BILL ANALYSIS
AB 627
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 14, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Jim Beall, Jr., Chair
AB 627 (Brownley) - As Amended: April 13, 2009
SUBJECT : Child care nutrition and exercise.
SUMMARY : Requires that child day care facilities meet specified
health and nutritional requirements, as specified.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Adds the following additional licensure requirements for child
day care facilities unless exempted in writing by a physician:
a) Water shall be available and accessible throughout the
day;
b) Meals and snacks shall include food amounts specified
under the meal patterns outlined under federal law;
c) Only low fat or nonfat milk shall be served to children
that are two years or older;
d) Only 100% juice shall be served and limited to one
serving per day;
e) At least one serving of a vegetable at lunch and dinner
shall be served;
f) No deep fat fried food shall be served;
g) Sugar is limited to 6 grams per serving of hot and cold
cereals; and
h) For children in full day care, television, computer, and
video games shall be limited to no more than one hour and
must be of quality. For children in less than full time,
these activities shall be reduced proportionately.
2)Requires that the additional nutrition standards below be met
if increased funding for the Child and Adult Care Food Program
(CACFP) comes available and a child care facility participates
in that increased funding unless exempted in writing by a
physician:
AB 627
Page 2
a) Comply with the additional licensing requirements above;
b) Limit fried potatoes to one serving per week;
c) Limit the servings of specified sweet grains to no more
than two times per week, and
d) Provide at least one serving of a whole grain product
per day;
e) Limit serving hot dogs, SPAM, luncheon meats, and other
processed meat products to a maximum of three times per
week;
f) Do not serve sugar-sweetened or artificially sweetened
beverages; and
g) Limit canned fruits and vegetables to those with no
added sweeteners other than 100% juice.
3)Makes findings and declarations relative to child obesity and
recent research that shows that changes in the nutrition
offered in child care facilities can be improved with low-fat
dairy, fresh fruits and vegetables, and whole grains.
EXISTING LAW
1)States that the State Department of Education administers the
federal Child Care & Adult Food Program that provides
subsidized meals and snacks for these populations with the
purpose of ensuring adequate nutrition while in care.
2)States, under the California Child Day Care Facilities Act,
that the state Department of Social Services licenses and
regulates child day care facilities, and that persons or
organizations offering child day care must comply with
specified licensure requirements
3)Defines a child day care facility as a facility that provides
non-medical, supervisory care to children under 18 years of
age. These facilities include: day care centers,
employer-sponsored child care centers, and family day care
homes.
AB 627
Page 3
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : This bill addresses nutritional standards in licensed
child care settings.
Under the state Child Day Care Facilities Act, child day care
centers are required to provide safe and healthy environments
for children. Generally, these facilities must comply with
state mandated licensure requirements in the following areas:
Fire clearance, capacity determination, teacher to child ratio,
indoor/outdoor space requirements, staffing for water
activities, administrator qualifications, director
qualifications, teacher and teacher aide qualifications, and
food service. According to the author, there are 15,140
licensed center-based sites and 42,907 family home sites in
California, with capacity for 1.2 million children from birth to
12 years of age.
Under the federal CACFP meals and snacks are subsidized by the
state and federal government to ensure healthy outcomes for
children at participating child care facilities. CACFP serves
more than 3 million children in child care centers and homes
nationwide, with over 350,000 these children in California.
Child health problems : According to the author, the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that approximately
one of every four children between the ages of two to five has a
high body mass index (BMI). A high BMI puts these children at
risk of obesity, a condition that can lead to type-two diabetes,
hypertension, sleep apnea, and other adverse health conditions.
Childhood obesity can lead to obese adults with chronic health
conditions resulting in increased health costs.
Good nutrition, physical activity and limiting media exposures
(i.e. television) help to prevent childhood obesity. With over
four million children between birth and 12 years of age in
California having one or two working parents who rely on child
care services, child care settings, including center and
home-based care, play an important role in influencing good
eating habits and teaching the importance of physical
activities.
The federal CACFP provides $1.7 billion to California for
licensed child care centers, adult day care centers, and
organizations that sponsor day care homes to provide
AB 627
Page 4
nutritionally adequate meals and snacks. All CACFP recipients
and all licensed child care centers in the state must observe
the USDA nutrition standards (i.e., Food Pyramid). According to
the sponsor of the bill, the California Food Policy Advocates,
the CACFP employs meal patterns that were devised in the 1960s
and have not been revised since. Unlike the National School
Lunch Program, the CACFP standards are not an obesity-prevention
program. While it is possible to serve healthy food based on
USDA guidelines, the meals can be high in fats, saturated fats
and sugar.
Recent studies : CFPA recently conducted a comprehensive study
of nutritional quality in licensed child care settings in
California. The study was carried out by CFPA, researchers, and
child care sponsors and providers through surveys, interviews,
and observations. Some of the key findings were:
1) CACFP sites served more healthful foods and more
frequently adhered to recommended food practices than
non-CACFP sites;
2) Lunches brought from home, almost exclusively reported
in non-CACFP centers, were of even lower quality than
lunches provided by child care sites; and
3) Meals and snacks served in CACFP-participating child
care sites often fell short of the goals articulated in the
2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
In a recent CDC peer reviewed research article on Child Care as
an Untapped Setting for Obesity Prevention among states, it was
found that opportunities exist for strengthening state licensing
regulations to prevent childhood obesity. Overall, Child Care
Centers (CCCs) were the most heavily regulated and had the most
specific regulations, followed by Large Family or Group Child
Care Homes, and Small Family Child Care Homes (SFHs) had the
fewest and most general regulations. Amongst the 50 states,
variability in regulations was found as follows:
1) Eight states set quantified time limits on screen time
per day or per week in small family child care homes;
2) Thirty-six states required that children have daily
outdoor activity in CCCs;
AB 627
Page 5
3) Only 12 states had regulations that limited foods of low
nutritional value in child care centers; and
4) Two states, Michigan and West Virginia, specified that
CCC menus should be consistent with the Dietary Guidelines
for Americans.
The article concluded that the increasing prevalence of
childhood obesity underscores the urgency for state policy
efforts to create child care environments that foster healthful
eating and participation in physical activity.
Purpose and Solution : Two years ago, the California Department
of Education (CDE) and the Health and Human Services Agency
convened a stakeholder group to come up with key recommendations
for reducing childhood overweight/obesity in child care
settings. This group came up with a number of recommendations,
including adding nutrition and activity standards in child care
licensing and strengthening nutrition standards in the CACFP in
California.
One year ago, CDE, in coordination with the Department of Public
Health (DPH), convened an advisory committee to develop
nutrition standards in child care. The provisions in AB 627 are
consistent with the tentative recommendations of this group by
doing two things:
1) Establishing basic nutrition and activity requirements
as a condition of child care licensure; and
2) Linking additional state reimbursement for the CACFP to
stronger nutrition standards. Currently, the State of
California supplements the federal reimbursement for CACFP
with approximately 16 cents per federal dollar. The CDE
has requested an approximate six-cent reimbursement rate
increase from 16 to 22 cents to bring the state meal
reimbursement for CACFP in line with that for school meals.
If this rate increase is appropriated, the author would
like to see these stronger nutrition standards attached.
By establishing nutritional standards as a condition of
licensure and as a condition for receipt of increase of CACFP
funds, the author believes that this bill will put into practice
good eating habits that will decrease the likelihood of
childhood obesity and prevent adverse health conditions.
AB 627
Page 6
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Food Policy Advocates (sponsor)
California Hunger Action Coalition (CHAC)
California Teachers Association
Child Care Food Program Roundtable
Child Nutrition Program of Southern California
Congregation Emanu-El
Dr. Lorrene D. Ritchie, Director of Research,
Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano
FRAMAX
Public Health Foundation Enterprises WIC Program
Public Health Institute
The Robert C. & Veronica Atkins, Center for Weight & Health
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Frances Chacon / HUM. S. / (916)
319-2089