BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1991
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 10, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Jim Beall Jr., Chair
AB 1991 (Smyth) - As Introduced: February 23, 2012
SUBJECT : Child care: exemption from licensure: public
recreation programs
SUMMARY : Extends the hours and weeks of operation for public
recreation programs 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.
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,
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 (CDCF Act) for the following entities, as
defined:
a) Health facilities;
AB 1991
Page 2
b) Clinics;
c) Community care facilities;
d) Family day care homes;
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 programs;
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
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 : According to the author, this bill is intended to
assist parents with their child care needs and ease the
challenges of their busy schedules. He states that,
Today, the challenges associated with identifying
quality and affordable after school care, can be
daunting for parents struggling to accommodate work
schedules, early release school days, teacher work
weeks, school holidays, and many other school calendar
AB 1991
Page 3
demands. With a limit of 16 hours per week, before
and after school programs run by public parks and
recreation providers are limited in their ability to
provide for school-aged children during non-school
hours. �This bill] aims to help parents by increasing
the amount of time public parks and recreation
programs are allowed to provide services outside
school hours.
This bill would extend the operational hours of public
recreation programs from its current 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 CDCF Act, CCLD requires child day care centers to
provide safe and healthy environments for children. To
accomplish this, the CDCF 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
Existing Law, above, 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
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. There are, however, more considerations
than parental schedule conflicts that come into play when giving
more latitude to unlicensed facilities that are responsible for
a vulnerable population, such as children. While these programs
have a requirement to have fingerprints of employees, they are
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:
AB 1991
Page 4
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
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 intent 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 nature of the program from recreation to
child care. Under the provisions of this bill, children could
spend, on average, an increase of almost one additional hour per
day at these programs-from up to 3.2 hours per day to up to 4
hours per day for a 5-day week. In brief, even though parents
face child-rearing challenges and hectic schedules, the
well-being of children should be the primary focus when
AB 1991
Page 5
considering an extension of hours.
In support of this bill, the City of Santa Ana says that this
bill, that this bill "would allow agencies to better meet the
after school needs and demands of our community's working
families and provide an affordable and safe alternative to other
forms of after school care. ? �I]t will ensure that we can
serve more low income families in our community."
Prior legislation : This bill is identical to the last amended
version of AB 1312 (Smyth 2011). That bill was referred to this
committee but was not heard prior to the house-of-origin
deadline for two-year bills at the request of the author.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Park and Recreation Society (sponsor)
City of Culver City
City of Santa Ana
Fulton-El Camino Recreation and Park District
Mission Oaks Recreation and Park District
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Eric Gelber / HUM. S. / (916) 319-2089