Bill Text: CA AB1649 | 2021-2022 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Childcare services: alternative payment programs.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-05-19 - In committee: Held under submission. [AB1649 Detail]
Download: California-2021-AB1649-Introduced.html
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Bill
No. 1649
| Introduced by Assembly Member Quirk-Silva |
January 13, 2022 |
An act to amend Sections 10225.5 and 10227.5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to childcare.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1649, as introduced, Quirk-Silva.
Childcare services: alternative payment programs.
The Child Care and Development Services Act, administered by the State Department of Social Services, establishes a system of childcare and development services for children up to 13 years of age. Existing law requires the department to contract with local contracting agencies for alternative payment programs for childcare services to be provided throughout the state. Existing law requires the alternative payment program to reimburse childcare providers based upon specified criteria, including the actual days and hours of attendance for those families with variable schedules.
This bill, instead, would require the alternative payment program to reimburse childcare providers based upon the maximum certified hours of care. The bill would also include intent language relating to equitable access to childcare for working families and a set
reimbursement for all licensed and exempt providers who accept subsidized childcare vouchers.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NOBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Section 10225.5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is amended to read:10225.5.
(a) It is the intent of the Legislature that:(1) Working families be supported with maximum access to child care childcare and development programs that focus on stabilizing families and helping children realize greater education outcomes.
(2) Working families be supported with equitable access to childcare and a set reimbursement to be paid to all licensed and exempt providers who accept subsidized childcare vouchers.
(2)
(3) Working families have access to the supportive services needed to ensure the healthy physical, cognitive, social, and emotional growth and development of children.
(3)
(4) The department, in providing funding to child care
childcare and development agencies, promote a contracting term for services that will allow parents the opportunity to choose the type of care most suited to their needs.
(5) The department, in providing funding to childcare and development agencies, support a parent’s choice and needed access for type of care by basing reimbursement on the maximum certified hours of care needed by the family.
(6) The department, in providing funding to childcare and development agencies, support consistent reimbursement payments to any licensed and exempt provider who accepts subsidized childcare vouchers.
(4)
(7) Working families achieve and maintain their personal, social, economic, and emotional stability through an opportunity to attain financial stability through employment and parental development while maximizing the growth and development of their children, and through enhancing their parenting skills through participation in child care childcare and development programs.
(b) The department shall contract with local contracting agencies for alternative payment programs so that services will be provided throughout the state. The department shall expand existing alternative payment
programs and fund new alternative payment programs to the extent that funds are provided by the Legislature.
(c) Funding for the new programs pursuant to this section shall be allocated to programs that meet all of the following requirements:
(1) Applicants shall conform to the requirements of this chapter.
(2) Applicants shall demonstrate that an alternative payment child development program is an appropriate method of delivering child care childcare services within the county or service area at the level requested in the application by doing either of the following:
(A) Demonstrating the availability of sufficient licensed or exempt child care childcare providers.
(B) Providing a plan for the development of sufficient licensed child care childcare providers working in cooperation with the local resource and referral agency.
(3) Applicants shall demonstrate the administrative viability of the alternative payment agency and its capacity to meet performance requirements.
(4) Existing
alternative payment child development programs receiving funds for expansion into a new service area shall be funded at a documented rate appropriate to that community and may contract separately as appropriate.
(d) (1) Except as provided in paragraph (3), an alternative payment program shall have no less than 12 months, and no more than 24 months, to expend funds allocated to that program in any fiscal year.
(2) The department shall develop a process that provides alternative payment programs no less than 12 months, and no more than 24 months, to expend funds allocated to that program in any fiscal year.
(3) Paragraphs (1) and (2) do not apply to contracts relating to the administration of child care
childcare services described in Sections 10372 and 10372.5.
SEC. 2.
Section 10227.5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is amended to read:10227.5.
(a)(b) The monthly attendance record
or invoice shall, at a minimum, be signed by the parent or guardian of the child receiving services and the child care childcare provider once per month to attest that the child’s attendance is accurately reflected. The verification of attendance shall be made by signature at the end of each month of care and under penalty of perjury by both the parent or guardian of the child receiving services and the child care childcare provider.
(c) The monthly attendance record or invoice shall be maintained by the child care
childcare provider in the unaltered original format in which it was created, which may be in paper form or electronic format.
(d) The alternative payment program shall accept the monthly attendance record or invoice as documentation of the hours of care provided if the attendance record or invoice includes adequate information documented on a daily basis, including, at a minimum, the dates and actual times care was provided each day, including the time the child entered and the time the child left care each day. The alternative payment program shall reimburse child care
childcare providers based upon the following criteria: their maximum certified hours of care.
(1)The hours of service provided that are broadly consistent with certified hours of need.
(2)For families with variable schedules, the actual days and hours of attendance, up to the maximum certified hours.
(3)For license-exempt providers that provide part-time services, the actual days and hours of attendance, up to the maximum certified hours.
(e) For purposes of reimbursement to providers through an alternative payment program, contractors shall not be required to track absences.
(f) For purposes of this section, a monthly attendance record or invoice is defined as documentation that includes, at a minimum, the name of the child receiving services, the dates and actual times care was provided each day, including the time the child entered care and the time the child left care each day, that is signed under penalty of perjury by both the parent or guardian and the child care childcare provider, attesting that the information
provided is accurate.
