BILL ANALYSIS
AB 627
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 29, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Kevin De Leon, Chair
AB 627 (Brownley) - As Amended: April 13, 2009
Policy Committee: Human
ServicesVote:4 - 2
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill requires that licensed child care facilities meet
specified health and nutritional requirements. Specifically,
this bill:
1)Adds the following licensure requirements for licensed child
care homes and centers:
a) Water shall be available throughout the day.
b) Meals and snacks shall include, at a minimum, the amount
of food specified by federal school meal regulations.
c) Milk shall be limited to lowfat or nonfat for children
over two years of age.
d) Juice shall be limited to one serving per day and must
be 100 percent juice.
e) At least one vegetable shall be served at lunch and
supper.
f) Prohibits deep fat frying on-site at the facility.
g) Limits sugar to six grams per serving for both hot and
cold cereals.
h) Screen time, including television, video games and
computer usage, shall be limited to no more than one hour
per day for children in full day care and be limited to
quality programming.
2)Specifies that any increase in the meal reimbursement rate
allowed under federal law for licensed child care centers and
homes shall trigger the following additional requirements:
a) Servings of fried potatoes shall be limited to one time
per week.
AB 627
Page 2
b) Servings of sweet grains, including pastries, cookies,
doughnuts, or cakes shall be limited to no more than two
times per week and may only be served as snacks.
c) Children shall receive at least one serving of whole
grains per day.
d) Processed meats, including hot dogs, SPAM, and lunch
meat shall be limited to a maximum of three times per week.
e) Sugar sweetened or artificially sweetened beverages are
prohibited.
f) Canned fruits and vegetables cannot contain sweeteners,
other than 100 percent juice.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)One-time costs likely less than $75,000 General Fund (GF) for
the Department of Social Services (DSS) to update licensing
forms and materials to include new nutrition requirements.
2)On-going annual workload costs of approximately $150,000 GF
for increased workload associated with DSS including the
requirements of this bill in their annual inspections.
3)Implementation of the additional requirements would require an
increase in the reimbursement rate for licensed child care
facilities from $0.16 to $0.22, which would cost approximately
$6 million GF. The California Department of Education (CDE)
has requested these additional funds as part of the state
budget process.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . One year ago, the California Department of Education
(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 in
doing two things:
a) Establishing basic nutrition and activity requirements
as a condition of child care licensure; and
b) Linking additional state reimbursement for the Child
Care and Adult Food Program (CACFP) to stronger nutrition
standards. Currently, the state supplements the federal
reimbursement for CACFP with approximately 16 cents per
AB 627
Page 3
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.
2)Background . 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. There are currently
15,150 licensed center-based sites and 38,867 licensed family
child care homes in California, with capacity for 1.2 million
children from birth to 12 years of age. Generally, these
licensed facilities are inspected by DSS' community care
licensing division (CCLD) once every five years, barring
complaints or annual inspection requirements attached to
certain types of federal funding.
Analysis Prepared by : Julie Salley-Gray / APPR. / (916)
319-2081