BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
SB 1154 (Liu) - Child care and development services: resource
and referral programs
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|Version: April 14, 2016 |Policy Vote: ED. 8 - 0, HUMAN |
| | S. 5 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: May 2, 2016 |Consultant: Jillian Kissee |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: This bill updates, clarifies, and codifies duties and
responsibilities of child care resource and referral programs
(R&R).
Fiscal
Impact:
Unknown cost pressures, potentially in the millions, to codify
activities required by state regulations and that constitute
existing practices of R&R programs. See staff comments.
(General Fund)
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Background:
R&R Programs
R&R programs provide information to parents, regardless of
income, about their child care options with the local community
and about licensed and unlicensed child care providers. They
also provide supportive services to child care providers and
potential providers. These include, but are not limited to:
technical assistance with the licensing process; staff
development programs; and referrals to social services.
Every county in California is served by at least one R&R
program. The California Department of Education (CDE)
administers the R&Rs' state contracts. The roles,
responsibilities, and requirements that R&Rs are required to
meet, are contained in the Education Code, Health & Safety Code,
regulations, and in the Funding Terms and Conditions developed
by the CDE.
Licensing of Child Care Providers
The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) is
responsible for licensing child care providers, which fall into
two general categories: commercial child care centers and family
child care homes. Not all child care providers are required to
be licensed, such as relatives of a child being cared for or
before and after school programs and extended day care programs
operated by public or private schools.
Limited / Shortage of Child Care Providers
In many areas of the state, there is limited or no space
available in licensed child care centers or family child care
homes. Additionally, there is a shortage of licensed slots for
infants and toddlers. As a result, families in some communities
may struggle to secure child care. R&R programs use census data
and requests from families in the community to perform regular
assessments and reporting of supply and demand for child care
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and to identify gaps in available service. Through the Child
Care Initiative Project and other programs recruitment and
training is conducted. Existing law provides legislative intent
to promote and foster the project in cooperation with private
corporations and local governments in order to increase the
availability of quality child care programs in the state. This
bill would codify the existing practice in which R&R programs
work to identify and fill the need for child care providers.
Proposed Law:
This bill would codify roles and responsibilities of R&Rs in
the Education Code. Specifically, this bill:
Deletes obsolete language, including a reference to a fixed
amount of funding for R&R programs and replaces it with a
general funding allocation statement.
Requires that the child care referral process be described in
writing, made available to parents, providers, and potential
providers upon request, and respond to parental need for
information to make the most informed child care choice for
the family.
Requires that referrals be available to all persons requesting
the information regardless of income level or eligibility
requirements.
Requires R&Rs to limit the distribution of lists of small
family day care homes as required by the Health and Safety
Code, except as specified.
Expands required documentation of requests to include child
care supply information, including the number of licensed
child care programs, and the number of license-exempt child
care providers, if available, and requests for other child
care information.
Specifies that the technical assistance provided to existing
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and potential providers of all types of child care services is
to improve access to, increase supply of, and improve the
quality of child care available in every community in
California. It also expands assistance to include:
o Providing training and workshops on health and
safety, child development, special needs, and other
topics related to professional development.
o Providing information about community resources,
child care statistics, and opening a child care business
to parents, child care providers, community
organizations, and government entities.
o Collaborating with community partners to increase
awareness of child care issues.
o Assisting community and public agencies in planning,
coordinating, and improving child care in the defined
geographic area.
o Partnering with local county welfare agencies in
meeting the child care needs of CalWORKS families.
o Facilitating efforts to expand child care services
in the local community based on demonstrated demand for
services.
Requires that R&Rs develop and implement written complaint
procedures, as specified.
Clarifies that basic child care referrals are to be provided
at no cost to all persons requesting services, regardless of
income level or eligibility criteria. Requires a basic child
care referral to include the names and telephone numbers of
child care providers that meet the requested need of the
parent or guardian seeking referrals.
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Clarifies that a fee may be charged for an enhanced referral
that includes information in addition to basic child care
referral information.
Clarifies and defines two distinct projects known as the
California Child Care Initiative Project - State Program and
the California Child Care Initiative Project - Quality Plan
Program. Establishes that the objective of both projects is
to increase the availability of quality child care in the
state. Deletes the requirement that the Superintendent of
Public Instruction (SPI) develop a database for the project.
Requires R&Rs to provide a range of professional development
services to all types of child care providers, as specified,
to support the development of new child care services and to
improve the quality of services available in the state.
Requires R&Rs to maximize parental choice and supports for
parents in locating child care resources in their community by
providing specified information regarding how to select
services, a range of possible alternatives, licensing
requirements, and available child care subsidies and
eligibility requirements.
Provides additional responsibilities in implementing the
trustline registry program. (TrustLine is a program of the
CDSS and is administered jointly by CDSS and the California
Child Care Resource and Referral Network (Network). The
Network aims to promote accessible, affordable, quality child
care. Its membership consists of R&Rs from across the state.)
Related
Legislation: AB 2463 (Brownley, 2010), substantially similar to
this bill, was held in this committee.
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Staff
Comments: According to the author, current law related to child
care resource and referral programs is outdated and does not
adequately represent the responsibilities of R&Rs or services
offered. The author asserts that the updated language will
standardize services statewide while ensuring that families from
each region receive the same basic referral and child care
services.
While most of these activities appear to be authorized through
regulations or other means, their codification creates a cost
pressure for the specified activities. Codifying activities in
statute makes activities an ongoing obligation whereas
regulations can be more easily amended or deleted. These
activities include, but are not limited to: developing and
implementing written complaint procedures; providing a range of
professional development services to providers; required
activities to maximize parental choice and supports for parents
in locating child care resources; and additional requirements
related to implementing the trustline registry program for
license-exempt child care providers.
Actual costs associated with these activities are unknown.
According to the CDE, this bill codifies existing practices of
the R&Rs. The Budget Act of 2015 provides $18.9 million General
Fund for R&Rs activities. To the extent these activities make
up 10 percent of the funds allocated, costs pressures associated
with this bill could be in the millions to continue funding
these activities. However, it could be possible that not every
R&R is currently implementing every activity proposed in this
bill. In this case, this bill would result in pressure to
increase funding for R&Rs.
Staff notes that the authorization to charge a fee for an
enhanced referral will generate unknown revenue which will
likely remain at the local level with agencies generating the
referrals.
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