BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: SB 1420
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|Author: |Mendoza |
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|Version: |March 28, 2016 Hearing |
| |Date: April 6, 2016 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Lenin Del Castillo |
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NOTE: This bill has been referred to the Committees on
Education and Health. A "do pass" motion should
include referral to the Committee on Health.
Subject: Child care and development: occupational health and
safety training
SUMMARY
This bill requires all licensed caregivers for children to
complete a one-time training on occupational health and safety
risks specific to the child care profession and on how to
identify and avoid those risks. The bill also requires State
Department of Education (SDE) to develop the curriculum for the
training in consultation with the State Department of Public
Health and also compensate a caregiver for attending the
training.
BACKGROUND
Existing law establishes the Child Care and Development Services
Act to provide child care and development services as part of a
coordinated, comprehensive, and cost-effective system serving
children from birth to 13 years old and their parents, including
a full range of supervision, health, and other support services
through full- and part-time programs. (Education Code § 8200,
et seq.)
Existing law also stablishes the California Child Day Care
SB 1420 (Mendoza) Page 2
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Facilities Act provides for the licensure and regulation of
family day care homes by the Department of Social Services and
encourages the development of licensing staff with knowledge and
understanding of children and child care needs. (Health and
Safety Code § 1596.73)
ANALYSIS
This bill:
1) Provides various legislative findings and declarations,
including the following:
a) Improving occupational health and safety in
all lines of work is a priority for the State of
California, and that focus should extend to child care
caregivers.
b) Child care caregivers are at risk for
occupational health and safety risks on the job,
including from toxic chemicals, illness, stress, and
physical hazards such as lifting and bending.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, child
care workers have musculoskeletal injury rates
comparable to those of industrial truck and tractor
operators and construction equipment operators.
1) Makes the following definitions:
a) Caregivers means licensed caregivers and
license-exempt caregivers.
b) Department means the State Department of
Education (SDE).
c) Licensed caregiver means a person who works
directly with children and is a child care provider,
an administrator, or an employee of a licensed child
day care facility.
d) Licensed-exempt caregiver means a person who
works directly with children under a publicly funded
child care program, and is a child care provider who
is exempt from licensing requirements pursuant to
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Section 1596.792 of the Health and Safety Code, or the
employee of such a child care provider, but excludes
caregivers who are the relatives of the children they
care for.
e) Publicly funded child care program means a
program administered by the SDE, the State Department
of Social Services, or another department, agency, or
political subdivision of the state, including, but not
limited to, child care voucher programs, the
California State Preschool Program, child care center
contracts and programs established subsequent to the
passage of this article, to subsidize early learning
and care for children, but not including the public
education system.
1) Requires a caregiver to attend a one-time, two-hour
training on occupational health and safety risks specific
to the child care profession, and on how to identify and
avoid those risks.
2) Requires a caregiver to complete this training within
two years of when the training is first offered pursuant to
this act, or within three months of the caregiver beginning
to care for children in a licensed child day care facility,
whichever occurs later.
3) Requires the training to include all of the following:
a) A discussing of all of the following risks and
how the risks can be identified and minimized in a
child care setting: chemical and biological hazards;
infectious disease; and physical hazards and stress.
b) Small-group and large-group discussion.
c) An opportunity for a caregiver to learn from
current child care professionals.
d) Presentations by associations or organizations
of child care caregivers about their professional
development offerings for caregivers, upon approval by
the State Department of Education (SDE).
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e) An opportunity for a caregiver to give
feedback on the training he or she has received.
1) Requires the SDE, in consultation with the State
Department of Public Health and child care caregivers, to
develop the curriculum for the training.
2) Requires the SDE to compensate a caregiver for his or
her time for attending the training.
3) Requires the SDE to contract with an entity to provide
the occupational health and safety training. Based on a
competitive process, the SDE shall select an entity that
meets all of the following requirements:
a) Has experience providing occupational health
and safety training, as specified, to caregivers.
b) Trains caregivers to give the required
training to other caregivers.
c) Will provide periodic updates on health and
safety matters to caregivers who have completed the
training.
1) Requires the SDE, on a monthly basis, to provide lists
of the caregivers who have attended the training and of
those who are required to attend the training, but have not
yet attended, and their contact information, to the entity
selected to provide the training, to enable the entity to
provide periodic updates to affected caregivers on health
and safety issues and other educational information.
2) Requires the SDE and the entity it selects to provide
the training to comply with the Dymally-Alatorre Bilingual
Services Act, as specified, which includes, among
alternative communication options, providing the same type
of training materials in any non-English language spoken by
a substantial number of members of the public whom the SDE
serves.
3) Provides that the provisions of this bill take effect
July 1, 2017.
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STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill. According to the author's office,
"there are limited training options for caregivers, and
little instruction is offered in terms of workers' health
and safety on the job. This matter is of particular
importance for home-based caregivers who are considered
independent contractors. These workers are at high risk of
lacking health care and are typically ineligible for
worker's compensation if injured while working. According
to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, child care workers
accrued over 1,100 musculoskeletal lost-time injuries, with
a median of 30 lost days of work, in 2010. Child care
caregivers have musculoskeletal injury rates comparable to
industrial truck and tractor operators, construction
equipment operators, and shipping and receiving clerks."
This bill seeks to provide training that will improve the
health and safety for caregivers and the children in their
care.
2) Child Care and Development Block Grant. The federal Child
Care and Development Block Grant of 2014 (P.L. 113-186)
reauthorized the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act
of 1990. This reauthorization included a number of changes
intended to address health and safety requirements, quality
of care, and consumer and provider education, including a
section on training and professional development
requirements designed to enable child care providers to
promote the social, emotional, physical, and cognitive
development of children and to improve the knowledge and
skills of the child care workforce. While there are
existing training programs available in the state, this
bill requires specific training on occupational health and
safety practices and standards.
The State Plan for the Child Care Development Block Grant
includes a section on training and professional
development. However, it does not specifically make
reference to occupational health and safety training for
the child care workforce and appears to focus on the health
and safety of children.
3) Provider lists. This bill requires the State Department of
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Education (SDE), to provide a list of the caregivers who
have attended the training on a monthly basis along with
their contact information, in order to provide this
information to the training provider and track compliance.
While the existing Alternative Payment Providers currently
maintain lists of family child care providers by county,
there is no statewide list of family child care providers.
Therefore, SDE would need to develop a centralized list of
all family child care providers statewide which would
likely require additional costs to update their child
development management information systems as well as
additional state operations to collect and track this
information.
4) Funding? This bill requires the SDE to compensate a
caregiver for his or her time for attending the training
but makes no clear provision as to the source of funds for
this purpose. Is there an expectation that the Legislature
and Governor would appropriate funding for this purpose in
the budget?
5) Previous legislation. This bill is similar to provisions
of SB 548 (De Leon, 2015), which among other things,
required the SDE to ensure that all family child care
providers attend in-person orientation training, as
specified, and for SDE and the California Department of
Social Services to make information regarding family child
care providers available to provider organizations, as
specified. This bill was heard and passed this Committee
on April 22, 2015, by a vote of 7-2 and was subsequently
vetoed by the Governor, whose message read:
"I am returning SB 548 without my signature,
because the bill prematurely anticipates what
will be necessary to comply with the new federal
Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of
2014.
California will need to be in compliance with an
abundance of new requirements, not all of which
are clear at this juncture. The Department of
Education is currently working with stakeholders
to update our state's plan, to be submitted by
March 1, 2016, after further federal guidance is
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issued. Public input will be sought prior to the
finalization of the plan.
As part of that work, I will direct the State
Advisory Council on Early Learning and Care to
work with the department and review how the state
can best position itself to meet those
requirements efficiently and effectively,
including the delivery of any training."
SUPPORT
Service Employees International Union
OPPOSITION
None received.
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