BILL ANALYSIS
AB 366
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 8, 2003
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Lois Wolk, Chair
AB 366 (Mullin) - As Amended: April 3, 2003
SUBJECT : Child care: substitute employee registry
SUMMARY : Assures continuation of the substitute employee
registry (SER) pilot project, and clarifies that child care
workers employed by the SER are to be registered by the SER and
not individual child care facilities. Specifically, this bill :
1)Provides that child care workers employed by the SER shall be
registered with the registry, not the individual child care
facility temporarily employing him or her.
2)Clarifies that employee records must be maintained at the
central office of the SER rather than at the facility.
3)Appropriates $133,000 for 2.0 positions in the Department of
Social Services Community Care Licensing Division to
administer the program.
4)Takes effect immediately as an urgency statute.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Authorizes the State Department of Social Services (DSS) to
operate a substitute child care employee registry pilot
program in 11 California counties to permit the registries to
submit fingerprint cards and child abuse index information to
child care providers who need prescreened, qualified employees
on short notice.
2)Authorizes DSS to charge registry providers an offsetting
administrative fee to cover DSS' costs for the program.
FISCAL EFFECT : $133,000 appropriation for 2.0 positions, also
reflected in Governor's 2003-04 budget.
COMMENTS : Substitute Employee Registries (SERs) were initially
authorized by SB 933 (Thompson), Chapter 311, Statutes of 1998,
to permit the child care industry to employ temporary workers
AB 366
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whose criminal and health background clearances are obtained and
job qualifications verified by a central registry rather than by
individual child care centers. SER screening permits temporary
employees to fill in on short notice when staff absences and
other emergencies occur. SB 933 allowed the State Department of
Social Services to establish SERs on a pilot basis.
Once cleared, each employee is given a DSS-approved certificate
allowing facilities to hire him or her assured that the
standards have been met. Child care facilities have a pool of
already cleared and immediately available substitute teachers
and workers, and avoid the time and expense of performing the
screenings themselves. No criminal background exemptions are
permitted for SER temporary employees.
The demonstration project covered eleven counties over the past
three years, and it is generally considered by the child care
community to have been a success meriting statewide expansion.
However, the projects were ended by DSS on September 1, 2002,
due to budgetary pressures. Last year's SB 646 (Ortiz), Chapter
669, Statutes of 2002, was enacted to continue the SERs, and
authorized DSS to charge registry providers an offsetting
administrative fee.
To date, lack of funding has prevented the SER project from
being renewed. The Governor's 2003-04 budget contains $133,000
for the creation of 2.0 new limited term staff to implement last
year's SB 646.
AB 366 clarifies the practice that registrations of workers
employed by the SER are with the registry rather than the
facility, and that the employee's records are maintained at the
SER's central office.
Suggested amendments: The current statute authorizing SERs
states that registries shall not "hire" workers who require an
exemption, and AB 366 refers to child care workers "employed by
the [SER]." Child care workers are not employees of the
registries, however, but only registered with and screened by
them.
1.Page 2, line 20: Replace "hire" with "screen."
2.Page 2, line 28: Replace "employed by the substitute employee
registry" with "screened by the substitute employee registry."
AB 366
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3.Page 3, line 2: Replace "employed by the registry" with
"screened by the registry."
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
ChildCare Careers (sponsor)
Contra Costa County Community Services Department
Kidango
PalCare
Professional Association for Childhood Education
San Juan Bautista Child Development Center
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Casey McKeever / HUM. S. / (916)
319-2089