Bill Text: CA AB833 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Child care and development services: individualized county child care subsidy plan: County of Alameda.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2015-10-07 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 563, Statutes of 2015. [AB833 Detail]
Download: California-2015-AB833-Chaptered.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 833 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 563
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE OCTOBER 7, 2015
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR OCTOBER 7, 2015
PASSED THE SENATE SEPTEMBER 9, 2015
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 10, 2015
AMENDED IN SENATE SEPTEMBER 4, 2015
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 16, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 22, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 26, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Bonta
FEBRUARY 26, 2015
An act to add and repeal Article 15.3 (commencing with Section
8340) of Chapter 2 of Part 6 of Division 1 of Title 1 of the
Education Code, relating to child care and development services.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 833, Bonta. Child care and development services:
individualized county child care subsidy plan: County of Alameda.
The Child Care and Development Services Act has a purpose of
providing 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. Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public
Instruction to develop standards for the implementation of quality
child care programs. Existing law authorizes the County of San Mateo,
as a pilot project, to develop an individualized county child care
subsidy plan, as provided.
This bill would authorize, until January 1, 2021, the County of
Alameda to develop an individualized county child care subsidy plan,
as specified. The bill would require the plan to be submitted to the
local planning council and the Alameda County Board of Supervisors
for approval, as specified. The bill would require the Early
Education and Support Division of the State Department of Education
to review and approve or disapprove the plan and any subsequent
modifications to the plan. The bill would require the County of
Alameda to annually prepare and submit to the Legislature, the State
Department of Social Services, and the State Department of Education
a report that contains specified information relating to the success
of the county's plan.
This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to
the necessity of a special statute for the County of Alameda.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. It is the intent of the Legislature to build a stable,
comprehensive, and adequately funded high-quality early learning and
educational support system for children from birth to five years of
age, inclusive, with alignment and integration into the K-12
education system by strategically using state and federal funds, and
engaging all early care and education stakeholders, including K-12
education stakeholders, in an effort to provide access to affordable,
high-quality services supported by adequate rates, integrated data
systems, and a strong infrastructure that supports children and the
educators that serve them.
SEC. 2. Article 15.3 (commencing with Section 8340) is added to
Chapter 2 of Part 6 of Division 1 of Title 1 of the Education Code,
to read:
Article 15.3. Individualized County of Alameda Child Care
Subsidy Plan
8340. The County of Alameda may, as a pilot project, develop and
implement an individualized county child care subsidy plan. The plan
shall ensure that child care subsidies received by the County of
Alameda are used to address local needs, conditions, and priorities
of working families in the community.
8340.1. For purposes of this article, "county" means the County
of Alameda.
8340.2. (a) For purposes of this article, "plan" means an
individualized county child care subsidy plan developed and approved
under the pilot project described in Section 8340, which includes all
of the following:
(1) An assessment to identify the county's goal for its subsidized
child care system. The assessment shall examine whether the current
structure of subsidized child care funding adequately supports
working families in the county and whether the county's child care
goals coincide with the state's requirements for funding,
eligibility, priority, and reimbursement. The assessment shall also
identify barriers in the state's child care subsidy system that
inhibit the county from meeting its child care goals. In conducting
the assessment, the county shall consider all of the following:
(A) The general demographics of families who are in need of child
care, including employment, income, language, ethnic, and family
composition.
(B) The current supply of available subsidized child care.
(C) The level of need for various types of subsidized child care
services, including, but not limited to, infant care, after-hours
care, and care for children with exceptional needs.
(D) The county's self-sufficiency income level.
(E) Income eligibility levels for subsidized child care.
(F) Family fees.
(G) The cost of providing child care.
(H) The regional market rates, as established by the department,
for different types of child care.
(I) The standard reimbursement rate or state per diem for centers
operating under contracts with the department.
(J) Trends in the county's unemployment rate and housing
affordability index.
(2) (A) Development of a local policy to eliminate state-imposed
regulatory barriers to the county's achievement of its desired
outcomes for subsidized child care.
(B) The local policy shall do all of the following:
(i) Prioritize lowest income families first.
(ii) Follow the family fee schedule established pursuant to
Section 8273 for those families that are income eligible, as defined
by Section 8263.1.
(iii) Meet local goals that are consistent with the state's child
care goals.
(iv) Identify existing policies that would be affected by the
county's plan.
(v) (I) Authorize an agency that provides child care and
development services in the county through a contract with the
department and either provides direct services or contracts with
licensed providers or centers to apply to the department to amend
existing contracts in order to benefit from the local policy.
(II) The department shall approve an application to amend an
existing contract if the plan is modified pursuant to Section 8340.3.
(III) The contract of a department contractor who does not elect
to request an amendment to its contract remains operative and
enforceable.
(C) The local policy may supersede state law concerning child care
subsidy programs with regard only to the following factors:
(i) Eligibility criteria, including, but not limited to, age,
family size, time limits, income level, inclusion of former and
current CalWORKs participants, and special needs considerations,
except that the local policy shall not deny or reduce eligibility of
a family that qualifies for child care pursuant to Section 8353.
Under the local policy, a family that qualifies for child care
pursuant to Section 8354 shall be treated for purposes of eligibility
and fees in the same manner as a family that qualifies for
subsidized child care on another basis pursuant to the local policy.
(ii) Fees, including, but not limited to, family fees, sliding
scale fees, and copayments for those families that are not income
eligible, as defined by Section 8263.1.
(iii) Reimbursement rates.
(iv) Methods of maximizing the efficient use of subsidy funds,
including, but not limited to, multiyear contracting with the
department for center-based child care, and interagency agreements
that allow for flexible and temporary transfer of funds among
agencies.
(3) Recognition that all funding sources utilized by direct
service contractors that provide child care and development services
in the county and contractors that contract with licensed providers
and centers are eligible to be included in the county's plan.
(4) Establishment of measurable outcomes to evaluate the success
of the plan to achieve the county's child care goals, and to overcome
any barriers identified in the state's child care subsidy system.
(b) Nothing in this section shall be construed to permit the
county to change the regional market rate survey results for the
county.
8340.3. (a) The plan shall be submitted to the local planning
council, as defined in subdivision (g) of Section 8499, for approval.
Upon approval of the plan by the local planning council, the Board
of Supervisors of the County of Alameda shall hold at least one
public hearing on the plan. Following the hearing, if the board votes
in favor of the plan, the plan shall be submitted to the Early
Education and Support Division of the department for review.
(b) Within 30 days of receiving the plan, the Early Education and
Support Division shall review and either approve or disapprove the
plan.
(c) Within 30 days of receiving a modification to the plan, the
Early Education and Support Division shall review and either approve
or disapprove that modification to the plan.
(d) The Early Education and Support Division may disapprove only
those portions of modifications to the plan that are not in
conformance with this article or that are in conflict with federal
law.
8340.4. The county shall, by the end of the first fiscal year of
operation under the approved child care subsidy plan, demonstrate, in
the report required pursuant to Section 8340.5, an increase in the
aggregate days a child is enrolled in child care in the county as
compared to the enrollment in the final quarter of the 2014-2015
fiscal year.
8340.5. (a) The county shall annually prepare and submit to the
Legislature, the State Department of Social Services, and the
department a report that summarizes the success of the county's plan,
and the county's ability to maximize the use of funds and to improve
and stabilize child care in the county.
(b) A report to be submitted pursuant to subdivision (a) shall be
submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
8340.6. A participating contractor shall receive an increase or
decrease in funding that the contractor would have received if the
contractor had not participated in the plan.
8340.7. This article shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2021, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2021, deletes or extends
that date.
SEC. 3. The Legislature finds and declares that a special law is
necessary and that a general law cannot be made applicable within the
meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution
because of the unique circumstances in the County of Alameda.
Existing law does not reflect the fiscal reality of living in the
County of Alameda, a high-cost county where the cost of living is
well beyond the state median level, resulting in reduced access to
quality child care. In recognition of the unintended consequences of
living in a high-cost county, this act is necessary to provide
children and families in the County of Alameda proper access to child
care through an individualized county child care subsidy plan.
