Bill Text: CA AB2478 | 2021-2022 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: Child Care and Development Services Act: Commission on Child Care Providers.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-03-21 - Re-referred to Com. on HUM. S. [AB2478 Detail]

Download: California-2021-AB2478-Amended.html

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Amended  IN  Assembly  March 17, 2022

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 2478

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Introduced by Assembly Member Bennett

February 17, 2022

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An act to amend Section 16001.1 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to foster care. add Section 10271.6 to the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to childcare.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 2478, as amended, Bennett. Foster care. Child Care and Development Services Act: Commission on Child Care Providers.

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 sets forth the purposes of the act, which include, among other things, the provision of a comprehensive, coordinated, and cost-effective system of childcare and development services for children and their parents.

This bill would require the department to establish the Commission on Child Care Providers. The bill would require the commission to establish a grant program to award grants to childcare providers to hire more staff in order to increase the number of childcare slots. The bill would require the department to select a representative from each of 12 specified regions to comprise the commission.

Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to allocate certain funds through contracts with community-based providers or entities or through local assistance allocations to counties or Indian tribes that support new or expanded programs, services, practices, and training that build system capacity and ensure the provision of a high-quality continuum of care that is designed to support foster children in the least restrictive setting that is consistent with a child’s permanency plan. Existing law requires recipients of those funds to use the funds for specified purposes, one of which may be building system capacity for intensive, child-specific recruitment, family finding and engagement, and support programs for children with complex needs.

This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to those provisions.

Digest Key

Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: NOYES   Local Program: NO  

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Bill Text

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

 The Legislature finds and declares the following:

(a) The Center for American Progress received significant media attention and raised awareness of an important concept regarding equity for United States children, the childcare desert. A childcare desert refers to an area with no or limited availability of childcare centers for young children.

(b) The report sparked public conversation about the issue of geographic access to childcare, yet supply of childcare centers and geographic location are just two of many elements in the complex issue of access to early care and education.

(c) To address problems with access to childcare, those working on the issue need a common definition of access. Providing access is not as simple as ensuring that every child has a spot. It is an issue with multiple dimensions and barriers to consider.

(d) Parents and guardians should be able to access childcare with reasonable effort. This dimension includes measurable indicators such as geographical location, supply of early childhood education programs, and availability of information about early childhood education programs.

(e) Access to childcare should be affordable. This refers to indicators such as parent’s or guardian’s financial contribution, subsidies and scholarships, and advertised price, which includes the price families are told they will need to pay before considering financial supports, including subsidies, and program expenses for providing early childhood education.

(f) Childcare programs should support the child’s development. This dimension includes indicators such as quality designations, specialized services, language of instruction, and stability of early childhood education.

(g) Childcare programs should meet the needs of parents and guardians. This includes parent- and guardian-preferred types of programs, availability of transportation, and hours of operation.

SEC. 2.

 Section 10271.6 is added to the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read:

10271.6.

 (a) The department shall establish the Commission on Child Care Providers.

(b) The commission shall establish a grant program to award grants to childcare providers to hire more staff in order to increase the number of childcare slots.

(c) The department shall select a representative from each of the following regions to comprise the commission:

(1) Region one consists of the Counties of Butte, Del Norte, Humboldt, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Shasta, Siskiyou, Tehama, and Trinity.

(2) Region two consists of the Counties of Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, Colusa, El Dorado, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, Sierra, Sutter, Yolo, and Yuba.

(3) Region three consists of the Counties of Lake, Marin, Mendocino, Napa, Solano, and Sonoma.

(4) Region four consists of the Counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Santa Clara, and San Mateo, and the City and County of San Francisco.

(5) Region five consists of the Counties of Fresno, Inyo, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, Mono, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, and Tuolumne.

(6) Region six consists of the Counties of San Benito, Santa Cruz, and Monterey.

(7) Region seven consists of the Counties of San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura.

(8) Region eight consists of the Counties of Kern, Kings, and Tulare.

(9) Region nine consists of the County of Los Angeles.

(10) Region ten consists of the County of Orange.

(11) Region eleven consists of the Counties of San Bernardino and Riverside.

(12) Region twelve consists of the Counties of Imperial and San Diego.

SECTION 1.Section 16001.1 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is amended to read:

16001.1.

(a)It is the intent of the Legislature to support the urgent and exceptional needs of children and nonminor dependents in foster care who are under the supervision of a county child welfare agency or probation department, including those who otherwise may be placed in an out-of-state residential facility.

(b)(1)The department shall allocate funds appropriated to the department for this purpose in the Budget Act of 2021 through contracts with community-based providers or entities or through local assistance allocations to counties or Indian tribes that have entered into an agreement pursuant to Section 10553.1 that support new or expanded programs, services, practices, and training that builds system capacity and ensures the provision of a high-quality continuum of care that is designed to support foster children in the least restrictive setting, consistent with a child’s permanency plan.

(2)Pursuant to guidance and a process established by the department and the State Department of Health Care Services, in consultation with the County Welfare Directors Association of California, Chief Probation Officers of California, and County Behavioral Health Directors Association of California, fund recipients shall use the allocated funds to supplement county efforts to build system capacity for any of the following activities:

(A)Specialized models of professional foster care, including therapeutic foster care, intensive services foster care, or other models as may be developed in collaboration with counties, including the County Behavioral Health Directors Association of California, and providers.

(B)Intensive child-specific recruitment, family finding and engagement, and support programs for children with complex needs, including specialized permanency services, as described in Section 16501, and activities associated with the Active Supportive Intervention Services for Transition program.

(C)Specialized models of integrated care and support for family-based settings, including high-fidelity wraparound, and community-based treatment models that create alternatives to out-of-home or residential placement.

(D)Highly individualized short-term residential therapeutic programs designed to serve children with complex needs who otherwise may have been placed in an out-of-state residential facility.

(E)A Children’s Crisis Continuum Pilot Program established pursuant to Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 16550).

(F)Highly specialized short-term residential therapeutic programs designed to serve children with cooccurring intellectual or developmental disabilities and behavioral health needs.

(3)Allocations made pursuant to this subdivision shall be conditioned on qualitative and outcomes standards that are established by the department, in consultation with the State Department of Health Care Services, counties, tribes, and other entities that may receive funding.

(c)(1)The department shall allocate or expend, through contracts with community-based providers or entities or through local assistance allocations to counties or Indian tribes that have entered into an agreement pursuant to Section 10553.1, funds appropriated to the department for this purpose in the Budget Act of 2021, and in any future fiscal year, to provide and implement the recommendations of child-specific assessments, evaluations, enhanced care planning, ongoing technical assistance, and exceptional supports to meet the complex care needs of children in foster care within California within the least restrictive setting.

(2)The department shall establish a process through which funds may be made available pursuant to a request from a county child welfare agency or probation department on behalf of an individual child. Requests shall identify the exceptional services that are needed to support the child in the least restrictive setting and shall be based upon the recommendation of a qualified individual, technical assistance provided by the department, or a clinical determination of an interagency placement committee that considers the recommendations of a child and family team.

(3)Funds made available pursuant to this subdivision shall be conditioned on qualitative and outcomes standards that are established by the department. Outcomes standards shall include a continuous quality improvement process designed to address systematic gaps or barriers to meeting the needs of children and nonminor dependents in the least restrictive setting. Those outcomes standards shall be developed by the department and the State Department of Health Care Services, in consultation with counties, tribes, and other entities that may receive funding.

(d)The department shall consult with the joint interagency resolution team, the County Welfare Directors Association of California, the Chief Probation Officers of California, the California Behavioral Health Directors Association of California, legislative staff, and other stakeholders with respect to the implementation of this section.

(e)Funding made available to counties pursuant to this section shall only be used to supplement, and not supplant, existing funding.