BILL ANALYSIS Ó SB 476 Page 1 Date of Hearing: August 19, 2015 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Jimmy Gomez, Chair SB 476 (Mendoza) - As Amended July 16, 2015 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Policy |Health |Vote:|15 - 2 | |Committee: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable: No SUMMARY: This bill includes "day camps" in the definition of "organized camps," thereby subjecting day camps to regulation by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), and enforcement SB 476 Page 2 by local health jurisdictions (LHJs). Specifically, this bill: 1)Regulates organized day camps, which are defined as programs established for the primary purpose of providing group experiences for children under 18 years of age during the day, and that operate seasonally to provide group-based recreation and expanded learning opportunities with social, spiritual, educational, or recreational activities that promote environmental awareness and education. 2)Specifies requirements day camps must comply with, in order to qualify for a locally issued permit. 3)Requires the local public health officer or his or her designee to conduct an initial inspection of the premises to verify compliance with the appropriate health and sanitation standards, prior to issuing a permit. 4)Allows the local public health officer to inspect the camp and charge a fee for that purpose, not to exceed the reasonable cost of the inspection. Allows the local public health officer to charge a fee to recover any necessary costs incurred in administering provisions relating to organized camp oversight, not to exceed the actual cost of organized camp oversight and related activities. 5)Allows a local public health officer, for the purposes of complying with the specified section of law, delegate responsibility to the Office of the State Architect or any other public agency or private organization for the review of design and performance of inspection of construction of camp buildings and structures, as specified in DPH regulations. SB 476 Page 3 6)Limits local public health officer enforcement to health and sanitation standards. FISCAL EFFECT: 1)Minor costs to the Department of Public Health and the Department of Social Services (DSS) for updates to policy, process, and potential regulatory changes (GF). 2)Potential costs of several hundred thousand dollars GF annually for Division of the State Architect (DSA) within Department of General Services, if building standards approval is delegated to DSA as allowed under this bill. Actual costs are unknown, and would depend on the number and scope of potential activities. 3)Costs for inspecting and overseeing day camps will be incurred by LHJs. The bill gives LHJs broad authority to charge fees to cover regulatory costs. COMMENTS: 1)Purpose. The author states that because there is no reference to day camps in current law or regulation, there has been confusion related to who has jurisdiction over their operation. The author explains day camps typically operate during the summer and other vacation periods when school is not in session, and that they provide group-based recreation and expanded learning opportunities for children less than 18 years of age. The author further states that this clarification will assure the public that day camps operate under the oversight of local health officials, and that they are not regulated as childcare programs. The author concludes SB 476 Page 4 that with so many kids participating in these camps, it is essential that the camps adhere to health and safety standards. The author indicates there have been concerns that some organizations have been operating as day camps in an effort to circumvent strict licensing requirements of day care centers and that some counties, in an attempt to regulate day camps, have classified them as day care centers. 2)Current Regulation. The current definition of an organized camp applies only to sites that are established to provide an outdoor group living experience for five or more days a year. Day camps often do not have a fixed site, and instead operate in parks, beaches, churches, schools, Boys and Girls Clubs, or YMCA facilities, and are therefore not subject to the laws that currently regulate organized camps, as currently defined. This bill brings day camps, as defined, under the definition of organized camps. DSS currently regulates child care in the state. To distinguish child care from other programs or activities, DSS states that generally, in a child care setting, parents have an expectation that their children are being provided care and supervision. That is, children are in need of "personal services, supervision, or assistance essential for sustaining activities of daily living for their protection" (Health and Safety Code 1596.750). Some programs called "day camps" in common speech appear to fit this description, while others are more focused on providing a certain experience or specialized education, rather than care and supervision. Organized camps SB 476 Page 5 regulated under current law are generally in rural or wilderness settings, with attendant environmental health and safety concerns, such as pests, clean water, and activities in and around bodies of water. These camps are currently subject to CDPH regulation and local health officer enforcement and local health officers indicate they are relatively few in number. Outside of child care and resident camps, childrens' programs and activities do not appear to be state-regulated, although a variety of accreditation or other standards apply to programs that provide care for children, such as after-school care. 1)Previous Legislation. a) SB 443 (Walters), of 2013, would have defined organized camps and organized day camps and would have established requirements regarding their operation. SB 443 was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. b) SB 1087 (Walters), Chapter 652, Statues of 2012, increases the time in which an organization participating in the Safe Neighborhoods Partnership program can operate without a license. SB 1087 also exempts organized camps from licensure required for day care centers. c) SB 737 (Walters), of 2011, was substantially similar to SB 443 (Walters) of 2013. SB 737 was vetoed. In his veto message, the governor stated, "I agree with the author's intent to clarify and simply the regulation of organized camps, but this measure does not achieve this goal. I am directing the Department of Public Health and Department of SB 476 Page 6 Social Services to work with the author and interested advocates to resolve this issue in the coming year." The only resolution to the issue from the administration appears to be some level of engagement on subsequent bills introduced in the Legislature. There was no inter-agency work group or similar effort. 2)Support. This bill is sponsored by the California Collaborative for Youth and is supported by numerous private and non-profit entities offering children's activities, including a number of YMCAs. 3)Concerns. California State Association of Counties, County Health Executive Association of California, and California Council of Environmental Health Directors express concerns with this bill, including concerns about additional workload and the ability to raise adequate local revenues to fund this new activity. They seek amendments to simplify regulation for day camps through a registration process and align enforcement of building code standards with current practice, among other changes. 4)Comments. a) Definitional issues. LHJs report very few or no complaints related to day camps, but it seems as if there is a public expectation that day camps should have some regulatory oversight, such as background checks. However, the definitions in the bill raise questions about how SB 476 Page 7 regulatory lines are proposed to be drawn. There are a wide variety of programs and facilities that offer activities and care for children. A rational regulatory approach to assessing the adequacy of governmental oversight might consider, for the universe of activities, programs, and facilities that offer experiences and care for children: Potential differences in vulnerability according to child age, parental involvement, length of time in care, or other factors. Related health and safety risks, and evidence of current harm from lack of regulation. Public expectations for regulation. Current regulations or standards that may apply, both state and non-state. The capacity and expertise of existing entities to handle new regulatory responsibilities, if a case was made that the status quo is inadequate. This universe of programs, activities, and facilities is diverse. Proponents have not provided an analysis of this wider universe, and how this proposal fits into a rational oversight structure. In addition, a significant number of day camps may be left SB 476 Page 8 unregulated according to this bill. This bill proposes to regulate "organized day camps?that operate seasonally to provide group-based recreation and expanded learning opportunities with social, spiritual, educational, or recreational activities that promote environmental awareness and education." Presumably, a day camp that offers biological activities outdoors would qualify. What about a science camp that offers activities related to chemistry, which would be conducted partially indoors-would this be exempt? A day program offering a ropes course for teens? Would a sports clinic qualify, or be exempt because it does not intend to offer environmental education? Would a three-hour gardening class qualify? The bill does not define a minimum duration of activity that constitutes a day camp. What is particular about promoting environmental awareness and education, that implies camps that do so should be regulated, while those that do not promote environmental awareness and education should not, even if they are similar in every other way? Some additional parameters and adjustments appear necessary to rationally define what is to be regulated versus left unregulated. Given the vagueness of the definitions offers much room for interpretation, and given enforcement will be delegated to LHJs, it seems likely that oversight may vary widely depending on jurisdiction. a) Appropriateness of Organized Camp regulations for day camps. This bill places day camps under regulations that apply to overnight camps. These regulations may not be entirely appropriate for day camps. Most of these regulations address environmental health and safety concerns, such as potable water and others noted above. In contrast, according to this bill's definition, there is nothing that suggests a day camp would have to be in a natural or wilderness environment. Although technically many programs that would fit this bill's definition of day SB 476 Page 9 camps may not have difficulty meeting standards related to chemical toilets, head-to-head sleeping accommodations, and venomous snakes, it may be more rational to define day camps in a separate section of law. On the other hand, if day camps to be regulated are supposed to be those in natural or wilderness areas that have very similar to overnight camps, the definition of day camp should be narrowed to make that more clear. b) Impact on Access? Families' access to day camps in spring 2016 will depend on 61 LHJs developing regulatory programs and inspecting each camp prior to operation, just months after this bill becomes operative. Developing a new regulatory program for day camps may be a significant challenge for LHJs that have limited staff. Although fee authority is provided, on a practical basis this will require approval by county supervisors for new fees in 61 jurisdictions-fees that may raise the cost of already costly day camps. This bill has no timelines, but requires a day camp to have an initial inspection in order to operate. This would require, for example, in Los Angeles County likely hundreds of inspections to be completed before day camps can operate. If this bill becomes law, in spring 2016 parents will be looking for day camp options for their children during summer. Unless each jurisdiction has developed policies and procedures and has conducted inspections, these camps will be operating illegally. c) Exemption? This bill includes an exemption from child care licensure that states, "Notwithstanding any other law, an organized camp program conducted for children by the YMCA, Girl Scouts of the USA, Boy Scouts of America, Boys and Girls Clubs, Camp Fire USA, or similar organizations shall not be required to be licensed as a child day care center." Given the bill does not define "organized camp program," the meaning of this exemption is unclear. If the intent is to ensure certain organizations (YMCA, Boy SB 476 Page 10 Scouts, Girl Scouts) are exempt from licensure as a day care center if they are licensed as an organized day camp or resident camp, this exemption should presumably apply to all camps, unless it is the intent to dually license these entities as camps and child care. If this exemption is to apply to "programs," this should be clarified and defined. Though the bill appears intended to regulate day camps and clarify regulatory oversight, there is still not a clear distinction in this bill between what must be regulated as day care by DSS versus as a day camp by local health departments. If one of the named organizations is providing day care, they should presumably be licensed by DSS. d) Building standards. Existing law governing resident camps, which is being extended to day camps, requires local health officers to enforce building standards. Local health officers and LHJs deliver health and safety services, and generally have no expertise in building standards enforcement. It appears in practice that LHJs defer to other local entities that possess this expertise, such as city or county building inspectors. The author should consider amending this code section to conform to current practice and to assign duties to local entities with appropriate expertise, instead of expanding the scope of inappropriately assigned local health officer building enforcement duties to day camps. Instead, this bill cites existing state regulation that allows the LHO to delegate responsibility to the state architect, or any other public or private agency. The correct way to ameliorate the situation is to amend statute to align duties correctly, not point back to the CDPH regulation which offers a work-around to the misalignment of duties in the existing statute. SB 476 Page 11 e) Fee for inspections. Staff suggests this language be modified as follows: (c) The local public health officer may inspect the organized day camp or organized resident campand charge a fee for that purpose, not to exceed the reasonable cost of the inspection. Inspecting a camp will be part of the authority and duty of the local health officer. Consistent with most other fee-based regulatory programs, similarly situated entities should be charged fees based on overall regulatory costs, not on a fee-for-service basis. f) State-reimbursable mandate? This bill is tagged as a potentially state-reimbursable mandate. However, since the mandate tag was added the bill has been amended to broaden local fee authority. Section 18897.1. (g) now states, "The local public health officer may charge a fee to recover any necessary costs incurred in administering the provisions of this part relating to organized camp oversight, [not to exceed] the actual cost of organized camp oversight and related activities." Since local agencies have authority to fully recover costs, it does not appear that any potentially state-reimbursable costs remain. Analysis Prepared by:Lisa Murawski / APPR. / (916) 319-2081