BILL NUMBER: SB 1348	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   JULY 3, 2000
	AMENDED IN SENATE   MAY 26, 2000
	AMENDED IN SENATE   MAY 3, 2000

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Vasconcellos

                        JANUARY 11, 2000

   An act relating to parenting.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 1348, as amended, Vasconcellos.  Parenting education.
   Existing law requires the State Department of Health Services to
maintain a program of maternal and child health.
   This bill would require the department to convene a summit on or
before  March 31   April 30  , 2001, to
develop a master plan for parenting education in nonschool settings.
The bill would require the various state departments to participate
in the summit and collect, complete, and submit to the summit
available research regarding  , among other things,  the
causal relationship between the presence or absence of parenting
skills and dysfunctional behavior.  The bill would require the
department to  submit a proposed master plan for parenting
education based upon the recommendations of the summit  
report its findings  to the Legislature on or before January 1,
2002.
   Vote:  majority.  Appropriation:  no.  Fiscal committee:  yes.
State-mandated local program:  no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  
  SECTION 1.  (a) It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting
this act that the state design and implement a comprehensive
parenting education plan that would foster the development of
healthier parents, families, children, and adults.
   (b)  
  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (a) Our failure to prepare young Californians to make informed,
wise choices regarding whether to become, and how to be good,
healthy, and effective parents results in too many unwise choices and
too little healthy parenting for the next generation of
Californians.
   (b) Research indicates that over 50 percent of Californians
imprisoned for violent crime were abused as children.
   (c) Providing early and smart parenting education to every
California pupil would help us overcome set failures.
   (d) There are a variety of parenting education programs in a
variety of venues throughout California, differing in their
availability and in their accessibility with regard to geography,
time, and location.
   (e) The State of California must recognize, encourage, and build
upon, rather than duplicate, the effective and available parenting
education programs.
   (f) The State of California must identify venues in which
effective parenting education is not available, and strive to ensure
access to parenting education in those venues.
   (g) Every Californian must recognize the need, responsibility, and
opportunity to prepare himself or herself better to become a healthy
parent.
   (h) Every California institution must recognize its
responsibility, duty, and capacity to engage itself in supporting the
development of Californians into healthier parents.
   (i) The private sector, through major policy development
foundations such as the California Wellness Foundation, has begun to
recognize the fundamental benefits of parenting education in
preventing crime and violence.
   (j) The state should study particular strategies that are proving
successful in effectively reaching and providing parenting education
to the most vulnerable of our population.
  SEC. 2.  It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this act
that the State of California convene a top level statewide summit to
determine whether parenting education should be provided to every
young Californian and, if so, to design for submission to the
Legislature for its consideration, a comprehensive strategic action
plan for ensuring that every young Californian gain the benefit of
parenting education, in hopes of fostering the development of
healthier parents, and thereby healthier families, children and
adults.
  SEC 3.  (a)  The Director of Health Services shall convene a
summit on or before  March 31   April 30  ,
2001, for the purpose of  developing  
assessing whether it would be smart and wise for the state of
California to develop  a master plan for parenting education in
nonschool settings.  The master plan shall especially accommodate
those persons who are no longer attending school in the year 2001.

   (c)  
   (b)  The summit shall include interested parties of all
ideologies and persuasions,  legislative  
including significant representation from diverse communities, 
experts in parenting issues  , family and child development
experts  , representatives of current providers, academic
experts, business leaders,  family and child development
experts,  health professionals, experts in public school
parenting education programs, parents, and children.  
   (d)  
   (c)  The director, or his or her designee, of each of the
departments listed in subdivision  (e)   (d)
 shall participate in the summit.  To the extent that his or her
department has jurisdiction, each director shall collect, complete,
and submit to the summit the best research available  regarding
what it takes to develop a whole child with healthy self-esteem and a
healthy sense of personal and social responsibility and 
regarding the causal relationship between good and healthy parenting,
or lack thereof, to dysfunctional behavior  , as well as the
costs for providing this universal parenting education  .  The
research submitted to the summit shall also address the public costs
that result from dysfunctional behavior.  
   (e)  
   (d)  The director, or his or her designee, of each of the
following departments shall participate in the summit as provided in
subdivision  (d)   (c)  :  
   (1) Department of Corrections.
   (2) Department of the Youth Authority.
   (3) State Department of Social Services.
   (4) State Department of Mental Health.
   (5) State Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs.
   (6) State Department of Education.
   (f)  
   (1) The Superintendent of Public Instruction.
   (2) The Chairperson of the State Board of Education.
   (3) The State Secretary of Education.
   (4) The State Department of Social Services.
   (5) The State Department of Mental Health.
   (6) The State Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs.
   (7) The Department of the Youth Authority.
   (8) The Department of Corrections.
   (9) The Attorney General.
   (g)  The objectives of the summit shall include, but not be
limited to, the following:
   (1) Development of an inventory of all parenting education
programs currently available in California.
   (2)  Determination of whether universal parenting education
for every young Californian would improve the public health and
safety of all Californians.
   (3) If it is found to be valuable, the following shall be included
as part of a proposed master plan to be submitted to the Legislature
for its consideration.
   (A)  Development of a method by which parents of newborns may
receive parenting education in an appropriate range of public and
private nonschool settings.  
   (3)  
   (B)  Identification of the classifications of licensed
professionals who would be the most appropriate educators of
parenting skills in nonschool settings, assessment of the need for
the establishment of instructor training and continuing education
requirements for these professionals, and development of mechanisms
by which these professionals can be engaged in the practice of
parenting education.  
   (4)  
   (C) Development of a method and curriculum in juvenile court
school, homes, ranches, camps, and forestry camps, as well as a
method for making parenting education available to all public high
school students.
   (D)  Creation of a means for coordinating parenting education
services, in consultation with the State Department of Education.

   (5)  
   (E)  Identification of the ways and means for developing the
funding for the various options for parenting education.  
   (6)  
   (F)  Identification and development of additional methods by
which each of the state departments participating in this summit can
ensure that Californians receive effective and useful parenting
education.  
   (g)  
   (h)  The State Department of Health Services shall 
organize   report its findings to the Legislature,
including, if it concludes that it would be valuable to do so,
organizing  the recommendations of the summit into a proposed
California master plan for parenting education, and shall submit that
plan to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2002.  
   (h)  
   (i)  The State Department of Health Services shall make every
reasonable effort to secure private funding to underwrite the cost
of this summit.  
   (i)  
   (j)  The State Department of Health Services shall not be
responsible for travel costs and per diem associated with this summit
for any participant, except when required by state law or
administrative policy.  
   (j)  
   (k)  After making available copies of the master plan to the
Legislature and appropriate persons in the executive branch, the
State Department of Health Services may make additional copies
available to interested persons at a reasonable charge to cover costs
of printing and mailing.  
   (k)  
   (l)  The State Department of Health Services shall evaluate
the implementation of the summit's recommendations and shall make
every reasonable effort to either use existing resources or secure
private funding to underwrite this evaluation.