BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2621
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 14, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 2621 (Garcia) - As Amended: April 21, 2014
Policy Committee: Human
ServicesVote:6 - 0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill requires specified information on child day care
facilities to be posted on a quarterly basis on the Department
of Social Services (DSS) Internet Web site. Specifically, this
bill:
1)Requires all inspection reports, consultation reports, lists
of violations, and plans of correction to be open to public
inspection.
2)Requires DSS, on a quarterly basis, to post on its Internet
Web site the following:
a) Inspection reports, consultation reports, lists of
violations, and plans of correction.
b) The number and nature of complaints filed against a
facility within each calendar year, including whether a
complaint is undergoing investigation, whether it has been
substantiated or unsubstantiated, and whether it has been
found to be inconclusive.
1)Requires DSS to redact all personally identifiable information
of children and their families, the complainant, and
individuals named in any documents who are not associated with
the facility prior to any information being made available to
the public or being posted to the department's Internet Web
site.
FISCAL EFFECT
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Ongoing costs to DSS of approximately $700,000 (GF) for
additional positions for project development, testing and
maintenance and other related IT contract work related to the
website.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . Due to the lack of availability of information
online, it is often difficult for those looking for childcare
to get comprehensive information about providers. The authors
maintain that for more than seven years, the Department of
Social Services has been pledging to get childcare records
online. This bill will make inspector and validated complaint
reports, relating to child care centers available online,
providing important information to parents looking for quality
daycare for their children.
2)Licensed child care . Current law requires any person who
provides organized nonmedical and nonresidential compensated
care for children to be licensed under the Child Care
Development Services Act (CCDSA) and to comply with Title 22
of the California Code of Regulations. Title 22 establishes
general health and safety requirements, staff to child ratios,
and basic provider training qualifications. Title 22 providers
set their own rates and may voluntarily accept child
development subsidy vouchers, along with statutorily
established family fees, provided through the CalWORKs program
or other state-funded child care subsidy programs.
According to DSS, as of April 1, 2014, there are 47,069
licensed child care facilities in the state, including both
small and large family day care homes and commercially based
child care centers, with a licensed capacity to serve almost
1.1 million children.
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3)DSS Website . DSS is not required to post information relating
to the status of licensed child care facilities. However, DSS
currently has a searchable database of child care facilities
on its website, but it is limited to the name, location,
contact information, type of facility and whether the
facility's license is current or pending. It does not provide
information such as a facility's licensing history, the
expertise and certification of staff, or a facility's
complaint history, including whether the complaint was
resolved.
In response to increased media coverage of incidences that
have occurred in other licensed care facilities across the
state, DSS is working to provide more robust information of
all licensed facilities on its website. DSS anticipates having
an online searchable database with up to five years of
historical information, including:
a) The name of the facility and its licensee's name and
contact information.
b) The number of substantiated, unsubstantiated, and
inconclusive complaints filed against the facility,
including complaint severity and whether a complaint
resulted in a citation.
c) The number of inspections, complaint investigations, and
general visits the facility has received.
A timeline for the availability of this searchable database
has not been established.
1)Related Legislation .
a) AB 1436 (Waldron, 2014) requires DSS to post information
on its website regarding Residential Care Facilities for
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the Elderly (RCFEs), including results of licensing
inspections reports, consultation reports, violations,
plans of correction, appeal requests, and the number,
nature and status of complaints filed against a facility.
This bill is pending on this committee's Suspense File.
b) AB 1899 (Brown, 2014) requires (DSS) to establish and
maintain a telephone hotline, and an internet-based website
to accept public complaints regarding Residential Care
Facilities for the Elderly (RCFEs), and requires the
website to show final actions resulting in citation,
suspension, or revocation taken against each licensee,
indexed by the name of the licensee and by the name of the
facility. This bill is before this committee today.
Analysis Prepared by : Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916)
319-2081