BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
SB 766 (Yee) - Ancillary Day Care Centers
Amended: January 6, 2014 Policy Vote: Human Services 6-0
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: January 23, 2014
Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-Hernandez
SUSPENSE FILE.
Bill Summary: SB 766 requires ancillary day care centers to
comply with certain health and safety requirements in the
provision of child care, and to ensure that at least one care
provider onsite is 18 years of age or older. This bill also
requires any person who is responsible for engaging with
children in an ancillary day care center to be registered as a
TrustLine provider.
Fiscal Impact:
Expands TrustLine registry: Potentially significant costs
to the Department of Social Services (DSS) and the
Department of Justice, fully recovered by fees charged to
applicants.
Investigation/Enforcement: This bill may result in
increased complaints to DSS, and the need for DSS to
promulgate regulations governing its interaction with
ancillary day care centers. See staff comments.
Background: Ancillary day care centers are day care centers
associated with an athletic club, grocery store, or other
business or group of businesses for which the day care center is
ancillary to its principal business activity and which provides
day care services, with or without a fee, for the children of
the clients or customers while the clients or customers are
engaged in shopping for, or purchasing, goods or services from
that business or group of businesses. Existing law exempts
ancillary day care centers from licensure under the California
Child Care Facilities Act.
Existing law does require, however, that ancillary day care
providers be registered under California's "TrustLine"
fingerprint registry administered by the Department of Social
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Services (DSS). (HSC 1596.656)
The TrustLine fingerprint registry database conducts background
checks on license-exempt child care providers such as
babysitters, nannies, transport escort services and child care
providers in license-exempt child care centers, including
ancillary day care centers. The registry is maintained by DSS,
which contracts certain administrative functions to the
California Child Care Resource and Referral Network.
Existing law requires DSS to deny an application if the
TrustLine applicant has been convicted of a crime, other than a
minor traffic violation, unless the director grants an
exemption, as specified. (HSC 1596.607)
Proposed Law: SB 766 requires ancillary day care centers to
ensure the presence of at least one care provider who is 18
years or older, to ensure that care providers are cleared
through the state's fingerprinting registry, and to ensure that
at least one care provider present in the center has received
training in pediatric CPR and first aid. Additionally, this bill
requires ancillary day care centers to establish health and
safety protocols informing staff and parents about facility
policies related to medical emergencies.
Related Legislation: AB 222 (Adams) Ch. 431/2010 allows persons
under 18 years of age to be employees of ancillary day care
centers without being registered for TrustLine, and allows
employees whose clearance is pending to continue to work until
DSS denies their TrustLine application and any right to appeal
has been exhausted or expired.
SB 702 (DeSaulnier) Ch.199/2009, established the definition of
"ancillary day care center" and required any person providing
child care services in an ancillary day care center to obtain a
TrustLine clearance. Additionally, it required the TrustLine fee
to include the full cost of processing the applications and
maintaining the registry not to exceed the actual cost of the
processing and maintenance activities.
Staff Comments: This bill places new requirements on ancillary
day care centers. To the extent that they comply, without
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incident, any costs will be the responsibility of the the
ancillary day care centers (and the businesses that operate
them). The costs of non-compliance are less certain, as this
bill creates neither new enforcement authority nor procedures.
The responsibility to enforce, and likelihood of enforcement, is
unclear. The DSS, which regulates licensed day care centers, has
indicated that it does not regulate ancillary day centers and
does not have the authority to enforce statutory requirements on
those entities.
This bill requires ancillary day care centers to comply with new
requirements relative to staff training, developing health and
safety protocols, and informing parents of the protocols. It is
not clear what would happen if a particular ancillary day care
center failed to do so. The DSS has indicated that if it
received a complaint, it could investigate the complaint but has
no authority to cite, penalize, or otherwise enforce a change of
action on the part of the ancillary day care center. While a
criminal complaint would be referred to local law enforcement,
there is no mechanism for enforcing an administrative
requirement.
As requirements imposed upon ancillary day care centers
increase, it is likely that enforcement mechanisms will be
necessary and regulations will have to be promulgated to guide
DSS (or any enforcing agency) on processes for handling
complaints and violations. The Administrative Procedure Act
(beginning at Section 11340 of the Government Code) prohibits
state agencies from issuing or enforcing any rule, regulation,
order, or standard of general application unless it has been
issued as a regulation under the Administrative Procedure Act.
In order to clarify the requirements of this bill, the state
will most likely have to adopt implementing regulations.
This bill expands the requirement in existing law for TrustLine
registry. Existing law requires an adult "who provides child
care or supervision" in an ancillary day care center to register
with Trustline. This bill expands that provision to anyone who
is "responsible for engaging with children cared for" in such a
facility. Ancillary day care centers currently pay fees for
their employees to register (approximately $170 per applicant),
which cover all costs to DSS administration, TrustLine, and the
Department of Justice to process the application and
registration.
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