BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON HEALTH
Senator Ed Hernandez, O.D., Chair
BILL NO: SB 1420
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|AUTHOR: |Mendoza |
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|VERSION: |March 28, 2016 |
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|HEARING DATE: |April 20, 2016 | | |
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|CONSULTANT: |Alex Norring |
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SUBJECT : Child care and development: occupational health and
safety training
SUMMARY : Requires caregivers, as defined, to attend a one-time,
two-hour training on occupational health and safety, as
specified. Requires the Department of Education and the
Department of Public Health to develop the curriculum for the
training, as defined.
Existing law:
1)Establishes the California Child Day Care Facilities Act to
provide for the licensure and regulation of child day care and
family day care facilities by the Department of Social
Services (DSS).
2)Establishes guidelines for the development of licensing staff
with knowledge and understanding of children and child care
needs.
3)Requires family day care home licensees who provide care to
have at least 15 hours of health and safety training, as
defined, including prevention of childhood injuries and
infectious diseases.
4)Establishes the Child Care and Development Services Act to
provide child care and development services as 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.
This bill:
1)Requires a caregiver, beginning July 1, 2017, to attend a
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one-time, two hour training on occupational health and safety
risks specific to the child care profession, and how to
identify and avoid those risks. Requires a caregiver to
complete the training within two years of when the training is
first offered or within three months of the caregiver
beginning to care for children in a licensed child day care
facility, whichever occurs later.
2)Requires the caregiver training to include:
a) Discussion of risks and how to identify and
minimize those risks, including: chemical and
biological hazards, infectious disease, physical
hazards and stress;
b) Small- and large-group discussion;
c) 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; and,
e) Opportunity for caregivers to give feedback on
the training received.
3)Defines "caregiver" as licensed caregivers and license-exempt
caregivers. Defines "licensed caregiver" as a person working
directly with children and is a child care provider,
administrator, or employee of a licensed child day care
facility. Defines "license-exempt caregiver" as 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, but excludes caregivers that are
relatives of the children they care for.
4)Requires the California Department of Education (CDE) to
develop curriculum for the training in consultation with the
Department of Public Health (DPH) and child care caregivers.
Requires CDE to compensate caregivers for their attendance at
the training.
5)Requires CDE to contract with an entity to provide the
occupational health and safety training required in this bill
throughout the state that is selected based on defined
requirements, including:
a) Has experience providing occupational health
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and safety trainings to caregivers;
b) Trains caregivers to give the training
required in this bill; and,
c) Provides periodic updates on health and safety
matters to caregivers that have completed the
training.
6)Requires CDE to provide monthly lists of caregivers and
contact information to the selected entity of those who have
and have not attended the training.
7)Makes various findings and declarations about the risks child
care caregivers face on the job, which have been found to be
comparable to those of industrial truck and tractor operators
and construction equipment operators.
FISCAL
EFFECT : This bill has not yet been analyzed by a fiscal
committee.
COMMENTS :
1)Author's statement. According to the author, anyone who has a
toddler knows how easy it is to throw out one's back picking
up a 30 pound child, especially when the child is kicking or
squirming, or how other accidents can arise when a child
leaves a toy or book in a worker's pathway. The constant
motion of bending over to comfort, lift, cook for, and clean
up after 5-10 children throughout the day could wear one's
body down. A Department of Labor report shows child care
workers have back, muscle, joint and other musculoskeletal
injuries at the same rate as truck drivers, construction
equipment operators, or package handlers. Layered on these
repetitive stress motions, child care workers must navigate
the use of harmful cleaning chemicals that, if used
inappropriately, can lead to asthma and other impacts. They
must navigate the "petri dishes" of germs that young children
often carry to keep themselves and the other children they
care for safe and healthy. SB 1420 fills a critical need to
keep child care workers injury-free with a common sense,
preventative approach that provides comprehensive training on
health and safety issues child care workers face on a daily
basis. In addition, this bill will provide training that will
bring California into compliance with new federal requirements
for the Child Care Development Block Grant. Most importantly,
this bill helps every child care worker, both in family child
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care and center settings, receive the training he or she needs
to prevent injuries and provide a safe environment for the
children.
2)Child Care and Development Block Grant. In 2014, President
Obama signed into law the Child Care and Development Block
Grant (CCDBG). According to the Administration for Children
and Families, under the federal Health and Human Services
Agency, this was a historic re-envisioning of the Child Care
and Development Fund (Fund) program. The CCDBG requires states
to establish health and safety requirements in 10 different
topic areas, including sudden infant death syndrome and
cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). CCDBG requires child care
providers serving children that receive assistance through
this Fund to receive pre-service and ongoing training on these
topics. Additionally, CCDBG requires states to establish
professional development and training requirements with
ongoing annual training and progression to improve knowledge
of providers.
3)Current training requirements. DSS, under current law,
establishes training requirements for child care. This
includes 15 hours of health and safety training, specifically
pediatric first aid, CPR, preventive health practices for the
prevention of infectious diseases and childhood injuries, and
nutrition training. Completion of this training by personnel
and licensees is required as a condition of licensure. If
qualified applicants are found deficient in this training,
then a provisional license is issued for 90 days to allow for
completion of the training.
4)Double referral. This bill was heard in Senate Education
Committee on April 6, 2016, and passed with a 7-2 vote.
5)Prior legislation. SB 548 (De Leon), of 2015, required CDE to
ensure all family child care providers attend in-person
orientation training and CDE and DSS to make information
regarding family child care providers available to provider
organizations. SB 548 was vetoed by the Governor because it
prematurely anticipated what would be necessary to comply with
the federal CCDBG.
6)Support. SEIU California writes that this bill would ensure
caregivers that serve children receive training on
occupational health and safety practices, which would protect
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their own health as well as those in their care. They further
state that this bill will bring California in line with
federal CCDBG re-authorization requirements. California Labor
Federation writes that child care workers are exposed to
several health and safety risks through their jobs and this
bill will ensure that California complies with new CCDBG
health and safety training requirements.
7)Policy Comments. This bill is focused on occupational health
and safety, which brings into question whether CDE and DPH are
the appropriate departments to establish training curriculum.
SUPPORT AND OPPOSITION :
Support: SEIU California (sponsor)
California Labor Federation
Oppose: None received
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