Existing law provides that each school district governing board has general control of, and responsibility for, all aspects of the interscholastic athletic policies, programs, and activities in its district, as specified. Existing law authorizes school district governing boards to enter into associations or consortia with other school district governing boards for the purpose of governing regional or statewide interscholastic athletic programs, as specified. Existing law prohibits voluntary interscholastic athletic associations from discriminating against, or denying the benefits of any program to, any person on the basis of specified personal characteristics. Existing law also prohibits voluntary interscholastic athletic associations from denying a school from participation in interscholastic athletic activities because of the religious tenets of the school.

This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to these provisions.

SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair

2015 - 2016 Regular Session

SB 1420 (Mendoza) - Child care and development: occupational health and safety training

This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.

Bill Summary: This bill requires all child care caregivers, as specified, to complete a one-time training on occupational health and safety risks specific to the child care profession and on how to identify and avoid those risks. This bill requires the California Department of Education (CDE) to develop the curriculum for the training in consultation with the State Department of Public Health (DPH) and child care caregivers, and also compensate caregivers for attending the training. Finally, this bill requires the CDE to provide lists of caregivers that have attended and have yet to attend training with their contact information to the entity contracted to provide the training on a monthly basis.

Fiscal Summary:

• Training Costs: Actual costs of this bill will depend on a number of factors, including the actual number of caregivers that will need to be trained and the number of new caregivers entering the childcare workforce. There will be one-time and ongoing costs to train all existing and new caregivers as well as ongoing costs to provide periodic updates on health and safety matters to those who have completed training. Assuming 70,000 existing caregivers, one-time training costs would be about $12 million. However, actual costs could be significantly higher since this estimate does not include administrators which are required to be trained pursuant to this bill. Costs include providing compensation for training time and travel costs, curriculum development, translation of training materials, providing training materials, delivering the training, and administrative costs for the contracted training entity. Ongoing costs could potentially be in millions to train new caregivers entering the workforce. (General Fund)
• CDE costs: Approximately $120,000 ongoing to oversee the development of the training, monitor the contract with the contracted training entity, and consult with the DPH. (General Fund)
• The DPH notes minimal costs to provide consultation on the training curriculum.
  

Background: Existing state law establishes the Child Care and Development Services Act to provide child care and development services as part of a coordinated, comprehensive, and cost-effective system serving children from birth to 13 years old and their parents, including a full range of supervision, health, and other support services through full- and part-time programs. (Education Code Section 8200, et seq.)

Existing state law also establishes the California Child Day Care Facilities Act to provide for the licensure and regulation of family day care homes by the State Department of Social Services and encourages the development of licensing staff with knowledge and understanding of children and child care needs. (Health and Safety Code Section 1596.73)

The federal Child Care and Development Block Grant was reauthorized in 2014 and includes numerous policy changes. The authorization requires the state plan to include professional development and training regarding improving the knowledge and skills of the child care workforce to be developed in consultation with the State Advisory Council on Early Childhood Education and Care.

The authorization requires the state to determine minimum health and safety training to be completed pre-service or during an orientation period in addition to ongoing training. The State Department of Social Services establishes training requirements for child care personnel. Currently this includes 15 hours of health and safety training, including, among other things, the prevention of childhood injuries and infectious diseases, with no requirement for ongoing training. License-exempt providers who receive Child Care and Development Fund subsidy, a component of the block grant, are not required to participate in training.

Proposed Law: Beginning July 1, 2017, this bill requires a caregiver to attend a one-time, two hour training on occupational health and safety risks specific to the child care profession and to be compensated for attending this training. A caregiver is required to complete this training within two years of when the training is first offered pursuant to this bill, or within three months of the caregiver beginning to care for children in a licensed child day care facility, whichever occurs later. Caregivers are defined as licensed caregivers and license-exempt caregivers. Licensed caregivers are defined as a person who works directly with children and is a child care provider, an administrator, or an employee of a licensed child day care facility. License-exempt caregiver means a person who works directly with children under a publicly funded child care program, and is a child care provider who is exempt from licensing requirements, as specified, or the employee of such a child care provider, but excludes caregivers who are the relatives of the children they care for.

The training is required to include certain components, such as a discussion of various risks and how they can be identified and minimized including chemical and biological hazards, infectious disease, and physical hazards and stress. In addition, the training must include presentations by associations or organizations of child care caregivers about their professional development offerings for caregivers, upon approval by the CDE.

The CDE is required to develop the curriculum for the training in consultation with the State Department of Public Health and child care providers. CDE is required to contract with an entity to provide this training throughout the state that meets certain requirements.

This bill also requires the CDE to provide lists of the caregivers, with their contact information, who have attended the training and of those who have yet attended the training, to the entity selected to provide the training on a monthly basis. This bill specifies that the purpose of this requirement is to enable the entity to provide periodic updates to affected caregivers on health and safety issues and other educational information. This bill requires the CDE and the entity providing the training to provide the same type of training materials in any non-English language spoken by a substantial number of members of the public whom the CDE services.

Related Legislation: SB 548 (De Leon, 2015), among other things, required the CDE to ensure that all family child care providers attend in-person orientation training, as specified, and for the CDE and the State Department of Social Services to make information regarding family child care providers available to provider organizations, as specified. SB 548 was vetoed by the Governor, whose message stated in part, that the bill prematurely anticipated what will be necessary to comply with the federal Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 2014.

Staff Comments: The bill’s findings and declarations state that its required occupational health and safety training will satisfy several of the new federal Child Care and Development Block Grant health and safety requirements. The reauthorized block grant requires states to establish health and safety standards in 10 topic areas and requires training and professional development provided to include these standards. Though some of the topics required to be included in this bill relate to some of the federally-required topics, this bill’s focus is minimizing risks in the workplace. Federal law requires states to have health and safety requirements designed to protect the health and safety of children. Because of this misalignment, it is unlikely that the federal Child Care and Development Block Grant is a viable funding source to implement the training required by this bill.

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SENATE COMMITTEE ON HEALTH

Senator Ed Hernandez, O.D., Chair

BILL NO: SB 1420

SUBJECT: Child care and development: occupational health and safety training

SUMMARY:

Requires caregivers, as defined, to attend a one-time, two-hour training on occupational health and safety, as specified. Requires the Department of Education and the Department of Public Health to develop the curriculum for the training, as defined.

Existing law:

1. Establishes the California Child Day Care Facilities Act to provide for the licensure and regulation of child day care and family day care facilities by the Department of Social Services (DSS).

1. Establishes guidelines for the development of licensing staff with knowledge and understanding of children and child care needs.
2. Requires family day care home licensees who provide care to have at least 15 hours of health and safety training, as defined, including prevention of childhood injuries and infectious diseases.
3. Establishes the Child Care and Development Services Act to provide child care and development services as a coordinated, comprehensive, and cost-effective system serving children from birth to 13 years old and their parents, including a full range of supervision, health, and other support services through full- and part-time programs.

This bill:

1. Requires a caregiver, beginning July 1, 2017, to attend a one-time, two hour training on occupational health and safety risks specific to the child care profession, and how to identify and avoid those risks. Requires a caregiver to complete the training within two years of when the training is first offered or within three months of the caregiver beginning to care for children in a licensed child day care facility, whichever occurs later.
2. Requires the caregiver training to include:
   1. Discussion of risks and how to identify and minimize those risks, including: chemical and biological hazards, infectious disease, physical hazards and stress;
   2. Small- and large-group discussion;
   3. Opportunity for a caregiver to learn from current child care professionals;
   4. Presentations by associations or organizations of child care caregivers about their professional development offerings for caregivers; and,
   5. Opportunity for caregivers to give feedback on the training received.
3. Defines “caregiver” as licensed caregivers and license-exempt caregivers. Defines “licensed caregiver” as a person working directly with children and is a child care provider, administrator, or employee of a licensed child day care facility. Defines “license-exempt caregiver” as a person who works directly with children under a publicly funded child care program, and is a child care provider who is exempt from licensing requirements, but excludes caregivers that are relatives of the children they care for.
4. Requires the California Department of Education (CDE) to develop curriculum for the training in consultation with the Department of Public Health (DPH) and child care caregivers. Requires CDE to compensate caregivers for their attendance at the training.
5. Requires CDE to contract with an entity to provide the occupational health and safety training required in this bill throughout the state that is selected based on defined requirements, including:
   1. Has experience providing occupational health and safety trainings to caregivers;
   2. Trains caregivers to give the training required in this bill; and,
   3. Provides periodic updates on health and safety matters to caregivers that have completed the training.
6. Requires CDE to provide monthly lists of caregivers and contact information to the selected entity of those who have and have not attended the training.
7. Makes various findings and declarations about the risks child care caregivers face on the job, which have been found to be comparable to those of industrial truck and tractor operators and construction equipment operators.

FISCAL EFFECT:

This bill has not yet been analyzed by a fiscal committee.

COMMENTS:

1. Author’s statement. According to the author, anyone who has a toddler knows how easy it is to throw out one’s back picking up a 30 pound child, especially when the child is kicking or squirming, or how other accidents can arise when a child leaves a toy or book in a worker’s pathway. The constant motion of bending over to comfort, lift, cook for, and clean up after 5-10 children throughout the day could wear one’s body down. A Department of Labor report shows child care workers have back, muscle, joint and other musculoskeletal injuries at the same rate as truck drivers, construction equipment operators, or package handlers. Layered on these repetitive stress motions, child care workers must navigate the use of harmful cleaning chemicals that, if used inappropriately, can lead to asthma and other impacts. They must navigate the “petri dishes” of germs that young children often carry to keep themselves and the other children they care for safe and healthy. SB 1420 fills a critical need to keep child care workers injury-free with a common sense, preventative approach that provides comprehensive training on health and safety issues child care workers face on a daily basis. In addition, this bill will provide training that will bring California into compliance with new federal requirements for the Child Care Development Block Grant. Most importantly, this bill helps every child care worker, both in family child care and center settings, receive the training he or she needs to prevent injuries and provide a safe environment for the children.
2. Child Care and Development Block Grant. In 2014, President Obama signed into law the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG). According to the Administration for Children and Families, under the federal Health and Human Services Agency, this was a historic re-envisioning of the Child Care and Development Fund (Fund) program. The CCDBG requires states to establish health and safety requirements in 10 different topic areas, including sudden infant death syndrome and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). CCDBG requires child care providers serving children that receive assistance through this Fund to receive pre-service and ongoing training on these topics. Additionally, CCDBG requires states to establish professional development and training requirements with ongoing annual training and progression to improve knowledge of providers.
3. Current training requirements. DSS, under current law, establishes training requirements for child care. This includes 15 hours of health and safety training, specifically pediatric first aid, CPR, preventive health practices for the prevention of infectious diseases and childhood injuries, and nutrition training. Completion of this training by personnel and licensees is required as a condition of licensure. If qualified applicants are found deficient in this training, then a provisional license is issued for 90 days to allow for completion of the training.
4. Double referral. This bill was heard in Senate Education Committee on April 6, 2016, and passed with a 7-2 vote.
5. Prior legislation. SB 548 (De Leon), of 2015, required CDE to ensure all family child care providers attend in-person orientation training and CDE and DSS to make information regarding family child care providers available to provider organizations. SB 548 was vetoed by the Governor because it prematurely anticipated what would be necessary to comply with the federal CCDBG.
6. Support. SEIU California writes that this bill would ensure caregivers that serve children receive training on occupational health and safety practices, which would protect their own health as well as those in their care. They further state that this bill will bring California in line with federal CCDBG re-authorization requirements. California Labor Federation writes that child care workers are exposed to several health and safety risks through their jobs and this bill will ensure that California complies with new CCDBG health and safety training requirements.
7. Policy Comments. This bill is focused on occupational health and safety, which brings into question whether CDE and DPH are the appropriate departments to establish training curriculum.

SUPPORT AND OPPOSITION:

Support: SEIU California (sponsor)

California Labor Federation

Oppose: None received

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SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION

Senator Carol Liu, Chair

2015 - 2016 Regular

Bill No: SB 1420

NOTE: This bill has been referred to the Committees on Education and Health. A “do pass” motion should include referral to the Committee on Health.

Subject: Child care and development: occupational health and safety training

SUMMARY

This bill requires all licensed caregivers for children to complete a one-time training on occupational health and safety risks specific to the child care profession and on how to identify and avoid those risks. The bill also requires State Department of Education (SDE) to develop the curriculum for the training in consultation with the State Department of Public Health and also compensate a caregiver for attending the training.

BACKGROUND

Existing law establishes the Child Care and Development Services Act to provide child care and development services as part of a coordinated, comprehensive, and cost-effective system serving children from birth to 13 years old and their parents, including a full range of supervision, health, and other support services through full- and part-time programs. (Education Code § 8200, et seq.)

Existing law also stablishes the California Child Day Care Facilities Act provides for the licensure and regulation of family day care homes by the Department of Social Services and encourages the development of licensing staff with knowledge and understanding of children and child care needs. (Health and Safety Code § 1596.73)

ANALYSIS

This bill:

1. Provides various legislative findings and declarations, including the following:
2. Improving occupational health and safety in all lines of work is a priority for the State of California, and that focus should extend to child care caregivers.
3. Child care caregivers are at risk for occupational health and safety risks on the job, including from toxic chemicals, illness, stress, and physical hazards such as lifting and bending. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, child care workers have musculoskeletal injury rates comparable to those of industrial truck and tractor operators and construction equipment operators.
4. Makes the following definitions:
5. Caregivers means licensed caregivers and license-exempt caregivers.
6. Department means the State Department of Education (SDE).
7. Licensed caregiver means a person who works directly with children and is a child care provider, an administrator, or an employee of a licensed child day care facility.
8. Licensed-exempt caregiver means a person who works directly with children under a publicly funded child care program, and is a child care provider who is exempt from licensing requirements pursuant to Section 1596.792 of the Health and Safety Code, or the employee of such a child care provider, but excludes caregivers who are the relatives of the children they care for.
9. Publicly funded child care program means a program administered by the SDE, the State Department of Social Services, or another department, agency, or political subdivision of the state, including, but not limited to, child care voucher programs, the California State Preschool Program, child care center contracts and programs established subsequent to the passage of this article, to subsidize early learning and care for children, but not including the public education system.
10. Requires a caregiver to attend a one-time, two-hour training on occupational health and safety risks specific to the child care profession, and on how to identify and avoid those risks.
11. Requires a caregiver to complete this training within two years of when the training is first offered pursuant to this act, or within three months of the caregiver beginning to care for children in a licensed child day care facility, whichever occurs later.
12. Requires the training to include all of the following:
13. A discussing of all of the following risks and how the risks can be identified and minimized in a child care setting: chemical and biological hazards; infectious disease; and physical hazards and stress.
14. Small-group and large-group discussion.
15. An opportunity for a caregiver to learn from current child care professionals.
16. Presentations by associations or organizations of child care caregivers about their professional development offerings for caregivers, upon approval by the State Department of Education (SDE).
17. An opportunity for a caregiver to give feedback on the training he or she has received.
18. Requires the SDE, in consultation with the State Department of Public Health and child care caregivers, to develop the curriculum for the training.
19. Requires the SDE to compensate a caregiver for his or her time for attending the training.
20. Requires the SDE to contract with an entity to provide the occupational health and safety training. Based on a competitive process, the SDE shall select an entity that meets all of the following requirements:
21. Has experience providing occupational health and safety training, as specified, to caregivers.
22. Trains caregivers to give the required training to other caregivers.
23. Will provide periodic updates on health and safety matters to caregivers who have completed the training.
24. Requires the SDE, on a monthly basis, to provide lists of the caregivers who have attended the training and of those who are required to attend the training, but have not yet attended, and their contact information, to the entity selected to provide the training, to enable the entity to provide periodic updates to affected caregivers on health and safety issues and other educational information.
25. Requires the SDE and the entity it selects to provide the training to comply with the Dymally-Alatorre Bilingual Services Act, as specified, which includes, among alternative communication options, providing the same type of training materials in any non-English language spoken by a substantial number of members of the public whom the SDE serves.
26. Provides that the provisions of this bill take effect July 1, 2017.

STAFF COMMENTS

1. Need for the bill. According to the author’s office, “there are limited training options for caregivers, and little instruction is offered in terms of workers’ health and safety on the job. This matter is of particular importance for home-based caregivers who are considered independent contractors. These workers are at high risk of lacking health care and are typically ineligible for worker’s compensation if injured while working. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, child care workers accrued over 1,100 musculoskeletal lost-time injuries, with a median of 30 lost days of work, in 2010. Child care caregivers have musculoskeletal injury rates comparable to industrial truck and tractor operators, construction equipment operators, and shipping and receiving clerks.”

This bill seeks to provide training that will improve the health and safety for caregivers and the children in their care.

1. Child Care and Development Block Grant. The federal Child Care and Development Block Grant of 2014 (P.L. 113-186) reauthorized the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990. This reauthorization included a number of changes intended to address health and safety requirements, quality of care, and consumer and provider education, including a section on training and professional development requirements designed to enable child care providers to promote the social, emotional, physical, and cognitive development of children and to improve the knowledge and skills of the child care workforce. While there are existing training programs available in the state, this bill requires specific training on occupational health and safety practices and standards.

The State Plan for the Child Care Development Block Grant includes a section on training and professional development. However, it does not specifically make reference to occupational health and safety training for the child care workforce and appears to focus on the health and safety of children.

1. Provider lists. This bill requires the State Department of Education (SDE), to provide a list of the caregivers who have attended the training on a monthly basis along with their contact information, in order to provide this information to the training provider and track compliance. While the existing Alternative Payment Providers currently maintain lists of family child care providers by county, there is no statewide list of family child care providers. Therefore, SDE would need to develop a centralized list of all family child care providers statewide which would likely require additional costs to update their child development management information systems as well as additional state operations to collect and track this information.
2. Funding? This bill requires the SDE to compensate a caregiver for his or her time for attending the training but makes no clear provision as to the source of funds for this purpose. Is there an expectation that the Legislature and Governor would appropriate funding for this purpose in the budget?
3. Previous legislation. This bill is similar to provisions of SB 548 (De Leon, 2015), which among other things, required the SDE to ensure that all family child care providers attend in-person orientation training, as specified, and for SDE and the California Department of Social Services to make information regarding family child care providers available to provider organizations, as specified. This bill was heard and passed this Committee on April 22, 2015, by a vote of 7-2 and was subsequently vetoed by the Governor, whose message read:

“I am returning SB 548 without my signature, because the bill prematurely anticipates what will be necessary to comply with the new federal Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 2014.

California will need to be in compliance with an abundance of new requirements, not all of which are clear at this juncture. The Department of Education is currently working with stakeholders to update our state's plan, to be submitted by March 1, 2016, after further federal guidance is issued. Public input will be sought prior to the finalization of the plan.

As part of that work, I will direct the State Advisory Council on Early Learning and Care to work with the department and review how the state can best position itself to meet those requirements efficiently and effectively, including the delivery of any training.”

SUPPORT

Service Employees International Union

OPPOSITION

None received.

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