BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  SB 309
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   August 17, 2011

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                      SB 309 (Liu) - As Amended:  June 16, 2011 

          Policy Committee:                              Human 
          ServicesVote:6 - 0 

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program: 
          Yes    Reimbursable:              No

           SUMMARY  

          This bill allows child care facilities licensed to provide care 
          for school age children to also provide child care for people 
          between the ages of 18 and 22 who are developmentally disabled 
          and enrolled in a special education program, if certain 
          conditions are met. 

          FISCAL EFFECT  

          Costs associated with this legislation would be minor and 
          absorbable within existing resources. 

           COMMENTS  

           1)Rationale  . The author points to inconsistencies between the 
            Education Code and the Health and Safety Code as the basis for 
            this bill.  Young adults who have not yet completed their 
            courses of study are eligible for inclusion in special 
            education programs with minors until age 22.  On the other 
            hand, in the world of licensed child day care, 18-year-olds 
            are too old.  The problem comes with care provided to 
            school-aged youth who need extended day care services before 
            and after their special education programs.

            The sponsor of this bill, Ability First, has been advised that 
            its child care license is not valid for adults who are still 
            attending a special education program.  To serve this small 
            segment of their population, a separate license-for adult day 
            programs-is required.  

           2)Background  . Until recently, DSS regularly reviewed requests 








                                                                  SB 309
                                                                  Page  2

            for individual exceptions to enable special education students 
            with developmental disabilities to attend child day care 
            facilities.  However, DSS authority to grant individual 
            exceptions or facility waivers applies only to regulatory 
            licensing requirements, not to statutory requirements.  
            Therefore, that practice was stopped after the passage of the 
            California Child Day Care Facilities Act, which explicitly 
            stated its intent to establish a licensing structure for child 
            day care facilities separate from those facility types 
            administered under the Community Care Facilities Act, which 
            includes, for example, adult day programs serving people with 
            developmental disabilities. 
             
             This bill would authorize DSS to grant exceptions to the 
            statutory age limit for child day care facilities under 
            conditions specified in the bill.


           Analysis Prepared by  :    Julie Salley-Gray / APPR. / (916) 
          319-2081