BILL ANALYSIS
AB 627
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 627 (Brownley)
As Amended June 1, 2009
Majority vote
HUMAN SERVICES 4-2 APPROPRIATIONS 12-5
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|Ayes:|Beall, Ammiano, |Ayes:|De Leon, Ammiano, Charles |
| |Portantino, Torres | |Calderon, Davis, Fuentes, |
| | | |Hall, John A. Perez, Price, |
| | | |Skinner, Solorio, |
| | | |Torlakson, Krekorian |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+----------------------------|
|Nays:|Tom Berryhill, Logue |Nays:|Nielsen, Duvall, Harkey, |
| | | |Miller, |
| | | |Audra Strickland |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Requires that child day care facilities meet specified
health and nutritional requirements, as specified.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Establishes minimal, basic nutrition requirements as a
condition of child care licensure, including:
a) Serving low or non-fat milk for children two and older;
b) Limiting juice to one serving of 100% juice per day;
c) Serving at least one vegetable at lunch and supper;
d) Eliminating deep fat frying;
e) Limiting sugar to six grams per serving for both hot and
cold cereals; and
f) Ensuring that water is accessible and available
throughout the day.
2)Requires providers to annually self certify that they are in
compliance with the basic nutrition requirements above,
starting January 1, 2011, but specifies that no civil or
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criminal penalties nor loss of licensure may be imposed by the
Department of Social Services for failure to comply.
3)Establishes an 18-month pilot project in which a number of
licensed child care centers and child day care homes that
participate in the Child Care & Adult Food Program (CACFP)
would receive higher state meal reimbursement to implement
higher nutrition and physical activity standards. A component
of the pilot is an evaluation that will be conducted by an
independent agency to assess the health, nutrition and other
related impacts on children, providers, and parents. The
pilot would be designed and implemented by the California
Department of Education only if the Superintendent of Public
Instruction determines that non-General Fund funding sources,
including federal or grant funds, are available to implement
the pilot project.
EXISTING LAW
1)States that the State Department of Education administers the
federal CACFP to provide 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.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, costs associated with this legislation would be minor
and absorbable within existing resources.
COMMENTS : This bill addresses nutritional standards in licensed
child care settings.
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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 three 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
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,
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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;
3) Only 12 states had regulations that limited foods of low
nutritional value in child care centers; and
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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 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.
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Analysis Prepared by : Frances Chacon / HUM. S. / (916)
319-2089
FN: 0001347