BILL NUMBER: AB 366 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JANUARY 26, 2004
AMENDED IN SENATE SEPTEMBER 3, 2003
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 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 to
adopt regulations to create substitute 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 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 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 a reasonable
annual licensing fee to participating registry facilities.
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 require the registry to maintain all
employee records for a child care worker 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.
The bill would require the department to report to the Legislature
by March 31, 2004, specified information concerning the pilot
program.
The bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an
urgency statute.
Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: no. 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.
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 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 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 and, if
appropriate, 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). 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 a
reasonable annual licensing fee. Except for fees associated with
criminal background clearances, no licensing fees shall be charged to
temporary employees of these registries.
(3) The pilot program shall be subject to all of the following:
(A) The pilot program shall be limited to screening employees for
facilities licensed as child care facilities.
(B) Registries may not hire or retain any child care worker for
employment at a child care facility who requires an exemption from
the criminal background clearance requirements of law.
(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.
(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. 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.
(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. The State Department of Social Services shall report to
the Legislature, by March 31, 2004, whether state personnel are
filling the authorized positions for the substitute child care
employee registry pilot program, including the proportion of each
person's time allocated to the substitute employee registry (SER)
project, the number of counties and substitute employee registries
participating in the pilot program as of February 28, 2004, and any
barriers encountered in the implementation of the pilot program. A
copy of any emergency regulations adopted by the State Department of
Social Services pursuant to Section 1522.02 of the Health and Safety
Code shall also be transmitted with the report.
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.