BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 982|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 982
Author: Eggman (D)
Amended: 7/2/15 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE: 6-0, 7/1/15
AYES: Liu, Leyva, Mendoza, Monning, Pan, Vidak
NO VOTE RECORDED: Runner, Block, Hancock
SENATE HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE: 5-0, 7/14/15
AYES: McGuire, Berryhill, Hancock, Liu, Nguyen
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 5/14/15 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT: Child care and development: eligibility: homeless
children
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill specifically identifies homeless youth as a
criterion for meeting federal and state subsidized child
development eligibility requirements and modifies the list of
entities that may identify a child for such services.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Declares the legislative intent to give priority to children
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of families that qualify for applicable federal public
assistance and other low-income and disadvantage families.
(Education Code § 8205)
2)Specifies that children are eligible for subsidized child care
if the family currently receives aid, meets specified income
eligibility requirements, is homeless, or if the child is the
recipient of protective services, or has been identified as
neglected, abused or exploited (or at risk of such). (EC §
8263)
3)Requires in order to be eligible for subsidized child
development services to be identified by a legal, medical, or
social services agency, or emergency shelter as being a
recipient of a protective service. (EC § 8263)
4)Requires, under the McKinney-Vento Act, each local educational
agency to designate a staff person as a liaison for homeless
children and youth, and carry out specific duties, such as
ensuring immediate enrollment, access to educational
opportunities offered to other students, and providing notice
of the rights of homeless youth. (42 U.S.C. §
11432(g)(1)(j)(ii))
This bill identifies homeless youth as a criterion for meeting
federal and state subsidized child development eligibility
requirements and modifies the list of entities that may identify
a child for such services. Specifically this bill:
1)Expands the existing list of entities that may identify a
child for subsidized child development services to include
local educational agency liaisons for homeless children and
youth, Head Start programs, and emergency and transitional
shelters.
2)Adds "being homeless" as a criterion for which a child may be
identified as needing subsidized child cares services by
specified entities.
3)Includes the prioritization of homeless families within
existing legislative intent provisions.
Comments
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1)Need for the bill. Local educational agency (LEA) liaisons
for homeless children and youth are required to ensure
homeless youth get the education and health care services they
need. According to the author, LEA liaisons are not
statutorily authorized to identify families as homeless for
purposes of child care prioritization. The author also notes
that parents experiencing homelessness are less able to access
child care subsidies than other low-income parents. This bill
seeks to enhance access to federal and state subsidized
childcare and development services for homeless families by
adding LEA liaisons for homeless children and youth, Head
Start programs, and emergency and transitional shelters to the
list of entities that may identify a child for subsidize care.
2)Child care eligibility. Existing law specifies that children
are eligible for subsidized child care if the family currently
receives aid, meets specified income eligibility requirements,
is homeless, or if the child is the recipient of protective
services, or has been identified as neglected, abused or
exploited (or at risk of such). In addition, the family must
be in need of the child care services due to specified social
service circumstances, engaged in vocational training, seeking
employment, searching for housing or other specified needs.
3)Homeless children and youth. State regulations define
"homeless," to mean a person or family that lacks a fixed,
regular and adequate night time residence and further defines
the term to mean a person or family to have a primary night
time resident that is supervised publicly or privately,
operated by shelter or a place not traditionally designed for
sleeping accommodation. Research by the Institute for
Children, Poverty, And Homelessness, reports that parents
experiencing homelessness are less able to access child care
subsidies than other low-income parents. Mothers who have
experienced homelessness receive government subsidies for
child care much less often than poor families at risk of
homelessness and are more likely to be forced to leave jobs or
school due to lack of child care.
This bill seeks to articulate legislative intent to prioritize
homeless children and youth for child care services but does
not require prioritization of the population for those
services. To note, existing law identifies homelessness as a
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criteria for qualifying for subsidized child care services.
This bill also attempts to include entities who regularly
engage homeless and have experience addressing their unique
needs.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
SUPPORT: (Verified8/19/15)
Alliance Against Family Violence and Sexual Assault
American Academy of Pediatrics
Bakersfield Homeless Center
California Coalition for Youth
California Equity Leaders Network
California School Employees Association
California State PTA
California Welfare Directors Association
Citrus Heights Homeless Assistance Resource Team
County Welfare Directors Association of California
First 5 Marin Children and Families Commission
Hamilton Family Center
Home Start, Inc.
Housing California
Junior Leagues of CA State Public Affairs Committee
LIUNA Locals 777 & 792
Los Angeles Unified School District
National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and
Youth
National Association of Social Workers-CA Chapter
National Center for Youth Law
Public Counsel
Santa Cruz County Homeless Action Partnership
Santa Cruz County Office of Education
The Ed Ladder
Western Center on Law & Poverty
Women's Empowerment
OPPOSITION: (Verified 8/19/15)
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None received
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 5/14/15
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang,
Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle,
Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina
Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez,
Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden,
Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Lopez, Low,
Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Melendez, Mullin,
Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Perea,
Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago,
Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber,
Wilk, Williams, Wood, Atkins
NO VOTE RECORDED: Linder, Medina
Prepared by:Olgalilia Ramirez / ED. / (916) 651-4105
8/19/15 20:39:07
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