required paperwork and establishes other rights. It requires  
          school districts to appoint local educational liaisons for  
          homeless children. The Act also provides a definition of  
          homelessness that is broader than the previously-used HUD  
          definition: It includes individuals and families who lack a  
          fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence, including  
          those who live in shelters, transitional housing, cars,  
          campgrounds, motels, or who share the housing of others  
          temporarily due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or  









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          similar reasons. 

          Child care 

          Approximately 350,000 children receive subsidized child care in  
          California through a variety of home-based and center-based  
          programs which are intended to both support child development  
          and the parents' participation in work. To be eligible for  
          subsidized child care, a family's income must be below 70  
          percent of the state median income, or $42,000 for a family of  
          three; parents must be working or participating in an education  
          or training program; and children must be under the age of 13.  
          Space in child care and early childhood education programs is  
          limited, and shrunk considerably during the Great Recession. The  
          Legislature has made significant effort in the past several  
          years to recoup some of the lost slots; however there is not  
          enough subsidized child care to meet the need.
          
          Child care among homeless families

          Access to child care provides two important benefits, according  
          to research published in 2014 by the Institute for Children,  
          Poverty and Homelessness in Washington, DC. Not only does stable  
          child care provide parents an opportunity to work, search for  
          work or find housing, but it provides a critical safe setting  
          for children to grow and learn. "High-quality child care can,  
          especially for young children, bolster the early learning skills  
          necessary for success in school and beyond. By modeling  
          nurturing interactions and behaviors, child care providers help  
          shape young children's development." <2>

          Yet a 2012 report by the same organization found that homeless  
          mothers are less likely to receive child care subsidies than  
          either mothers at risk of becoming homeless or mothers who have  
          housing stability. 
          
          Related legislation:

          SB 177 (Liu, Chapter 491, Statutes of 2013) reduced barriers to  
          school enrollment for homeless youth. 


          ---------------------------
          <2>  
          http://www.icphusa.org/PDF/reports/ICPH_policyreport_MeetingtheCh 
          ildCareNeedsofHomelessFamilies.pdf








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          AB 905 (Arambula, Chapter 110, Statutes of 2007) allowed the  
          Superintendent of Public Instruction to extend the period of  
          eligibility an additional 60 days for families whose basis of  
          need for child care is that they are seeking employment.




                                      COMMENTS

          While California's statute has included homelessness as a  
          criteria for subsidized child care, and has permitted  
          prioritizing children for care within the category of families  
          "at risk," this bill would allow homeless liaisons and Head  
          Start organizations, which often deal directly with homeless  
          families, to be included in the list of professionals who can  
          identify a family as needing child care. 

            PRIOR VOTES
          
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          |Assembly Floor:                                            |78 - |
          |                                                           |0    |
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          |Assembly Appropriations Committee:                         |17 - |
          |                                                           |0    |
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          |Assembly Human Services Committee:                         |7 -  |
          |                                                           |0    |
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            POSITIONS
                                          
          Support:       
               Alliance Against Family Violence and Sexual  
          Assault/Bakersfield Homeless Center
               California Equity Leaders Network
               California State PTA
               Citrus Heights HART
               Ed Ladder
               Housing California
               Los Angeles Unified School District
               LUNIA Locals 777 & 792
               National Association for the Education of Homeless Children  









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          and Youth
               National Center for Youth Law
               Public Counsel's Children's Rights Project
               Santa Cruz County Homeless Action Partnership
               Santa Cruz County Office of Education
               Western Center on Law and Poverty
               1 individual
          Oppose:   
               None received.

                                      -- END --