BILL ANALYSIS
AB 627
Page 1
GOVERNOR'S VETO
AB 627 (Brownley)
As Amended September 1, 2009
2/3 vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |49-28|(June 3, 2009) |SENATE: |23-12|(September 2, |
| | | | | |2009) |
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|ASSEMBLY: |50-29|(September 8, | | | |
| | |2009) | | | |
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Original Committee Reference: HUM. S.
SUMMARY : Requires that child day care facilities meet specified
health and nutritional requirements, as specified.
Specifically, this bill establishes a 12-month or more 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 (CDE) 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.
The Senate amendments :
1)Delete the entire code section related to the establishment of
minimal, basic nutrition requirements as a condition of child
care licensure.
2)Modify the pilot program length, from 18-months to "at least"
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12-months, of the higher state meal reimbursement rate for a
number of licensed child care centers and child day care homes
that participate in the CACFP.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill required that child day
care centers meet minimal, basic nutritional requirements as a
condition of child care licensure, and separately, required a
longer pilot program length for the increased state meal
reimbursement rate a number of licensed child care centers and
child day care homes that participate in the CACFP.
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.
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
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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,
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.
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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:
Eight states set quantified time limits on screen time per day
or per week in small family child care homes;
1)Thirty-six states required that children have daily outdoor
activity in CCCs.
2)Only 12 states had regulations that limited foods of low
nutritional value in child care centers.
3)Two states, Michigan and West Virginia, specified that CCC
menus should be consistent with the Dietary Guidelines for
Americans.
4)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, 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
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Health, 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
linking additional state reimbursement for the CACFP to stronger
nutrition standards. Currently, the State of California
supplements the federal reimbursement for CACFP with
approximately $0.16 per federal dollar. The CDE has requested
an approximate $0.06 reimbursement rate increase from $0.16 to
$0.22 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.
GOVERNOR'S VETO MESSAGE :
I want California children to embrace healthy
lifestyles because the individual and societal
benefits of good nutrition and physical activity
lead to life-long accomplishments. Reducing
childhood obesity can lead to fewer adults with
chronic health conditions and lower healthcare
costs. Unfortunately, this bill would create
pressure to add Proposition 98 General Fund
resources to the Child and Adult Care Food program
when funding for so many other education programs
has been cut. It is simply not possible to initiate
a new program in a fiscal environment such as this.
I would ask the sponsors to work with the state
Department of Education to include information
regarding healthy nutrition and physical activity
guidelines in existing newsletters to child care
providers to the extent this can be accomplished
within existing resources.
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Analysis Prepared by : Frances Chacon / HUM. S. / (916)
319-2089
FN: 0003433