BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 366
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   April 30, 2003

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                              Darrell Steinberg, Chair

                    AB 366 (Mullin) - As Amended:  April 22, 2003 

          Policy Committee:                              Human  
          ServicesVote:5-0

          Urgency:     Yes                  State Mandated Local Program:  
          No     Reimbursable:              

           SUMMARY  

          This bill clarifies current law regarding the employment status  
          of temporary child care workers associated with a substitute  
          employee registry (SER). Specifically, this bill states that  
          these workers shall be registered with SERs and not the  
          individual child care centers. 

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          No direct General Fund impact.

           COMMENTS  

           1)Current Law  . SER pilots were authorized by SB 933 (Thompson),  
            Chapter 311, Statutes of 1998, to allow child care centers to  
            use temporary workers whose criminal clearances are obtained  
            by a central registry rather than by individual centers.   
            These registries operate like temporary employee agencies,  
            providing child care facilities with pre-screened employees on  
            short notice and for limited periods of time. These registries  
            allow child care providers to reduce the need to conduct  
            employee searches and background checks when they experience  
            temporary staffing shortages. Due to a lack of state-funded  
            staffing, the SER projects in 11 counties were halted in 2002.  


           2)Governor's Budget Proposal  . SB 646 (Ortiz), Chapter 669,  
            Statutes of 2002, intends to continue the SER pilot projects,  
            and authorizes DSS to charge registry providers an offsetting  
            administrative fee. The governor's 2003-04 budget proposes  
            $133,000 General Fund for two new limited term staff to  








                                                                  AB 366
                                                                  Page  2

            implement SB 646.
           
          3)Rationale  . According to the author, this bill is contingent  
            upon implementation of SB 646 and is necessary to specify that  
            workers shall be registered by the SERs and not the individual  
            child care centers.  It is unclear whether a statute is  
            required or whether this clarification could be accomplished  
            via updating existing regulations. 
           
           

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Mary Ader / APPR. / (916) 319-2081