BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1712
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Date of Hearing: April 13, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
AB
1712 (Obernolte) - As Introduced January 26, 2016
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY: This bill authorizes child care contractors to use
electronic signatures and requires that those signatures have
the same force and effect as manual signatures, as specified.
FISCAL EFFECT: The California Department of Education (CDE)
anticipates the following costs:
1)One-time costs of $73,000 to train audit staff, update related
guides and procedures. (Federal funds and GF).
AB 1712
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2)Unknown additional costs for audit fieldwork to verify systems
meet required standards, with costs expected to decrease over
time. Potential costs could be between the low tens of
thousands to the low hundreds of thousands. Costs will
largely depend on the duration and complexity of each audit.
(Federal funds and GF)
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, "California leads the nation
when it comes to innovation and technology. However, many of
our state government operations have been left in the past.
As a result, a number of state agencies are forced to operate
in a manner that is both outdated and inefficient. This bill
would help modernize one of these out-of-date conventions and
correct an oversight in existing law by allowing childcare
center contractors to use electronic signatures. Providing
child care centers with this option will greatly increase
their efficiency and maximize the use of their resources."
2)Background. In California, subsidized child care may be
available to families that meet certain eligibility
requirements. The three main types of subsidized child care
programs include: California Work Opportunity and
Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKS) child care, Alternative
Payment Programs (APPs) and General Child Care. General Child
Care offers child care and education/development services
through contracted child care centers and family child care
home networks that are administered through public or private
agencies. Child care administered by CalWORKs and APPs is
offered through a voucher system.
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The Child Development Division of the CDE conducts child care
audits. Currently, CDE conducts four to six annual program
audits of child care providers, and verifies that the provider
has kept the required sign-in and sign-out attendance sheets
and they contain the required parent or guardian signatures.
AB 271 (Obernolte), Chapter 476, Statutes of 2015, authorizes
APPs and child care providers as well as child care
contractors to maintain records electronically, in compliance
with state and federal standards, as determined by the CDE.
AB 271 also authorizes APPs and child care providers to use
digital signatures, pursuant to state and federal standards,
and requires a digital signature to have the same force and
effect as a manual signature. AB 1712 additionally allows
child care contractors to use digital signatures.
The CDE anticipates that shifting to the electronic
recordkeeping system authorized in last year's AB 271 will
increase costs to conduct audits by $3,980 per week for a
small agency, and a minimum of one additional week would be
required. For a larger agency, multiple additional weeks
could be required. However, costs are expected to decline over
time. Actual costs will ultimately depend on the duration of
the annual audits which is largely determined by the level of
funding an agency receives, the number of contracts the agency
has with the CDE, and the workload necessary to accomplish the
objectives of the audit. AB 1712 increases the number of
entities subject to audits under the new system.
3)Prior Legislation.
a) AB 271 (Obernolte), Chapter 476, Statutes of 2015,
expanded the authority of APPs and child care providers and
child care contractors to use electronic methods for
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storage of documents or records, and permitted APPs and
providers to use digital signatures pursuant to current
state standards.
b) AB 2101 (Levine), 2014, was substantially similar to AB
271 (Obernolte). It was held on this Committee's Suspense
File.
c) AB 274 (Bonilla, Chapter 733, Statutes of 2013) allows
APPs to maintain records, including child attendance
records, electronically in accordance with state and
federal auditing standards, but limited the electronic
maintenance of records to only those that were generated
electronically.
Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916)
319-2081