Amended in Assembly September 11, 2015

Amended in Assembly September 11, 2015

Amended in Assembly September 4, 2015

Amended in Assembly August 17, 2015

Amended in Senate June 1, 2015

Amended in Senate April 14, 2015

Senate BillNo. 548


Introduced by Senator De León

(Coauthors: Senators Hancock and Jackson)

(Coauthors: Assembly Members Atkins and Weber)

February 26, 2015


An act to add Article 19.5 (commencing with Section 8430) to Chapter 2 of Part 6 of Division 1 of Title 1 of the Education Code, relating to child care.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 548, as amended, De León. Child care: family child care providers: orientation training.

Existing law, the California Child Day Care Facilities Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of family day care homes by the State Department of Social Services. Existing law, the Child Care and Development Services Act, administered by the State Department of Education, requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to administer child care and development programs that offer a full range of services for eligible children from infancy to 13 years of age, including, among others, resource and referral programs, alternative payment programs, and family child care home education networks.

The bill would require the State Department of Education to ensure that all family child care providers, as defined, attend an in-person orientation training, as provided. The bill would require the orientation training to include at least 4 hours of instruction and include specified information, including minimum health and safety standards, as provided. The bill would authorize the Superintendent to adopt rules and regulations regarding the orientation training.begin delete The bill would provide that the above provisions are contingent upon an appropriation of funds for these purposes in the annual Budget Act or other statutes.end delete

The bill would require the State Department of Social Services and the State Department of Education, with the assistance of specified state departments and agencies, and their contractors and subcontractors, to make specified information regarding family child care providers available to provider organizations, and would require the provider organization requesting the information to bear the costs of collecting the information, as provided.

begin insert

The bill would provide that the above provisions are contingent upon an appropriation of funds for these purposes in the annual Budget Act or another statute.

end insert

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

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

P2    1

SECTION 1.  

The Legislature finds and declares all of the
2following:

3(a) Quality, affordable child care is essential to prepare
4California’s children to succeed in school and in life and to allow
5families to work and contribute to the state’s economy with the
6assurance that their children are safe, well cared for, and learning.

7(b) Family child care is the child care setting of choice for many
8families because of its warm homelike environment, convenience,
9and affordability. The flexibility offered by many family child care
10providers is particularly vital to low-wage workers who are subject
11to highly unpredictable work schedules, and to the many California
12workers who work nontraditional hours and need child care on
13evenings, overnights, and weekends. Close to 40 percent of licensed
P3    1family child care homes offer evening, weekend, and overnight
2care, compared with only 2 percent of centers.

3(c) Family child care providers are small business owners who
4contribute significantly to the economies of their communities and
5the state. As businesses, family child care providers are engines
6for economic growth, generating 100,000 direct and indirect jobs,
7three billion five hundred million dollars ($3,500,000,000) in
8economic output, and five hundred fifty million dollars
9($550,000,000) in tax revenues. Family child care providers also
10contribute to the economy by serving as a vital job support for
11working families.

12(d) Family child care providers face significant health and safety
13risks on the job, and will thus benefit from training on occupational
14safety and health.

15(e) Giving family child care providers training on how to better
16navigate the state-funded child care system, including how to
17become licensed, will result in a more efficient and cost-effective
18system for family child care providers, families, and the state.

19(f) California currently does not have a single list of all family
20child care providers who participate in the state-funded child care
21program. Creating such a list will enable the state to track and
22ensure compliance with training and background check
23requirements. Making that list available to provider organizations
24that will enable family child care providers to meet one another,
25be informed about training opportunities, and form and build
26organizations will allow them to share their common concerns and
27advocate to improve the quality, access, and stability of child care
28available to California’s children and families. This will allow the
29state to maximize its return on its investment in child care.

30

SEC. 2.  

Article 19.5 (commencing with Section 8430) is added
31to Chapter 2 of Part 6 of Division 1 of Title 1 of the Education
32Code
, to read:

33 

34Article 19.5.  Raising Child Care Quality Act
35

 

36

8430.  

This article shall be known, and may be cited, as the
37Raising Child Care Quality Act.

38

8431.  

The purpose of this article is to ensure that family child
39care providers receive orientation training on subjects including
40occupational health and safety practices and standards and the
P4    1state’s early learning foundations, and to make it more possible
2for family child care providers to be informed about training
3opportunities and to form and join provider organizations to share
4their common concerns and advocate for improvements to the
5state-funded child care system.

6

8432.  

As used in this article:

7(a) “Family child care provider” or “provider” means a child
8care provider that participates in a state-funded child care program
9and is either of the following:

10(1) A family day care home provider, as described in Section
111596.78 of the Health and Safety Code, who is licensed pursuant
12to the requirement in Section 1596.80 of the Health and Safety
13Code.

14(2) An individual who meets both of the following criteria:

15(A) Provides child care in his or her own home or in the home
16of the child receiving care.

17(B) Is exempt from licensing requirements pursuant to Section
181596.792 of the Health and Safety Code.

19(b) “Provider organization” means an organization that has all
20of the following characteristics:

21(1) Includes family child care providers as members.

22(2) Has as one of its main purposes the representation of family
23child care providers in their relations with public or private entities
24in California or in advancing the concerns of providers regarding
25the terms of their participation in state-funded child care programs.

26(3) Is not an entity that contracts with the state or a county to
27administer or process payments for a state-funded child care
28program.

29(c) “State-funded child care program” means a program
30administered by the State Department of Education, the State
31Department of Social Services, or another department, agency, or
32political subdivision of the state, including programs established
33subsequent to the passage of this article, to subsidize early learning
34and care for children, but not including the public education system.

35

8433.  

(a) To ensure that family child care providers have the
36opportunity to receive substantive training on topics including
37health and safety standards for child care workers, child care
38subsidy program functioning, and the state’s early learning
39foundations, the State Department of Education shall ensure that
40all family child care providers attend an in-person orientation
P5    1training. Providers who are new to the state-funded child care
2program shall complete the orientation training within three months
3after they begin participating in the state-funded child care
4program. Providers who are already participating in the
5state-funded child care program shall complete the orientation
6training within two years after it is first offered. Other child care
7providers who are not family child care providers or who do not
8participate in the state-funded child care program may also be
9invited to attend the orientation training at no cost to the providers
10personally.

11(b) Family child care providers shall be compensated for their
12time attending the orientation training. The orientation training
13shall be offered at times and in community-based settings that are
14convenient and accessible to family child care providers.

15(c) If a substantial number of the family child care providers
16participating in the state-funded child care program in a given
17county are non-English speaking, some orientation training,
18including written material distributed at the training, in that county
19shall be provided in the languages spoken by a substantial number
20of family child care providers, in order to facilitate full participation
21from all providers.

22(d) Alternatives to in-person orientation training shall be offered
23on a case-by-case basis for providers who have been unable to
24attend an orientation training within two years after the training is
25first offered, or within three months after the family child care
26provider begins participating in the state-funded child care
27program.

28(e) An orientation training shall include at least four hours of
29 instruction, which shall be in addition to training currently offered
30by resource and referral programs, and which is intended to count
31towards satisfying pre-service or orientation training requirements
32of federal law. The orientation training shall include information
33about all of the following:

34(1) Minimum health and safety standards, including emergency
35preparedness and response planning.

36(2) Occupational health and safety for family child care
37providers, including information about injuries, infectious diseases,
38environmental risks, and job-related stress.

39(3) Information about the state-funded child care program,
40including the referral and listing process of resource and referral
P6    1agencies, alternative payment programs, including family approval
2and payment processes, timelines, appeals processes, licensing
3guidelines, and the process for becoming a licensed family child
4care provider.

5(4) Information about the state’s early learning foundations and
6how they align with K-5 standards.

7(5) Information on resources available to providers and the
8children and families they serve, including all of the following:

9(A) The federal Child and Adult Care Food Program.

10(B) The state early intervention system, First 5 county
11commissions, and other sources of available training and resources,
12particularly related to child development, literacy, and alignment
13with K-5 standards.

14(C) Information from provider organizations that notify the
15State Department of Education they would like to make
16presentations at or include information about their organizations
17at an orientation training. These programs or organizations may
18deliver this information through brief presentations as part of the
19orientation training.

20(f) The State Department of Education shall offer the orientation
21training either directly or through contracts. The occupational
22safety and health portion of the training shall be offered through
23contracts with a statewide organization that has expertise about
24the state-funded child care program, that includes family child care
25providers as members, and that is not an entity that contracts with
26the state or a county to administer or process payments for a
27state-funded child care program. The remainder of the training
28shall be offeredbegin insert primarilyend insert with local resource and referral programs,
29as defined in subdivision (x) of Section 8208.

30(g) Only curriculum approved by the State Department of
31Education may be used to fulfill the training requirements specified
32in this section. In order to ensure that the occupational safety and
33health portion of the training reflects providers’ needs and the
34realities of their work with regard to the occupational safety and
35health portion of the training, the State Department of Education
36shall only approve training curriculum that has been developed
37with input from family child care providers or their representatives.

38(h) The Superintendent may adopt rules and regulations
39regarding the orientation training required under this section. The
40Superintendent may consult with other appropriate entities,
P7    1including provider organizations and other early education and
2care advocates, representatives of community colleges, higher
3education institutions, resource and referral networks, First 5
4county commissions, organizations that operate training programs
5or apprenticeship programs, and early education and care employers
6in developing these rules and regulations.

begin delete

7(i) The requirements of this section are contingent upon
8appropriation of funds for purposes of this section in the annual
9Budget Act or other statutes.

end delete
10

8434.  

(a) Within 10 days of receipt of a request from a provider
11organization, the State Department of Social Services shall make
12available to that provider organization information regarding family
13child care providers described in paragraph (1) of subdivision (a)
14of Section 8432, including each provider’s name, home address,
15mailing address, telephone number, email address, if known, and
16license number.

17(b) Within 30 days of receipt of a request from a provider
18organization, the State Department of Education, with the
19assistance of the State Department of Social Services and any state
20department or agency, or its contractor or subcontractor, in
21possession of the relevant information, shall collect information
22regarding family child care providers, including each provider’s
23name, home address, mailing address, telephone number, email
24address, if known, unique provider identification number, if
25applicable, and shall make that information available to the
26provider organization. The provider organization shall bear the
27reasonable costs of collecting the information described in this
28subdivision to the extent that the state is not already collecting it
29and is not already required by federal or state law or regulation to
30collect it, with any such payment going to reimburse the state
31departments, agencies, contractors, or subcontractors that incurred
32the costs of compiling the list. It is the intent of the Legislature
33that this list will assist the State Department of Social Services
34and the State Department of Education and their contractors in
35tracking provider compliance.

36(c) A provider organization under this article shall be considered
37a family day care organization for purposes of subdivisions (b)
38and (c) of Section 1596.86 of the Health and Safety Code. All
39confidentiality requirements applicable to recipients of information
40pursuant to Section 1596.86 of the Health and Safety Code apply
P8    1to provider organizations and shall apply also to protect the
2personal information of family child care providers as defined in
3paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 8432.

begin insert

4(d) Information provided pursuant to this section shall be used
5only for purposes of advocating on behalf of family child care
6providers and educating them on their rights and services available
7to them.

end insert
begin delete

8(d)

end delete

9begin insert(e)end insert Upon written request of a family child care provider, the
10State Department of Education and the State Department of Social
11Services shall remove the family child care provider’s home
12address and home telephone number from the mailing lists
13referenced in subdivisions (a) and (b) before the release of the
14lists.

begin insert
15

begin insert8435.end insert  

The requirements of this article are contingent upon
16appropriation of funds for purposes of this article in the annual
17Budget Act or another statute.

end insert


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