BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2368
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Date of Hearing: April 27, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
AB
2368 (Gordon) - As Amended April 5, 2016
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|Policy |Human Services |Vote:|7 - 0 |
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY:
This bill authorizes the County of Santa Clara to establish a
five-year pilot program for purposes of developing and
implementing an individualized county child care subsidy plan
that meets the particular needs of families in the community.
FISCAL EFFECT:
1)This bill would allow Santa Clara County to retain unspent
child care funds that otherwise would revert to the General
Fund. According to Santa Clara County's Local Early Education
Planning Council, approximately $9.3 million under the Title 5
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state subsidized child care contracts has been returned to the
state. This roughly translates to 1,100 children who could
have been served in the county. That funding is a combination
of GF, Prop 98 funding and federal funds. Historically, such
reversions have been redistributed for child care purposes in
subsequent budget years.
2)Minor and absorbable costs to the State Department of
Education to review and approve contract amendments and other
related activities.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, "Santa Clara County serves
approximately 12,600 children in state subsidized child care
programs. Unfortunately, the fiscal reality of living in a
high-cost county means that many families are deemed
ineligible for subsidized child care and that provider
reimbursement rates are insufficient to cover the cost, as a
result, child care subsidy funds allocated to Santa Clara
County are not fully utilized or expended."
Like similar pilot projects before, this bill would enable
Santa Clara County to maximize allocated funding and
efficiently use child care subsidy funds by creating an
individualized county child care subsidy plan in Santa Clara
County like those used in Alameda, San Mateo and San Francisco
Counties.
2)Background: California offers subsidized child care to parents
participating in CalWORKs and to families transitioning off of
and no longer receiving aid. This child care is offered in
three "stages." DSS administers Stage 1, and CDE administers
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Stages 2 and 3. CDE also administers non-CalWORKs child care.
The largest programs are: General Child Care, which includes
contracted centers and family child care homes; the California
State Preschool Program for three- and four-year olds; and
APPs, which provide vouchers to obtain child care in a center,
family child care home, or from a license-exempt provider.
Waitlists for non-CalWORKs child care are common.
Families are typically eligible for subsidized child care if
their income is less than 70% of the 2007-08 State Median
Income (about $42,000 per year for a family of 3), if the
parents have a need related to work, training, or education,
and if the children are up to 12 years old (or 21 years old
for youth with exceptional needs).
In Santa Clara County, 12,692 children are served by
subsidized child care programs. Santa Clara County does not
have a centralized eligibility list that provides an exact
number of children wait-listed for subsidized child care.
However, anecdotal data from providers indicate that it is not
uncommon to have waitlists of over 100 children, and average
wait times of six months or more.
3)Pilot Programs. The individualize county child care pilot
programs in Alameda, San Mateo and San Francisco Counties were
created to address issues similar to those faced by Santa
Clara County today. Those counties were seeing a portion of
their child care subsidy funds go unused as low-income
families in these high-cost counties failed to qualify under
statewide criteria, and provider reimbursement rates were
insufficient to cover program costs and overhead. These pilot
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projects, still in use today, offer limited local flexibility
to revise eligibility rules and adjust provider rates to meet
local needs. As a result, these counties have been able to
reinvest otherwise-unused funds back into their programs.
4)Prior Legislation.
a) AB 833 (Bonta), Chapter 563, Statutes of 2015,
authorized Alameda County to develop and implement, as a
pilot project, an individualized county child care subsidy
plan.
b) AB 260 (Gordon), Chapter 731, Statutes of 2013, extended
the sunset dates of the San Francisco and San Mateo County
individualized county child care subsidy plans to 2016 and
2018, respectively.
c) The sunset date of the San Francisco plan has been
extended three times as follows: AB 86 (Committee on
Budget), Chapter 48, Statute s of 2013, SB 1016 (Committee
on Budget and Fiscal Review), Chapter 38, Statutes of 2012,
AB 1610 (Committee on Budget), Chapter 724, Statutes of
2010,
d) SB 1225 (Yee), 2010, would have extended the sunset date
of the San Francisco individualized county child care
subsidy plan to 2016. It was held in the Senate
Appropriations Committee.
e) AB 1304 (Simitian), Chapter 61, Statutes of 2008,
extended the sunset data of the San Mateo County
individualized county child care subsidy plan to 2014.
f) SB 701 (Migden), Chapter 725, Statutes of 2005,
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established the San Francisco individualized county child
care subsidy plan pilot project, to sunset in 2011.
g) AB 1326 (Simitian), Chapter 691, Statutes of 2003,
established the San Mateo County individualized county
child care subsidy plan pilot project, to sunset in 2009.
Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081