BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Senator McGuire, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 2036
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|Author: |Lopez |
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|Version: |May 27, 2016 |Hearing | June 14, 2016 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant|Taryn Smith |
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Subject: Online child care job posting services: background
check service providers: consumer education
SUMMARY
This bill requires an online child care job posting service to
post specified information related to background checks on its
Internet Web site and provides for an enforcement process to be
administered by the Attorney General. The bill requires fines to
be collected deposited in the Child Health and Safety Fund and
authorizes the funds to be available for, among other things,
education and training of child day care facility providers. The
bill would also authorize an individual damaged by willful
violation of these provisions to bring a civil cause of action
for damages, as provided.
ABSTRACT
Existing law:
1) Establishes the California Child Day Care Facilities Act
to provide for the licensure and regulation of child care
facilities, specifies types of facilities and providers
exempt from licensure requirements, and requires the
Community Care Licensing Division to regulate child care
licensees. (HSC 1596.70 et seq.)
2) Directs the California Department of Social Services
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(CDSS) to establish and continuously update a TrustLine
registry containing information on license-exempt child
care providers who have submitted TrustLine
background-check information and who have undergone the
specified background check. (HSC 1596.60 et seq.)
3) Includes in California's system of child care and
development programs "resource and referral programs,"
charged with providing information and referrals to parents
regarding child care in their area that meets the needs of
the child and parents. (Education Code 8208, 8210 et seq.)
4) Creates in the state Treasury the Child Health and
Safety Fund and allows for expenditure of moneys in the
fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for training
investigative and licensing field staff, site visits of day
care centers and family day care homes, and other purposes
as specified. (WIC 18285)
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This bill:
1)Defines "online child care job posting service" to mean any
person or business that provides or offers to provide child
care providers.
2)Defines "background check services provider" to mean any
person or business that provides or offers to provide
background check services.
3)Requires an online child care job posting service posting
information on an Internet Web site in California to include a
description of, or link to, statements related to both of the
following:
a) TrustLine information, as specified, and the TrustLine
registry toll-free telephone number and website; and
b) The requirement that "nonexempt" family child care homes
be licensed in the state, parents' right to receive
information regarding substantiated or inconclusive
complaints about any child care provider, and how to obtain
such information.
1)Requires any online child care job posting service that
provides access to a background check for the child care
providers it lists to provide a written description of the
background check, as specified.
2)Requires background check service providers offering
background checks through the Internet Web sites of online
child care job posting services, as specified, to provide a
written description of the background checks offered, that
includes, at a minimum:
a) A detailed description of what is included in the
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background check; and
b) A chart that lists each county in the state and the
databases that are checked for each county, including
specified information for each database, as applicable.
3)Requires the Attorney General, upon receiving a complaint, to
review the online child care job posting service or background
check service provider named in the complaint and further
requires a notice of violation to be served upon a provider if
the Attorney General determines the provider has violated the
provisions of this bill, as specified.
4)Requires the Attorney General, in the first case of alleged
noncompliance, to provide written notice of the violation to
the online child care job posting service or background check
service provider. Further requires that the recipient of the
notice of violation will have 30 calendar days to correct the
violation or request a hearing on the matter, and provides for
a process and requirements regarding the submission of
evidence of compliance.
5)Requires the Attorney General to adopt regulations, consistent
with due process, governing the notice, hearing, and
submission of evidence.
6)Requires the Attorney General to impose a fine of $1,000 per
violation for second and subsequent violations, as specified.
7)Requires any fines imposed and collected to be deposited into
the Child Health and Safety Fund and to be made available upon
appropriation by the Legislature, as specified.
8)Permits an individual damaged by a willful violation of the
provisions of this bill to bring a civil cause of action
against an online child care job posting service or background
check service provider, permits the court to award equitable
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relief, and specifies that the rights and remedies provided in
the provisions of this bill are in addition to any other
rights and remedies provided by law, as specified.
FISCAL IMPACT
According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, this bill
may result in potential ongoing costs of approximately $100,000
(General Fund) to the Department of Justice, assuming 2,000
complaints per year at a cost of $50 per case to review the
complaint and provide written notice of violation, if necessary.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
Purpose of the bill:
According to the author, finding and obtaining child care
providers has changed in recent years. When parents begin their
child care search, many begin online and use the search terms
"babysitters" or "nannies" and online child care job posting
services make up the majority of websites that are provided by
search engines, per the author.
The author states that many of these companies advertise that
their providers have passed background checks which leads a
consumer to believe that they are making the most informed and
safest decisions about the individual(s) hired to care for their
child(ren). However, according to the author, the background
checks are typically conducted by a third party background check
service. The author states that these background check services
do not include the comprehensive fingerprint data and child
abuse report information included in California's TrustLine
check. The author also states that it is difficult for child
care consumers using the job posting sites to determine what the
background check includes and what it does not include.
This bill would require online companies that advertise child
care services provided by license-exempt child care providers
(such as babysitters and nannies) to post a statement about the
California TrustLine registry and, if the service provides
access to a background check, a written description of the
background check provided by the background check service
provider. The bill makes a background check service provider
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responsible for providing the online child care job posting
service with certain information and makes the Attorney General
responsible for enforcement, but allows an individual to bring
civil action if the company violates the law.
Licensed and License Exempt Child Care Providers
CDSS is responsible for licensing child care providers, which
fall into two general categories: commercial child care centers
and family child care homes. CDSS is responsible for
implementing and enforcing the laws and regulations that govern
licensed child care providers. Such laws and regulations
include general health and safety requirements, staff-to-child
ratios, and training requirements. However, not all child care
providers are required to be licensed. Examples of some
license-exempt child care providers are:
Relatives of a child being cared for (i.e., parents,
adult siblings, aunts, uncles, first cousins,
step-relatives and grandparents)
Any arrangement providing care for children of only one
family in addition to the operator's own children
Before-and-after school programs and extended day care
programs operated by public or private schools
Background Checks
All licensed child care providers are required to undergo a
criminal background check and screening. Nannies and
babysitters are, in most cases, license-exempt providers. Some,
but not all, of license-exempt child care providers have
completed a criminal background screening and clearance process.
Employment agencies that place nannies and babysitters with
families are required by state law to register caregivers with
TrustLine upon placement. Additionally, license-exempt
providers who provide child care to families receiving
subsidized child care (via CalWORKs) must register with
TrustLine, unless they are a grandparent, aunt, or uncle of the
child in care.
TrustLine
TrustLine is a registry of license-exempt child care providers
who have cleared a criminal background check that includes a
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check of the Child Abuse Central Index (CACI) administered by
the Attorney General and the California Department of Justice's
(DOJ) California Criminal History System. It can involve a check
of criminal history records at the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI). Child care providers listed on TrustLine
do not have either of the following: disqualifying criminal
convictions or substantiated reports of child abuse found on
CACI.
Applicants for the TrustLine registry must complete a form,
submit fingerprints, and pay a one-time fee to CDSS. Fees can
vary, and start at approximately $135. Child care seekers can
check if an individual is listed on the registry by calling a
toll-free number. There is not fee for a parent to check the
background of a potential child care provider via TrustLine.
Child care job posting services
A number of Internet Web sites provide a referral services for
child care seekers to locate would-be child care providers.
Some sites provide lists of vetted care providers. Others allow
potential child care providers to create their own profile and
directly publicize their availability to provide child care.
There is a wide range of background check services offered via
these websites. A number of the larger, more well-known
job-posting sites offer the option of requesting background
checks of selected providers for a fee. These background checks
are conducted by third party vendors, which do not have access
to the official databases maintained by DOJ or the FBI. Some
sites offer a variety of screening levels or tiered background
checks. Additionally, some sites post the results of background
checks, while other sites require background checks only under
certain circumstances in order for providers to publicize their
availability for work. According to the sponsor, a number of
third-party vendors are used by different job-posting sites to
conduct these background checks.
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Related legislation:
AB 589 (Lopez, 2015) was similar to AB 2036. AB 589 was held in
the Assembly Human Services Committee.
COMMENTS
In order to add clarity to the bill, the Committee recommends
the following amendments:
WIC 18890.2.
(a) (1) An online child care job posting service posting
information on an Internet Web site in California shall include
a description of, or link to, the following statements:
(a) (1) An online child care job posting service that provides
online information about potential child care providers who are
not required to be licensed in California shall include the
following statement, which must be accessible no more than one
click away from the providers' profile.
" Trustline is California's official background check for
license-exempt child care providers (i.e. babysitters and
nannies) and the only authorized screening program in California
with access to fingerprint records at the California Department
of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation and access to
the California Child Abuse Central Index. The Trustline registry
toll-free telephone number is 1-800-822-8490. "
(2) An online child care job posting service that provides
online information about potential child care providers who are
required to be licensed in California shall include the
following statement, which must be accessible no more than one
click away from the providers' profile. The Nonexempt family
child care homes and child care centers are required to be
licensed by the State of California. "Pursuant to Oliver's Law
Health and Safety Code section 1596.859, parents have the right
to receive information regarding any substantiated or
inconclusive complaint about any licensed child care provider s .
That information is public and can be acquired by visiting the
State California Department of Social Services' Internet Web
site at "www.ccld.ca.gov."
(b) If the online child care job listing service provides access
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to a background check for the child care providers listed on its
Internet Web site, it shall provide, by means of a one-click
link on each California child care provider profile for which
background checks are offered, the written description of the
background check provided as defined in (c) to it by the
background check service provider .
(c) Background check service providers that offer provide
background checks for through the Internet Web sites in
California of online child care job posting services in
California shall provide to the online child care job posting
services include a written description of the background checks
conducted offered by the background check service provider that
includes at a minimum:
(1) A detailed description of what is included in the background
check.
(2) A chart that lists each county in California and the
databases that are checked for each county, including the
following information for each database, as applicable:
(A) The source of the data, the name of the database used, and a
brief description of the data included in the database.
(B) The date range of the oldest data and the most recent data
included.
(C) How often the information is updated.
(D) How the databases are checked (by name, social security
number, fingerprints, etc.).
(E) A list of the counties for which no data is available.
PRIOR VOTES
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|Assembly Floor: |79 - |
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|Assembly Appropriations Committee: |19 - |
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|Assembly Human Services Committee: |6 - |
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POSITIONS
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Support:
California Child Care Resource and Referral Network
(sponsor)
BANANAS
California Association for the Education of Young Children
Child Care Alliance of Los Angeles
Choices for Children
Community Action Partnership
Community Child Care Council (4Cs) of Alameda County
Community Child Care Council of Sonoma County
Contra Costa Child Care Council
First 5 Association of California
Northern Director's Group
Options for Learning
Solano Family & Children's Services
UDW/AFSCME Local 3930
Oppose:
None
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