BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1897
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Date of Hearing: April 27, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
AB
1897 (Mullin) - As Introduced February 11, 2016
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY:
This bill directs the Department of Social Services (DSS) to
create an optional "birth through entering first grade" category
of day care licensure. Specifically, this bill:
1)Directs DSS, by January 1, 2018, and in consultation with
specified stakeholders including the California Department of
Education, to adopt regulations to develop and implement a
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"birth to entering first grade" license option for day care
centers. The regulations must include age-appropriate
transition periods, as specified, and requirements that a
birth to entering first grade licensee list the age groups of
children being served, as specified, and that all other
licensing regulations that apply to a day care center will
apply to a birth to entering first grade license option.
2)States that a new applicant for a birth to entering first
grade license may be charged a fee commensurate with other
age-specific facility license fee schedules.
3)Requires a day care center licensee to continue to meet
regulatory requirements and inspection standards for the age
groups of children receiving care in that center, until an
existing day care center license has been replaced with a
birth to entering first grade license.
FISCAL EFFECT:
1)One-time costs to DSS in the range of $200,000 (GF) to staff
and conduct stakeholder meetings and for regulatory and policy
development. This may be higher due to the tight timeframe and
complex nature of the proposed regulations.
2)Unknown, but potentially significant on-going costs to DSS for
case management workload to manually convert existing license
types to the new birth to entering first grade license option.
Additionally, because the new license is optional, DSS will be
required to maintain parallel licensing and inspection
structures until all existing day care center licenses have
been replaced. This will dampen any administrative
efficiencies that might be achieved by the bill.
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3)Unknown, but likely minor costs to DSS to educate and train
staff on the new regulations for facility inspection purposes.
4)Staff notes that the full extent of the implementation costs
will not be known until the new regulations implemented and
tested.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, "This bill will allow DSS
to create an integrated child care facility license as an
additional option that providers can choose when applying for
or renewing their facility license. The addition of an
integrated birth through entering first grade facility license
option will allow child care and preschool providers the
ability to implement the best practices around continuity of
care when transitioning children, teachers and peers between
age specific classrooms. This integrated facility license
option will also allow providers with federal contracts to
more fully meet continuity of care regulations. Additionally,
this bill will allow child care providers the ability to
better manage their school year enrollment so that their
facility can reach maximum utilization, thus serving more
children and families. A single license option will reduce
the administrative burden on severely underfunded child care
centers and DSS so that they can both focus on providing a
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safe and healthy environment for California's children."
2)Background. The Community Care Licensing Division (CCLD) of
DSS is responsible for licensing and monitoring the state's
10,467 day care centers, which, as of June 30, 2015, provided
590,596 child care slots. CCLD is required to conduct
unannounced site visits of all licensed child day care
facilities and homes. CCLD conducts random inspections of 30%
of facilities annually, and each facility must be visited at
least once every five years.
Infant centers serve children under two years old, preschool
child care centers serve children between the ages of 2 and
when they start school, and school-age child care centers
serve children who have entered the first grade or are in a
child care program exclusively for children in kindergarten
and above. A "combination center" is any combination of an
infant center, preschool child care center, school-age child
care center and child care center for mildly ill children that
is owned and operated by one licensee at a common address. In
California, separate licenses are currently required for
serving infants and for serving preschool-age children. Thus,
owner/operators of combination centers serving both
populations must get two licenses and undergo separate
inspection and compliance processes for each license.
3)Prior Legislation. AB 762 (Mullin), Chapter 373, Statutes of
2015, increased the upper age limit for optional toddler
programs authorized by DSS from 30 months to three years of
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age.
Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916)
319-2081