Enrolled  August 31, 2018
Passed  IN  Senate  August 24, 2018
Passed  IN  Assembly  August 29, 2018
Amended  IN  Senate  June 06, 2018
Amended  IN  Senate  May 01, 2018

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill No. 60

Introduced by Assembly Member Santiago

December 07, 2016

An act to amend Section 8350 of the Education Code, and to amend Section 11323.4 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to child care and development services.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 60, Santiago. Subsidized child care and development services: stages of child care: CalWORKs.
The Child Care and Development Services Act has a purpose to provide a comprehensive, coordinated, and cost-effective system of child care and development services for children from infancy to 13 years of age and their parents, including a full range of supervision, health, and support services through full- and part-time programs. The act provides that it is the intent of the Legislature to ensure that recipients and former recipients of CalWORKs are connected as soon as possible to local child care resources, make stable child care arrangements, and continue to receive subsidized child care services after they no longer receive aid as long as they require those services and meet eligibility requirements. The act establishes 3 stages of child care services through which a recipient of CalWORKs will pass.
This bill would prohibit the first stage or the 2nd stage of child care services from being discontinued until confirmation is received from the administrator of the subsequent stage of child care that the family has been enrolled in the subsequent stage of child care, or that the family is ineligible for services in the subsequent stage of child care, in order to ensure that there is no disruption in child care services due to the planned transition between the stages of CalWORKs child care.
Existing law makes confidential and prohibits the release of information about applicants for public social services. Notwithstanding this prohibition, existing law authorizes a county welfare department to share information necessary for the administration of child care programs and the CalWORKs program.
This bill would require that specified information be made available by a county welfare department to a contractor that provides child care services. The bill would require, beginning no later than November 1, 2019, a county welfare department to provide a monthly report to stage 2 contractors containing specified information. The bill would require that report to be jointly designed with representatives from the State Department of Social Services, the County Welfare Directors Association of California, and Parent Voices, and in consultation with county welfare departments and the Statewide Automated Welfare System. The bill would require a county welfare department to provide training on security protocols and confidentiality of individual family data to a contractor who is given access to data pursuant to those provisions. By imposing new duties on county welfare departments, this bill would create a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: YES  

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


SECTION 1.

 Section 8350 of the Education Code is amended to read:

8350.
 (a) It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this article to ensure that recipients of aid under Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 11200) of Part 3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, or any successor program, and former recipients who have left aid for employment, are connected as soon as possible to local child care resources, make stable child care arrangements, and continue to receive subsidized child care services after they no longer receive aid as long as they require those services and meet the eligibility requirements set forth in Sections 8263 and 8263.1.
(b) This article establishes three stages of child care services through which a recipient of aid under Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 11200) of Part 3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, or any successor program, will pass. Further, as families’ child care needs are met by county welfare departments and later by other local child care and development contractors, it is the intent of the Legislature that families experience no break in their child care services due to a transition between the three stages of child care services.
(c) In order to ensure that there is no disruption in child care services due to the planned transitions between the stages of CalWORKs child care, the first stage or the second stage of child care services shall not be discontinued until confirmation is received from the administrator of the subsequent stage of child care that the family has been enrolled in the subsequent stage of child care, or that the family is ineligible for services in the subsequent stage of child care.

SEC. 2.

 Section 11323.4 of the Welfare and Institutions Code is amended to read:

11323.4.
 (a) Payments for supportive services, as described in Section 11323.2, shall be advanced to the participant, wherever necessary, and when desired by the participant, so that the participant need not use his or her funds to pay for these services. Payments for child care services shall be made in accordance with Article 15.5 (commencing with Section 8350) of Chapter 2 of Part 6 of the Education Code.
(b) The county welfare department shall take all reasonable steps necessary to promptly correct any overpayment or underpayment of supportive services payments to a recipient or a service provider, including, but not limited to, all cases involving fraud and abuse, consistent with procedures developed by the department.
(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of this article, any participant in on-the-job training who becomes ineligible for aid under this chapter due to earned income or hours worked, shall remain a participant in the program under this article for the duration of the on-the-job training assignment and shall be eligible for supportive services for the duration of the on-the-job training, provided this duration does not exceed the time limits otherwise applicable to the recipient.
(d) Notwithstanding any other provision of this article, any participant in on-the-job training, grant-based on-the-job training, supported work, or transitional employment who remains eligible for aid pursuant to this chapter, shall be eligible for transportation and ancillary expenses pursuant to paragraphs (2) and (3) of subdivision (a) of Section 11323.2.
(e) (1) Participants shall be encouraged to apply for financial aid, including educational grants, scholarships, and awards.
(2) To the extent permitted by federal law, the county shall coordinate with financial aid offices to establish procedures whereby the educational expenses of participants are met through available financial aid and the supportive services described in Section 11323.2. These procedures shall not result in duplication of payments, and shall require determinations to be made on an individual basis to ensure that using financial aid will not prevent the person’s participation in his or her welfare-to-work plan.
(f) (1) Notwithstanding Section 10850, for purposes of child care supportive services, county welfare departments shall share information necessary for the administration of the child care programs and the CalWORKs program.
(2) By no later than October 1, 2019, a county welfare department shall provide limited, read-only, online access through individual county-level Statewide Automated Welfare System (SAWS) databases to local contractors providing stage two and stage three child care services. Access provided pursuant to this paragraph shall include a single summary page that contains current individual family data needed to enroll a family in stage two or stage three CalWORKs child care services or to transfer a family between stages. This data shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following items, if applicable:
(A) All of the information required in subdivision (a) of Section 18409 of Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations, or any successor regulation thereto.
(B) If the family is no longer receiving CalWORKs cash aid, the date that a parent or adult caretaker last received CalWORKs cash aid.
(3) Paragraph (2) does not supersede any agreement between a county and a stage one, stage two, or stage three contractor that was in effect on January 1, 2019, and provides for online access to the data described in that paragraph.
(4) Beginning no later than November 1, 2019, a county welfare department shall provide to stage two contractors on a monthly basis a report of all families for which the parent’s cash aid has been discontinued, the parent has remained off of aid for at least one month, and the parent has children in the home who are eligible for child care services. The report shall include the parent’s most up-to-date contact information. The report shall be jointly designed with representatives from the department, the County Welfare Directors Association of California, and Parent Voices, in consultation with county welfare departments and SAWS.
(5) A county welfare department shall provide training on security protocols and confidentiality of individual family data to a contractor who is given access to data pursuant to this subdivision.
(6) This subdivision is not intended to limit the information shared for the administration of child care in addition to the data described in paragraph (2).

SEC. 3.

 If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.