BILL NUMBER: AB 366 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 18, 2003
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 30, 2003
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 23, 2003
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 5, 2003
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 22, 2003
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 3, 2003
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Mullin
FEBRUARY 14, 2003
An act to amend Section Sections 1502 and
1522.02 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to care
facilities, making an appropriation therefor, and
declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 366, as amended, Mullin. Child care: substitute employee
registry.
Existing law authorizes the State Department of Social Services
(department) to adopt regulations to create
substitute care facility employee registries for
persons working at more than one facility licensed by the department,
in order to permit these registries to submit fingerprint cards and
child abuse index information for child care registries.
This bill would instead authorize the
department to adopt the above regulations in order to permit these
registries , instead, to submit fingerprint images and
related information to the Department of Justice, in accordance with
prescribed provisions, for child care workers who are associated with
the registries, and would require the Department of Justice to
assess all processing fees associated with these provisions. It
would also require that the responses from the Department of Justice
be provided to the department, and would permit these responses to
include information from specified sources.
Existing law additionally authorizes the department to operate a
substitute child care employee registry pilot program for the above
purposes, pursuant to specified criteria, and to charge an
administrative fee to participating registry facilities.
The This bill , instead,
would require , until January 1, 2007, the department to
operate this substitute child care employee registry pilot
program, and on and after that date, would authorize the department,
in its discretion, to operate the pilot program. The bill would
require the department to provide each registry under the pilot
program with a facility number, and would require that the child
care worker be registered with the registry, and not with an
individual child care facility that temporarily employs the child
care worker. The bill would also require the
registry to maintain all employee records for a child care worker
it employs at its central office subject to
inspection or electronic transfer to the department if requested
. This bill also would authorize the department to adopt
emergency regulations to implement the pilot program.
The bill would define "substitute employee registry" for purposes
of the California Community Care Facilities Act.
Existing law permits the department to limit the pilot program to
specified counties.
This bill would revise the list of counties that may participate
in the pilot program.
This bill would reappropriate to the department, from specified
funds in the Budget Act of 2003, the sum of $145,000 for the
regulation, licensing, and oversight of substitute employee
registries, thus constituting an appropriation.
The bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an
urgency statute.
Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: no yes
. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) It is in the interest of the safety of children and the
quality of their care to maintain the teacher and child staff ratios
in child care centers and schools as required by current law.
(b) Substitute employee registries are a valuable resource for
filling vacancies with fully qualified substitute employees.
(c) The licensing and oversight of substitute employee registries
are within the purview of quality initiatives in the state's plan
under the Child Care and Development Fund as provided by the Congress
of the United States.
(d) It is the intent of the Legislature to expand the substitute
employee registry program statewide as soon as it is fiscally
feasible to do so.
SEC. 2. Section 1502 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to
read:
1502. As used in this chapter:
(a) "Community care facility" means any facility, place, or
building that is maintained and operated to provide nonmedical
residential care, day treatment, adult day care, or foster family
agency services for children, adults, or children and adults,
including, but not limited to, the physically handicapped, mentally
impaired, incompetent persons, and abused or neglected children, and
includes the following:
(1) "Residential facility" means any family home, group care
facility, or similar facility determined by the director, for 24-hour
nonmedical care of persons in need of personal services,
supervision, or assistance essential for sustaining the activities of
daily living or for the protection of the individual.
(2) "Adult day program" means any community-based facility or
program that provides care to persons 18 years of age or older in
need of personal services, supervision, or assistance essential for
sustaining the activities of daily living or for the protection of
these individuals on less than a 24-hour basis.
(3) "Therapeutic day services facility" means any facility that
provides nonmedical care, counseling, educational or vocational
support, or social rehabilitation services on less than a 24-hour
basis to persons under 18 years of age who would otherwise be placed
in foster care or who are returning to families from foster care.
Program standards for these facilities shall be developed by the
department, pursuant to Section 1530, in consultation with
therapeutic day services and foster care providers.
(4) "Foster family agency" means any organization engaged in the
recruiting, certifying, and training of, and providing professional
support to, foster parents, or in finding homes or other places for
placement of children for temporary or permanent care who require
that level of care as an alternative to a group home. Private foster
family agencies shall be organized and operated on a nonprofit
basis.
(5) "Foster family home" means any residential facility providing
24-hour care for six or fewer foster children that is owned, leased,
or rented and is the residence of the foster parent or parents,
including their family, in whose care the foster children have been
placed. The placement may be by a public or private child placement
agency or by a court order, or by voluntary placement by a parent,
parents, or guardian. It also means a foster family home described
in Section 1505.2.
(6) "Small family home" means any residential facility, in the
licensee's family residence, that provides 24-hour care for six or
fewer foster children who have mental disorders or developmental or
physical disabilities and who require special care and supervision as
a result of their disabilities. A small family home may accept
children with special health care needs, pursuant to subdivision (a)
of Section 17710 of the Welfare and Institutions Code. In addition
to placing children with special health care needs, the department
may approve placement of children without special health care needs,
up to the licensed capacity.
(7) "Social rehabilitation facility" means any residential
facility that provides social rehabilitation services for no longer
than 18 months in a group setting to adults recovering from mental
illness who temporarily need assistance, guidance, or counseling.
Program components shall be subject to program standards pursuant to
Article 1 (commencing with Section 5670) of Chapter 2.5 of Part 2 of
Division 5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
(8) "Community treatment facility" means any residential facility
that provides mental health treatment services to children in a group
setting and that has the capacity to provide secure containment.
Program components shall be subject to program standards developed
and enforced by the State Department of Mental Health pursuant to
Section 4094 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit or
discourage placement of persons who have mental or physical
disabilities into any category of community care facility that meets
the needs of the individual placed, if the placement is consistent
with the licensing regulations of the department.
(9) "Full-service adoption agency" means any licensed entity
engaged in the business of providing adoption services, that does all
of the following:
(A) Assumes care, custody, and control of a child through
relinquishment of the child to the agency or involuntary termination
of parental rights to the child.
(B) Assesses the birth parents, prospective adoptive parents, or
child.
(C) Places children for adoption.
(D) Supervises adoptive placements.
Private full-service adoption agencies shall be organized and
operated on a nonprofit basis.
(10) "Noncustodial adoption agency" means any licensed entity
engaged in the business of providing adoption services, that does all
of the following:
(A) Assesses the prospective adoptive parents.
(B) Cooperatively matches children freed for adoption, who are
under the care, custody, and control of a licensed adoption agency,
for adoption, with assessed and approved adoptive applicants.
(C) Cooperatively supervises adoptive placements with a
full-service adoptive agency, but does not disrupt a placement or
remove a child from a placement.
Private noncustodial adoption agencies shall be organized and
operated on a nonprofit basis.
(11) "Transitional shelter care facility" means any group care
facility that provides for 24-hour nonmedical care of persons in need
of personal services, supervision, or assistance essential for
sustaining the activities of daily living or for the protection of
the individual. Program components shall be subject to program
standards developed by the State Department of Social Services
pursuant to Section 1502.3.
(12) "Transitional housing placement facility" means a community
care facility licensed by the department pursuant to Section 1559.110
to provide transitional housing opportunities to persons at least 17
years of age, and not more than 18 years of age unless the
requirements of Section 11403 of the Welfare and Institutions Code
are met, who are in out-of-home placement under the supervision of
the county department of social services or the county probation
department, and who are participating in an independent living
program.
(13) "Substitute employee registry" means any organization
licensed pursuant to Section 1522.02 to provide previously cleared
employees to a community care facility on a temporary placement
basis.
(b) "Department" or "state department" means the State Department
of Social Services.
(c) "Director" means the Director of Social Services.
SEC. 3. Section 1522.02 of the Health and Safety Code is
amended to read:
1522.02. (a) The department may adopt regulations to create
substitute employee registries for persons working at more than one
facility licensed pursuant to this chapter, Chapter 3.01 (commencing
with Section 1568.01), Chapter 3.2 (commencing with Section 1569),
Chapter 3.4 (commencing with Section 1569.70), Chapter 3.5
(commencing with Section 1596.90), or Chapter 3.6 (commencing with
Section 1597.30), in order to permit these registries to submit
fingerprint images and related information pursuant to Section
1596.871, to the Department of Justice for child care workers who are
associated with the registries so that these facilities have
available cleared care staff. Notwithstanding paragraph (3) of
subdivision (a) of Section 1596.871, the Department of Justice shall
assess all processing fees associated with this subdivision. The
responses from the Department of Justice shall be provided to the
department and may include information from its Criminal Index and
Identification (Cal-CII) system, the Federal Bureau of Investigation,
or the Child Abuse Central Index pursuant to subparagraph (A) of
paragraph (6) of subdivision (b) of Section 11170 of the Penal Code.
(b) (1) The department shall , until January 1,
2007, operate a substitute child care employee registry pilot
program for the purposes of subdivision (a) and may charge
participating registries a reasonable administrative fee.
(a). On and after January 1, 2007, the department may, in its
discretion, operate the substitute child care employee registry pilot
program.
(2) The department may charge participating registries an annual
licensing fee not to exceed the annual fee charged the largest
community care facility licensed for the care of children in the
state. Except for fees associated with criminal background
clearances, no licensing fees shall be charged to temporary employees
of these registries. The
(3) The pilot program shall be subject to all of the
following:
(1)
(A) The pilot program shall be limited to screening
employees for facilities licensed as child care facilities.
(2)
(B) Registries may not hire any child care worker for
employment at a child care facility who requires an exemption from
the criminal background clearance requirements of law.
(3)
(C) The department shall only guarantee the authenticity of
criminal background and child abuse index information that registries
provide to child care facilities. Any other information about a
child care worker shall be verified by the registry and certified
through a certificate issued by the registry.
(4)
(D) The department shall provide each registry with a
facility number. The child care worker shall be registered with the
registry, and not with the individual child care facility that
temporarily employs him or her. The substitute employee
registry shall maintain all employee records for a child care worker
employed by the registry.
(5) employs him or her. Each registry's facility
number shall remain valid unless suspended or revoked by the
department in the manner specified for other licensed community care
facilities. Each registry shall maintain all employee background and
employment records at its central office subject to physical
inspection or electronic transfer to the department if requested.
(E) The department may limit the pilot program to the
Counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Orange, Sacramento, San Francisco,
San Mateo, and Santa Clara.
SEC. 2.
(c) The department may adopt emergency regulations to implement
subdivision (b). The adoption, amendment, repeal, or readoption of a
regulation authorized by this subdivision is deemed to be necessary
for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health and
safety, or general welfare, for purposes of Sections 11346.1 and
11349.6 of the Government Code, and the department is hereby exempted
from the requirement that it describe specific facts showing the
need for immediate action. For purposes of subdivision (e) of
Section 11346.1 of the Government Code, the 120-day period, as
applicable to the effective period of an emergency regulatory action
and submission of specified materials to the Office of Administrative
Law, is hereby extended to 180 days.
SEC. 4. From the funds appropriated pursuant to subdivision (d) of
Provision 10 of Item 6110-196-0001 of the Budget Act of 2003,
relative to contracting with the State Department of Social Services
for increased inspections of child care facilities, the amount of one
hundred forty-five thousand ($145,000) is reappropriated for the
regulation, licensing, and oversight of substitute employee
registries to the State Department of Social Services during the
2003-04 fiscal year.
SEC. 5. This act is an urgency statute necessary for the
immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within
the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into
immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
In order to expedite criminal background checks so as to enable
temporary child care employees to fill emergency vacancies in child
care facilities as soon as possible, it is necessary that this act
take effect immediately.