BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 737
Page 1
Date of Hearing: June 28, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES
Jim Beall Jr., Chair
SB 737 (Walters) - As Amended: June 23, 2011
SENATE VOTE : 39-0
SUBJECT : Organized camps
SUMMARY : Clarifies statutes related to the licensing and
regulation of license-exempt "organized camps" and expands the
operating hours of the Afterschool Education and Safety Program
(ASES). Specifically, this bill :
1)Increases the number of operating hours, from 30 to 60 hours
per week, that participating programs operated by a city,
county, or nonprofit organization in the ASES program may
operate without obtaining a license or special permit
otherwise required under existing law, but limits a child's
total hours in the program to the current 30 hours.
2)Clarifies that YMCA, as an organized camp, is exempt from day
care licensure and updates the names of existing
license-exempt organized camps.
3)Modifies the definition of the term "organized camp" by
specifying that the programs are for five consecutive days,
that an overnight stay is not required to meet the definition
of an organized camp, and that short duration programs held on
organized camp sites such as conferences do not have to meet
the General and Safety Supervision requirements in
regulations.
4)Adds to code and defines the term "organized day camp" to
bring these programs under specified oversight by Department
of Public Health (DPH) regulations.
5)Requires an organized camp or day camp to develop a written
operating plan and file the plan with the local health
department, as specified. The bill would also require the
health officer to acknowledge receipt of the plan within 30
days, and further that an organized camp and organized day
camp's written plan and acknowledgement shall be posted, with
SB 737
Page 2
the acknowledgement letter, in a conspicuous location on camp
premises and on any available Web site.
6)Requires DPH, in promulgating regulations pertaining to day
camps, to obtain input from specified affected organizations,
and recover costs from those organizations, as specified.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes ASES to create incentives for establishing before
and after school enrichment programs during school days and
vacation days for students in kindergarten and grades first to
ninth.
2)Exempts organizations participating in ASES from child care
licensure if they operate no more than 30 hours per week.
3)Establishes the licensure of child day care facilities to
ensure a quality day care environment.
4)Exempts from licensure recreation programs operated by Girl
Scouts, Boy Scouts, Boys and Girls Clubs, Camp Fire, or
similar organizations as determined by DPH regulations; child
care programs conducted by these organizations remain subject
to licensure.
5)Defines an "organized camp" as a site with program and
facilities established for the primary purposes of providing
an outdoor living experience for five days or more.
6)Requires the Director of DPH to establish minimum standards
for organized camps and directs local health officers to
enforce these standards.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : According to the author, she has introduced this bill
primarily to provide uniformity of oversight for organized camps
and organized day camps. As the author states,
Organized Day Camps are being treated in some counties
similarly to the way the statute treats Organized
Camps (overnight programs), while in other counties,
health officers are not applying health and safety
rules to Organized Day Camps that are being applied to
SB 737
Page 3
Organized Camps. SB 737 clarifies that Organized Day
Camps will be regulated in the same way that Organized
Camps are regulated.
This bill adds a new category of an organized camp, called an
organized day camp, to code, defines it, and applies some of the
same regulations that organized camps must comply with to
organized day camps. Separately, this bill expands the
operating hours of the ASES programs to accommodate the half
school day schedules of kindergartners.
ASES
Section two of this bill applies only to ASES and expands their
hours of operation. According to the author, the need for the
expansion of hours, from 30 to 60, is to provide flexibility in
order to accommodate a kindergartner's morning and afterschool
schedule. Kindergartners attend school for only a half day.
Current law states that ASES programs are license-exempt up to
30 hours. Although this bill expands a program's operating
hours, the bill provides that a child can only be in care for up
to 30 hours. Maintaining the current 30-hour individual child
maximum ensures that the "duration" of child care at one of
these programs has the appropriate ceiling to ensure that a
child's health and safety are protected.
Organized camps and organized day camps
Sections one, three, four and five all clarify and/or modify
statutes related to the existing organized camps and the newly
defined organized day camp. While similar in purpose, the
difference between these two types of programs is primarily one
of siting. Organized camps are fixed sites that provide
activities in a permanent location for five days or more. In
contrast, organized day camps frequently transport campers to
activities that are off-site such as beaches, parks, and camp
sites and are only for less than one day.
While background information provided by the author states that
this bill will regulate these two types of camps in the same
way, technically, the organized day camps will be subject to
just three of the DPH regulations: background checks,
counselor-to-camper ratio, and the definition of a qualified
director. This narrowed set of regulations appears to be
appropriate considering organized day camps do not have a
permanent site in need of oversight for such things as building
SB 737
Page 4
standards, mosquito controls, etc. Bringing organized day camps
under appropriate regulation assures the health and safety of
the campers, just like that of the organized camps, but is
tailored to meet the distinct characteristics of the day camps.
This bill also requires both types of camps to have written
operating plans on file with the local health department.
Because these programs are license-exempt, it is appropriate for
them to have a written operating plan that the health department
can review and have on file for parents to check. The author
also added language to have the plan conveniently posted in a
conspicuous place on the camp site or on the program's Internet
Web site, if one is available. This way, parents can locate
this information with relative ease.
Employee background checks
DPH regulations under 17 California Code of Regulations (CCR)�
30751 require that,
The Director and camp counselors shall not have direct
unsupervised contact with campers without first
obtaining a satisfactory criminal history check from
the California Department of Justice, Bureau of
Criminal Identification, or U.S. Department of Justice
National Sex Offender Public Registry, and a voluntary
disclosure statement that contains the same
information as standard HR-4 Staff Screening of the
Accreditation Standards for Camp programs and
Services, American Camp Association (2007 Edition).
According to the sponsor, the California State Alliance of
YMCAs, the current practice of organized camps to comply with
DPH background check regulations is to submit a potential
employee's fingerprint via "LiveScan." According to the
Department of Justice's (DOJ) Web site, Live Scan technology
allows digitally scanned fingerprints and related information to
be submitted electronically to the DOJ within a matter of
minutes and allows criminal background checks to be processed
usually within 72 hours.
The DOJ check includes a 10-year "look-back" at an applicant's
California-only criminal history for felonies, pending arrests,
and specified misdemeanors. However, if the applicant has a sex
offense on record, the background check can be conducted beyond
the 10 years. In addition, organized camps are allowed to
SB 737
Page 5
request a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) background check
for offenses committed nationally. Unfortunately, if an offense
was committed in another state, Public Law 92-544 prohibits DOJ
from disseminating the details of that information back to the
organized camp. Therefore, an FBI background check is
essentially of very little value and moreover this check is
permissive and not required. DOJ can only indicate to the
program that there was an offense in another state without any
other details and the program would be left to rely on the
applicant's honesty as to what the offense was. Lastly, the DOJ
background check includes an alert system for subsequent
arrests.
According to the sponsor, there is no known evidence of sexual
abuse or other serious complaints regarding employees of
organized camps or organized day camps. However, it is
important to note that this information is not centrally tracked
because these programs are license-exempt. There exists no
single agency to consult to determine if there are or are not
complaints. The only way to know for sure is to check each
local police jurisdiction. It is also important to note that
supporters of this bill do recognize the importance of child
safety and agree that a more comprehensive background check is
necessary. However, they are concerned that it may be cost
prohibitive. Below, the suggested amendments seek to balance a
child's safety and the need for these programs to comply with
the law in a reasonable way.
Author amendments
1)The author may wish to consider adding language that requires
a program to obtain a background check from the U.S.
Department of Justice National Sex Offender Public Registry .
This registry is already listed in the DPH regulations (17 CCR
� 30751(a)) for organized camps but is permissive and not a
requirement. By requiring programs to obtain this
information, they would be informed of sex offenses committed
in all states. As well, the registry is a free service.
While this amendment protects against the most egregious
offenses committed against minors, it still does not advise
against other serious or violent offenses, such as murder. As
a result, the author may also wish to consider further
strengthening the background check.
SB 737
Page 6
2)Section one of the bill requires DPH to, when amending the
regulations for organized camps, seek the input of the
sponsors of this bill. The author may wish to consider
amending the language of this section to be less specific and
pertain to all "organized camp providers."
DPH when it promulgates regulations for organized day camps
should consider the following concern:
Currently, it appears that the written operating plans
have no specific requirements. Providing a framework or
list of items that an organized camp or day camp should
include in its written operating plans should be
considered. This will provide guidance to these programs
as to what they should include in the plans and make these
plans consistent across health departments.
Related legislation
AB 1312 (Smyth) would have expanded the number of authorized
hours that unlicensed public recreation programs can operate
their programs for children ages zero to 18 years. AB 1312 is a
two-year bill in the Assembly Human Services Committee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California State Alliance of YMCAs (co-sponsor)
California Collaboration for Youth (co-sponsor)
ACA
Alpine Camp and Conference Center
Camp Gan Israel
Emerald Cove Day Camp
Girl Scout of Orange County
Guided Discoveries, Inc.
Mount Hermon
Corona Norco Family YMCA
Woodcraft Rangers
World Impact
Yosemite Sierra Summer Camp
4 Individuals
Opposition
None on file
SB 737
Page 7
Analysis Prepared by : Frances Chacon / HUM. S. / (916)
319-2089