BILL NUMBER: SB 1225 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 28, 2010
INTRODUCED BY Senator Yee
FEBRUARY 18, 2010
An act to amend Sections 8335.1, 8335.4, 8335.5, and 8335.7 of the
Education Code, relating to child care.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1225, as amended, Yee. City and County of San Francisco:
individualized county child care subsidy plan.
The Child Care and Development Services Act, administered by the
State Department of Education, requires the Superintendent of Public
Instruction to administer child care and development programs that
offer a full range of services for eligible children from infancy to
13 years of age. Existing law, until January 1, 2011, authorizes the
City and County of San Francisco, as a pilot project, to develop and
implement an individualized county child care subsidy plan, and
provides for the repeal of those provisions on January 1, 2013.
This bill would authorize the City and County of San Francisco to
implement an individualized county child care subsidy plan until June
30, 2016, and would require the city and county to phase out the
plan by January 1, 2018. The bill would require the city and county
to demonstrate an increase in the aggregate earned child
days of enrollment by the end of the first fiscal year of operation
under the child care subsidy plan submitted to and approved by the
Child Development Division of the department after January 1, 2010.
The bill would require the city and county, on or before December 31,
2016, to submit a final report to the Legislature and other
specified entities that summarizes the impact of the plan. The bill
would repeal those provisions on January 1, 2018.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 8335.1 of the Education Code is amended to
read:
8335.1. Prior to implementing the local subsidy plan, the City
and County of San Francisco, in consultation with the department,
shall develop an individualized county child care subsidy plan for
the city and county that includes the following four elements:
(a) An assessment to identify the city and county's goal for its
subsidized child care system. The assessment shall examine whether
the current structure of subsidized child care funding adequately
supports working families in the city and county and whether the city
and county's child care goals coincide with the state's requirements
for funding, eligibility, priority, and reimbursement. The
assessment shall also identify barriers in the state's child care
subsidy system that inhibit the city and county from meeting its
child care goals. In conducting the assessment, the city and county
shall consider all of the following:
(1) The general demographics of families who are in need of child
care, including employment, income, language, ethnic, and family
composition.
(2) The current supply of available subsidized child care.
(3) The level of need for various types of subsidized child care
services including, but not limited to, infant care, after-hours
care, and care for children with exceptional needs.
(4) The city and county's self-sufficiency income level.
(5) Income eligibility levels for subsidized child care.
(6) Family fees.
(7) The cost of providing child care and of administering
contracts.
(8) The regional market rates, as established by the department,
for different types of child care.
(9) The standard reimbursement rate or state per diem for centers
operating under contracts with the department.
(10) Trends in the county's unemployment rate and housing
affordability index.
(b) Development of a local policy to eliminate state-imposed
regulatory barriers to the city and county's achievement of its
desired outcomes for subsidized child care.
(1) The local policy shall do all of the following:
(A) Prioritize lowest income families first.
(B) Follow the family fee schedule established pursuant to
subdivision (g) of Section 8263 for those families that are income
eligible, as defined by Section 8263.1.
(C) Meet local goals that are consistent with the state's child
care goals.
(D) Identify existing policies that would be affected by the city
and county's child care subsidy plan.
(E) (i) Authorize any agency that provides child care and
development services in the city and county through a contract with
the department to apply to the department to amend existing contracts
in order to benefit from the local policy once it is adopted.
(ii) The department shall approve an application to amend an
existing contract if the child care subsidy plan is approved pursuant
to subdivision (b) of Section 8335.3, or modified pursuant to
subdivision (c) of Section 8335.3.
(iii) The contract of a department contractor who does not elect
to request an amendment to its contract remains operative and
enforceable.
(2) (A) The city and county, by the end of the first fiscal year
of operation under the child care subsidy plan submitted to and
approved by the Child Development Division pursuant to Section 8335.3
after January 1, 2010, shall demonstrate an increase in the
aggregate earned child days of enrollment in the county as
compared to the enrollment in the final quarter of the
2008-09 fiscal year.
(B) The amount of the increase shall be at least equal to the
aggregate earned child days of enrollment in the final quarter
of the 2008-09 fiscal year for all contracts amended as provided in
subparagraph (E) of paragraph (1), under which the contractor
receives an increase in its reimbursement rate, times 2 percent.
(3) The local policy may supersede state law concerning child care
subsidy programs with regard only to the following factors:
(A) Eligibility criteria including, but not limited to, age,
family size, time limits, income level, inclusion of former and
current CalWORKs participants, and special needs considerations,
except that the local policy shall not deny or reduce eligibility of
a family that qualifies for child care pursuant to Section 8353.
Under the local policy, a family that qualifies for child care
pursuant to Section 8354 shall be treated for purposes of eligibility
and fees in the same manner as a family that qualifies for
subsidized child care on another basis pursuant to the local policy.
(B) Fees including, but not limited to, family fees, sliding scale
fees, and copayments for those families that are not income
eligible, as defined by Section 8263.1.
(C) Reimbursement rates.
(D) Methods of maximizing the efficient use of subsidy funds,
including, but not limited to, multiyear contracting with the
department for center-based child care, and interagency agreements
that allow for flexible and temporary transfer of funds among
agencies.
(c) Recognition that all funding sources utilized by direct
service contractors that provide child care and development services
in the city and county are eligible to be included in the child care
subsidy plan of the city and county.
(d) Establishment of measurable outcomes to evaluate the success
of the plan to achieve the city and county's child care goals and to
overcome any barriers identified in the state's child care subsidy
system. The State Department of Social Services shall have an
opportunity to review and comment on the proposed measurable outcomes
before they are submitted to the local child care planning council
for approval pursuant to Section 8335.3.
SEC. 2. Section 8335.4 of the Education Code is amended to read:
8335.4. (a) Upon approval of the plan by the Child Development
Division of the department, the City and County of San Francisco
shall annually prepare and submit to the Legislature, the State
Department of Social Services, and the department a report that
summarizes the success of the pilot project and the city and county's
ability to maximize the use of funds and to improve and stabilize
child care in the city and county.
(b) On or before December 31, 2016, the City and County of San
Francisco shall submit a final report to the Legislature, the State
Department of Social Services, and the department summarizing the
impact of the plan on the child care needs of working families in the
city and county.
SEC. 3. Section 8335.5 of the Education Code is amended to read:
8335.5. The City and County of San Francisco may implement an
individualized child care subsidy plan until June 30, 2016, on which
date the city and county shall terminate the plan. Between June 30,
2016, and January 1, 2018, the city and county shall phase out the
individualized county child care subsidy plan and, as of January 1,
2018, shall implement the state's requirements for child care
subsidies. A child enrolling for the first time for subsidized child
care in the city and county after June 30, 2016, shall not be
enrolled in the pilot program established pursuant to this article
and is subject to existing state laws and regulations regarding child
care eligibility and priority.
SEC. 4. Section 8335.7 of the Education Code is amended to read:
8335.7. This article shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2018, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, which is enacted before January 1, 2018, deletes or extends
that date.