Amended in Senate April 7, 2015

Senate Bill No. 174

Introduced by Senator Wolk

(Principal coauthors: Assembly Members Cooper, Dodd, and McCarty)

( begin delete Coauthor: Senator end delete begin insert Coauthors: Senators Gaines and end insert Pan)

February 5, 2015

An act to add and repeal Section 1517 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to crisis nurseries.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 174, as amended, Wolk. Crisis nurseries: study.

Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation by the State Department of Social Services of crisis nurseries. Crisis nurseries are nonprofit corporations that care for and supervise children under 6 years of age who are voluntarily placed in the crisis nursery by a parent or legal guardian due to a family crisis or stressful situation for no more than 30 days.

This bill, until January 1, 2018, would require the department to implement a 2-year pilot project in the begin delete Counties end delete begin insert County end insert of Sacramento and begin insert the County of end insert Yolo to conduct a study of the relationship between crisis respite care and incidents of reported child abuse in those counties, and report the results of the study to the Legislature. The bill would make the implementation of this pilot project contingent upon all of the crisis nurseries in those counties voluntarily participating in the project and providing funding for 1⁄2 of the cost of the project. begin delete This bill would express the intent of the Legislature to provide state funding for crisis nurseries in the Budget Act of 2015 for community services and this pilot project. end delete

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Section 1517 is added to the Health and Safety
Code, to read:

1517.  

(a) The department shall implement a two-year pilot
project in the County of Sacramento and the County of Yolo for
the purpose of evaluating the effectiveness of crisis nurseries in
lowering the incidence of child abuse in those counties. This pilot
project shall be implemented only if all of the crisis nurseries in
those counties voluntarily participate in the project and provide
private funding for one-half of the cost of the project. The pilot
project shall consist of both of the following:

(1) The department shall conduct a study of the relationship
between crisis respite care and incidents of reported child abuse
in pilot project counties.

(2) The department shall report the results of the study to the
Legislature on or before December 31, 2017. The report shall
comply with Section 9795 of the Government Code.

begin delete

(b) It is the intent of the Legislature to provide state funding for
crisis nurseries in the Budget Act of 2015 in order to enable crisis
nurseries to continue to provide services to the community and to
participate in the pilot project established by this section.

end delete begin delete

(c)

end delete

begin insert (b) end insert  This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2018,
and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that
is enacted before January 1, 2018, deletes or extends that date.