BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1312
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 26, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Jim Beall Jr., Chair
AB 1312 (Smyth) - As Amended: March 31, 2011
SUBJECT : Child care: licensure
SUMMARY : Expands the number of authorized hours that unlicensed
public recreation programs can operate their programs for
children ages zero to 18 years. Specifically, the bill:
Extends the hours and weeks of operation for public recreation
programs as follows:
1)For kindergarten through 12th grade from 16 to 20 hours per
week or less, and from 12 to 14 weeks or less during a
12-month period.
2)For children over the age of four years and nine months and
not yet enrolled in school from 16 to 20 hours per week or
less, and from 12 to 14 weeks or less within a 12-month
period.
3)For children under the age of four years and nine months from
12 to 20 hours or less per week, and from 12 to 14 weeks or
less during a 12-month period.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Defines a public recreation program as a program operated by
the state, city, county, special district, school district,
community college district, chartered city, or chartered city
and county that meets one of the following three conditions:
a) The program is provided for children in grades K-12 and
operates during non-school hours for less than 16 hours per
week for 12 weeks or less within a 12-month period;
b) The program is provided for children over the age of
four years and nine months and not yet enrolled in school
and operates for less than 16 hours per week and for a
total of 12 weeks within a 12-month period; or,
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c) The program is provided to children under the age of
four years and nine months that is operated for 12 hours or
less per week and 12 weeks or less during a 12-month
period, as specified.
2)Provides for the licensing and regulation of child day care
facilities by the Community Care Licensing Division (CCLD) of
the state Department of Social Services (DSS).
3)Provides 14 exemptions from the licensing requirements,
including public recreation programs, of the Child Day Care
Facilities Act (Act) for the following entities, as defined:
a) Health facilities;
b) Clinics;
c) Community care facilities;
d) Family day care home;
e) Cooperative care arrangements that involve no payment;
f) Care of children by a relative;
g) Public recreation programs ;
h) Extended day care programs operated by public or private
schools;
i) School parenting or adult education child care program;
j) A child care program that operates only once per week
for four hours;
aa) Temporary child care services;
bb) Any program that provides instructional activities for
children that is operated when school is not in session and
whose sessions do not exceed a specified number of days;
cc) A substance abuse treatment program for women and
children, as specified; and,
dd) Crisis nurseries.
4)Requires every public recreation program employer to require all
current and new employees having direct contact with minors to
submit one set of fingerprints to the Department of Justice as a
condition of employment. AB 2986 (Campbell), Chapter 1097,
Statutes of 1992
5)Defines "child day care facility" as a facility that provides
nonmedical care to children less than 18 years of age in need of
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personal services, supervision, or assistance essential for
sustaining the activities of daily living or for the protection of
the individual on less than a 24-hour basis. Child day care
facility includes day care centers, employer-sponsored child care
centers, and family day care homes. Health and Safety Code
�1596.750
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : The author has introduced this bill to assist parents
with their child care needs and ease the challenges of their
busy schedules. He states that,
Rules and regulations occasionally need modification to
adapt to today's realities. The challenges associated with
identifying quality child care to assist parents in meeting
work schedules, etc. can be daunting. AB 1312 aims to help
parents by increasing the amount of time park districts are
allowed to operate day care facilities from 16 hours per
week to 20 hours per week and from 12 weeks per year to 14
weeks per year.
To accomplish this modification the author would extend the
operational hours of public recreation programs from its current
12 or 16 hours per week to 20 hours per week, and from 12 to 14
weeks during a 12-month period.
Child care licensure
Under the Act, CCLD requires child day care centers to provide
safe and healthy environments for children. To accomplish this,
the Act requires that child day care centers obtain a license
and comply with certain standards. Current law also authorizes
DSS or a county licensing agency to waive licensing requirements
under certain conditions.
Several entities are exempted from the licensure requirement for
various policy reasons. Currently, there are 14 categories (see
current law for the full list) exempted from obtaining a
license, including public recreational programs. It is not
entirely clear why public recreation programs were initially
exempted but according to historical analyses, AB 2986
(Campbell), Chapter 1097, Statutes of 1992, it appears that this
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exemption was created in part with the rationale that these
public recreation programs were of "short duration."
The policy question raised by this bill is whether an expansion
of the hours that unlicensed public recreation programs are
allowed to operate is appropriate. From a practical
perspective, extending hours to accommodate a parent's busy
schedule and offer more convenient drop-off and pick-up
schedules makes sense. Unfortunately, there are more
considerations than parental schedule conflicts that come into
play when giving more latitude to unlicensed facilities, such as
public recreation programs, that are responsible for a
vulnerable population such as children. While these programs do
have a requirement to have fingerprints of employees, they are
also exempt from myriad other requirements that ensure that the
child is safe and healthy. The following are several of the
Title 22 General Licensing Requirements for Child Care Centers:
Essential health and safety regulations:
Fire clearance
Capacity determination
Teacher: child ratio
Indoor/outdoor space requirements
Staffing for water activities
Regulations that help ensure quality:
Administrator qualifications
Director qualifications
Teacher and teacher aide qualifications
Food service
Regulations that shouldn't cost too much but are helpful:
Reporting (e.g. injury, unusual incident or epidemic to
CCLD)
Personal rights
Prohibition on physical discipline
Immunization records
Working telephone
Daily inspection for illness
Sign in and sign out
Napping space and equipment
Smoking prohibited
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Analysis
Public recreation programs are distinct from child day care
facilities in that they offer focused activities such as art,
karate, and dance programs. The intentionality of the program
is to offer activities that enhance a child's learning and to
some extent socialization skills. The fact that the programs
are not as lengthy in hours of operation and are narrow in scope
is the likely reason that the Legislature limited their hours in
lieu of requiring them to be licensed and therefore subject to
oversight by CCLD.
Expanding the hours of operation of public recreation programs
arguably changes the mission of the program recreation to child
care. Under the provisions of this bill, children would spend,
on average, an increase of almost one additional hour per day at
these programs. Instead of attending for up to 3.2 hours per
day it could be up to 4 hours per day for a 5-day week. For
children ages zero to 4 years and nine months, the increase is
higher-from 2.4 to 4 hours or almost two more hours per day.
The expansion of hours for a single activity, versus a child
care and development curriculum that is more holistic, seems
unrealistic for children, especially young children, to sit
through. In brief, even though parents face child-rearing
challenges and hectic schedules, the health and safety of a
child should be the primary consideration when considering an
extension of hours.
Opposition
The California Child Care Resource & Referral Network (R&R
Network) opposes this bill for several reasons. The R&R Network
cites a brief by the National Association of Regulatory
Administrators and its finding that licensing exemptions granted
to organizations that care for children are a growing concern
and specifically lists public recreation programs as an example.
The R&R Network also states that recreational programs are
designed to enhance recreational opportunities to children and
not child care options, and further feels that extending hours
in these programs would require licensing them. Lastly, the R&R
Network believes that the extension of hours amounts to unfair
business practices as child day care centers must adhere to
oversight licensing fees and requirements while public
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recreation programs would not.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Park and Recreation Society (CPRS)
Opposition
California Child Care Resource & Referral Network
Analysis Prepared by : Frances Chacon / HUM. S. / (916)
319-2089