Existing federal law, the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990, which is administered by the State Department of Education in California, requires that a state plan include requirements that specified child care providers receive minimum health and safety training relating to, among other things, the prevention and control of infectious diseases and the handling and storage of hazardous materials in order to receive funding for child care.

Existing law, the California Child Day Care Facilities Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of child day care facilities by the State Department of Social Services. Existing law, the Child Care and Development Services Act, administered by the State Department of Education, requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to administer child care and development programs that offer a full range of services for eligible children from infancy to 13 years of age, including, among others, resource and referral programs, alternative payment programs, and family child care home education networks. Willful or repeated violation of the act, or regulations promulgated under the act, is a misdemeanor.

Existing federal law, the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990, which is administered by the State Department of Education in California, requires that a state plan include requirements that specified child care providers receive minimum health and safety training relating to, among other things, the prevention and control of infectious diseases and the handling and storage of hazardous materials in order to receive funding for child care.

Existing law, the California Child Day Care Facilities Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of child day care facilities by the State Department of Social Services. Existing law, the Child Care and Development Services Act, administered by the State Department of Education, requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to administer child care and development programs that offer a full range of services for eligible children from infancy to 13 years of age, including, among others, resource and referral programs, alternative payment programs, and family child care home education networks.

This bill would, effective July 1, 2018, require an early educator, as defined, to attend a one-time, two-hour, peer-led training on occupational health and safety risks specific to the child care profession, and on how to identify and avoid those risks. The bill would require the Department of Industrial Relations to select an entity to provide this training. The bill would require that entity to develop the curriculum for the training and to provide periodic updates on health and safety issues for early educators who have completed the training, as specified. The bill would require the State Department of Social Services to administer the contract with the entity selected to provide the training and to provide the entity with contact information for early educators family day care home providers who have and have not attended the training.

Existing federal law, the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990, which is administered by the State Department of Education in California, requires that a state plan include requirements that specified child care providers receive minimum health and safety training relating to, among other things, the prevention and control of infectious diseases and the handling and storage of hazardous materials in order to receive funding for child care.

Existing law, the California Child Day Care Facilities Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of child day care facilities by the State Department of Social Services. Existing law, the Child Care and Development Services Act, administered by the State Department of Education, requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to administer child care and development programs that offer a full range of services for eligible children from infancy to 13 years of age, including, among others, resource and referral programs, alternative payment programs, and family child care home education networks.

This bill would, effective July 1, 2018, require an early educator, as defined, to attend a one-time, two-hour, peer-led training on occupational health and safety risks specific to the child care profession, and on how to identify and avoid those risks. The bill would require the Department of Industrial Relations to select an entity to provide this training. The bill would require that entity to develop the curriculum for the training and to provide periodic updates on health and safety issues for early educators who have completed the training, as specified. The bill would require the State Department of Social Services to administer the contract with the entity selected to provide the training and to provide the entity with contact information for early educators who have and have not attended the training.

Existing federal law, the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990, which is administered by the State Department of Education in California, requires that a state plan include requirements that specified child care providers receive minimum health and safety training relating to, among other things, the prevention and control of infectious diseases and the handling and storage of hazardous materials in order to receive funding for child care.

Existing law, the California Child Day Care Facilities Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of child day care facilities by the State Department of Social Services. Existing law, the Child Care and Development Services Act, administered by the State Department of Education, requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to administer child care and development programs that offer a full range of services for eligible children from infancy to 13 years of age, including, among others, resource and referral programs, alternative payment programs, and family child care home education networks.

This bill would, effective July 1, 2018, require an early educator, as defined, to attend a one-time, two-hour, peer-led training on occupational health and safety risks specific to the child care profession, and on how to identify and avoid those risks. The bill would require the Department of Industrial Relations to select an entity to provide this training. The bill would require that entity to develop the curriculum for the training and to provide periodic updates on health and safety issues for early educators who have completed the training, as specified. The bill would require the State Department of Social Services to administer the contract with the entity selected to provide the training and to provide the entity with contact information for early educators who have and have not attended the training.

SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair

2017 - 2018 Regular Session

AB 676 (Limón) - Child care and development: occupational health and safety training

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

Bill Summary:

AB 676 would require the Commission on Health and Safety and Workers’ Compensation (CHSWC) to create a health and safety training program for early education providers.

Fiscal Impact:

The Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) estimates that the bill would result in General Fund costs of between $10 million and $15 million over a six-year period (See Staff Comments).

Additionally, the Department of Social Services (DSS) indicates that the bill would result in initial costs of $646,000, and ongoing costs of $126,000, to create and manage the database of individuals undergoing training (General Fund).

Background:

Child care can be conducted in a wide array of locales, including unlicensed in-home care, licensed in-home care, licensed child care centers, state pre-school, and others. The California Child Day Care Facilities Act governs the licensure of child day care centers and family day care homes. This law and accompanying regulations establish general health and safety requirements, staff-to-child ratios, and provider training requirements. However, not all child care providers are required to be licensed, such as an instance where relatives care for a child. These are referred to as “license-exempt” providers.

In contrast, “early educators” are defined as persons who work at a licensed child day care facility and who is the licensee, an administrator, or an employee of that facility, and whose duties include providing child care services directly to children.

The Community Care Licensing Division (CCLD) within DSS is the regulatory and enforcement program with the responsibility of protecting the health and safety of children and adults residing in, or spending a portion of their time in, out-of-home care. CCLD is responsible for the licensing of all community care facilities – including licensed child day care facilities - and for investigating all complaints against those facilities. There are about 44,000 licensed child care facilities in the State, with the capacity to serve more than 1 million children. These include large and small family day care homes, infant centers, school-age day care, and day care centers.

Current law requires at least one director or teacher at each day care center, and each family day care home licensee who provides care, to receive at least 15 hours of health and safety training, the subject of which is generally the well-being of the children in their care. Topics include pediatric first aid, pediatric cardiopulmonary resuscitation, the recognition, management, and prevention of infectious diseases, including immunizations, and prevention of childhood injuries.

In addition, for licenses issued on or after January 1, 2016, at least one director or teacher at each day care center, and each family day care home licensee who provides care, shall have at least one hour of childhood nutrition training as part of the preventive health practices course.

Current law also requires applicants for licensure for a day care center and family day care homes to attend an orientation given by DSS, which includes the rules and regulations applicable to child day care facilities, the scope of operation of a child day care facility, responsibilities entailed in operating a child day care facility and information about the Healthy Schools Act of 2000 and integrated pest management practices.

Beginning January 1, 2018, all providers, administrators, and employees of licensed child day care facilities are required to attend training on detecting and reporting child abuse.

Proposed Law:

This bill would, among other things, do the following:

• Create the Early Educators’ Safety and Health Education Fund. Moneys in the Fund may be expended, upon appropriation by the Legislature, by CHSWC for the purpose of establishing and maintaining an Early Educators’ Occupational Safety and Health Training Program, as specified.
• Require that CHSWC establish and maintain an Early Educators’ Occupational Safety and Health Training Program, for the purpose of developing training for early educators about occupational safety and health, and to deliver that training program to early educators throughout the State. The program shall develop and provide, at a minimum, all of the following training programs for early educators:
  • A one-time, two-hour, in-person, peer-led training session on occupational safety and health risks specific to the early education profession. The training must cover chemical and biological hazards, infectious diseases, and stress.
  • An alternative to the in-person, peer-led training to be offered to early educators who are unable to attend an in-person training because of distance or another compelling reason.
  • Periodic updates on health and safety issues and other educational information to be shared with early educators who have completed the training.

CHSWC may conduct the program directly or by means of contracts, subcontracts, interagency agreements, or a combination thereof.

• Require that in-person training small-group and large-group presentations, as well as presentations by associations or organizations that foster professional development and stakeholder engagement opportunities for early educators, upon approval by the program, based on a determination that presentations by those organizations would be relevant and useful to the early educators and further the interests of the state in a well-trained and engaged workforce.
• Require all early educators, as defined, to attend the hearing described-above within no more than six years of when the training is first offered, or within three months of the person becoming an early educator, whichever occurs later. Exceptions would be limited to specified reasons.
• Require that the training be coordinated, to the extent possible, with other preservice training requirements for early educators and with resource and referral networks, so as to reduce the burden on early educators. Once an early educator has completed the training, he or she shall not be required to complete it again if he or she moves to another early education job.
• Require DSS to annually publish and make available to interested persons a list or lists covering all licensed child day care facilities, other than small family day care homes, and the services for which each facility has been licensed or issued a special permit, as specified.
• Make completion of the training by all early educators at a child day care facility a condition of licensure for that facility.

Related Legislation:

• SB 548 (De Leon, 2015) would have established training requirements for both licensed and license-exempt family child care providers and require both DSS and the Department of Education (CDE) to collect and deliver providers' personal information to provider organizations, upon their request. The bill was vetoed by the Governor.
• SB 1420 (Mendoza, 2016) is similar to this bill, but placed the program with the CDE rather than DSS. This bill was held under submission on the Suspense File of this Committee.

Staff Comments: As noted above, DIR estimates that its cost to administer the bill would be in the range of $10 million to $15 million. The department’s fiscal estimate of the bill is based on (1) its experience with similar training programs it has administered previously, and (2) a DSS estimate that about 180,000 early educators would need to be trained. Thus, DIR assumes that roughly 30,000 early educators would need to be trained annually to ensure that the entire population would receive training within six years, as specified. DIR’s costs would be higher in the early years, and diminish after initial curriculum development.

Actual training costs would depend on (1) the number of caregivers that would need to be trained, and (2) the number of new caregivers entering the childcare workforce each year. These costs include curriculum development (including such things as occupational safety related to toxic chemicals, illness, stress, and physical hazards such as lifting and bending), translation of training materials, providing training materials, delivering the training, and administrative costs for any potential contracted training entity. Ongoing costs could to train new caregivers entering the workforce are unknown, but potentially significant..

Any local government costs resulting from the mandate in this measure are not state-reimbursable because the mandate only involves the definition of a crime or the penalty for conviction of a crime.

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SENATE COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

Senator Steven Bradford, Chair

2017 - 2018 Regular

Bill No: AB 676 Hearing Date: July 12, 2017

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

KEY ISSUE

Should the Legislature require the Commission on Health and Safety and Workers’ Compensation create a health and safety training program for early education providers?

ANALYSIS

Existing law:

1. Requires that all day care centers and family child care homes, with certain exceptions, be licensed and registered with the state. The licensing fee is dependent on the number of children that the centers or homes take care of. Family child care homes, where the child care is provided by someone who resides in the home where the care is provided, may only take care of up to 14 children, while day care centers may be licensed for more.
   (Health and Safety Code §§ 1596.78, 1596.80, and 1596.803)
2. Exempts family child care providers from the licensing requirement if they meet certain circumstances. These include:
3. The family day care home is providing care for only one family in addition to the provider’s own children;
4. Parents have come together for a cooperative arrangement to combine their efforts for the care of all of their children and no payment is involved;
5. The provider is taking care of a relative’s child;
6. The family child care program operates only one day per week for no more than four hours.

(Health and Safety Code §§ 1596.792 & 1597.53)

1. Establishes the Commission on Health and Safety and Workers’ Compensation (CHSWC), which is composed of eight voting members: four voting members representing organized labor and four voting members representing employers. No action of the commission shall be valid unless agreed to by a majority of the membership and by not less than two members representing organized labor and two members representing employers. (Labor Code §75)
2. Requires that CHSWC conduct a continuing examination of the workers’ compensation system, and of the state’s activities to prevent industrial injuries and occupational diseases. The commission may conduct or contract for studies it deems necessary to carry out its responsibilities. (Labor Code §77)
3. Establishes the Workers’ Occupational Safety and Health Education Fund, which is funded through fees from insurers, as set by the Director of the Department of Industrial Relations. Funds may be expended, upon appropriation by the Legislature, by the Commission on Health and Safety and Workers’ Compensation for the purpose of establishing and maintaining a worker occupational safety and health training and education program and an insurance loss control services coordinator.
   (Labor Code §6354.7)
4. Requires that CHSWC establish and maintain a worker safety and health training and education program. The purpose of the worker occupational safety and health training and education program shall be to promote awareness of the need for prevention education programs, to develop and provide injury and illness prevention education programs for employees and their representatives, and to deliver those awareness and training programs through a network of providers throughout the state. CHSWC may conduct the program directly or by means of contracts or interagency agreements.
   (Labor Code §6354.7(b))

This bill:

1. Creates the Early Educators’ Safety and Health Education Fund within the workers’ occupational safety and health training and education program run by CHSWC. Moneys in the Fund may be expended, upon appropriation by the Legislature, by CHSWC for the purpose of establishing and maintaining an Early Educators’ Occupational Safety and Health Training Program.
2. Requires that CHSWC establishes and maintains an Early Educators’ Occupational Safety and Health Training Program. The purpose of the program shall be to develop training for early educators about occupational safety and health, and to deliver that training program to early educators throughout the state. The program shall develop and provide, at a minimum, all of the following training programs for early educators:
3. A one-time, two-hour, in-person, peer-led training session on occupational safety and health risks specific to the early education profession. The training must cover chemical and biological hazards, infectious diseases, and stress.
4. An alternative to the in-person, peer-led training to be offered to early educators who are unable to attend an in-person training because of distance or another compelling reason.
5. Periodic updates on health and safety issues and other educational information to be shared with early educators who have completed the training.

CHSWC may conduct the program directly or by means of contracts, subcontracts, interagency agreements, or a combination thereof.

1. Requires that in-person training small-group and large-group presentations, as well as presentations by associations or organizations that foster professional development and stakeholder engagement opportunities for early educators, upon approval by the program, based on a determination that presentations by those organizations would be relevant and useful to the early educators and further the interests of the state in a well-trained and engaged workforce.
2. Defines an “early educator” as someone who works at a licensed child day care facility, who is the licensee, an administrator, or an employee of that facility, and whose duties include providing child care services directly to children. The definition excludes volunteers or employees whose duties do not involve direct care for children.
3. Requires all early educators to attend the hearing described-above within no more than six years of when the training is first offered, or within three months of the person becoming an early educator, whichever occurs later.
4. Limits exceptions to the training to case-by-case bases who have been unable to attend a training because of geographic distance or other compelling reason.
5. Requires that the training be coordinated, to the extent possible, with other preservice training requirements for early educators and with resource and referral networks, so as to reduce the burden on early educators. Once an early educator has completed the training, he or she shall not be required to complete it again if he or she moves to another early education job.
6. Makes completion of the training by all early educators at a child day care facility a condition of licensure for that facility.
7. Requires the Licensing and Certification Division of the Department of Public Health share lists of licensed family day care home providers who are required to attend the training with CHSWC so CHSWC may contact them.
8. Makes all of the provisions described above applicable on or after July 1, 2018.

COMMENTS

1. Need for this bill?

The author states the following:

“Despite the high risk of injury, along with exposure to strong cleaning supplies, infectious illness and high job stress, there is no basic health and safety training directed at protecting child care workers. Health and Safety training only exists for purposes of keeping children in care safe, but not for purposes of protecting this workforce. Take the following into account:

• Back injuries are by far the most common injury suffered by child care providers, occurring at nearly double the rate of the general working population.
• Child care providers come into contact with hazardous chemicals and infectious diseases at a higher rate than the general public.
• In an early study, 95% of providers reported job-related stress. Prolonged stress can and does lead to other physical and mental health complications for providers which can negatively impact the quality of care.

Child care workers are already suffering from some of the lowest wages in the state and few have benefits. Home-based child care providers also lack workers compensation insurance to cover them when they are injured on the job and must keep working through the pain or close their doors. This creates serious issues for working parents who rely on their care to go to work. What makes this even worse is that many child care providers are on the ACA [Affordable Care Act], which they can lose at any minute. This training is preventative in many ways to prepare for a world with no healthcare.” (Emphasis added)

Staff does note, however, that this purported increase in injuries does not appear in recent data. Specifically, the 2015 Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Non-fatal Occupational Injuries and Illnesses report shows that child day care services has a similar injury incidence (1.9 per 100 full-time workers) to offices of dentists. Elementary and secondary schools, on the other hand, have an injury incidence several times that of child day care services (4.8 per 100 full-time workers).

2. Questions for Further Discussion:

Prior to the June 29^th amendments, the health and safety training program described in AB 676 was to be created by the Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH), with the training itself done by a non-profit contracted by the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR). With the June 29^th amendments, now CHSWC is charged with developing the curriculum, leading the training and/or contracting out the training, and assisting in the enforcement of the licensure provisions. These new provisions raise several questions, which will be discussed below.

1. Does CHSWC have the resources and staff to create and maintain this training program? Does the Workers’ Occupational Safety and Health Education Fund have sufficient revenue flows to support the Early Educators’ Occupational Safety and Health Training Program?
2. How will the health and safety training program impact the ongoing research of CHSWC? Will it inhibit the ability of the Legislature to improve the workers’ compensation system?
3. Is the July 1, 2018 implementation date feasible?
4. Last year, CHSWC, through the Workers’ Occupational Safety and Health Education Fund, trained about 14,900 workers. Under AB 676, CHSWC or its contractor would need to train 15,000 early educators in the first year. Is this something that CHSWC can do in addition to its current training? Is this something a contractor could do?
5. If CHSWC did hire a contractor or contractors, what would its responsibility be in ensuring that the contracted training met the requirements of law?
6. If CHSWC canceled a contract, what would its responsibility be towards licensees if an insufficient number of training sessions was available?
7. How will CHSWC assist the Department of Public Health (DPH) in enforcing the provisions of the bill?
8. Under what grounds will an exemption from the training due to a “compelling reason” be granted? “Geographic location”? Will there be an appeal process?
9. Is the exception to the training granted by CHSWC or DPH? Or is it just documented by the childcare provider?
10. The current enforcement provisions of AB 676 are based on training program with an on-line component. Would it make sense to include an online component with the health and safety training?
11. Could this training be a part of an early educator’s academic training, so as to be able to secure employment once he or she finishes school?
12. How will updates be shared with early educators who have completed the health and safety training?
13. How will health and safety stakeholders who wish to speak at the training be selected? Will there be an appeal process?
14. Is a 2 hour training sufficient to explore the occupational safety hazards present at a childcare facility? Should the training include a discussion of the childcare facility’s Injury, Illness, and Prevention Plan (IIPP)?
15. Should an on-site training conducted by an occupation hygienist be sufficient, rather than an off-site peer-led training session?

3. Proponent Arguments:

UDW/AFSCME Local 3930, a co-sponsor of AB 676, argues the following:

“Early educators, who are licensed or care for children under a publicly-funded child care program, are at risk for occupational health and safety hazards on the job. There are limited training options and little instruction offered on how to handle toxic chemicals, illness, stress, and physical straining from lifting and bending. Additionally, home-based child care providers do not receive workers’ compensation if they are injured due to their “independent contractor” status. When an early educator gets hurt on the job, they must keep working through the pain or close their doors.

AB 676 would require the Commission on Health and Safety and Workers’ Compensation to establish and maintain an Early Educators’ Occupational Safety and Health Training Program that includes a discussion of the risks of chemical and biological hazards, infectious diseases, and physical hazards and stress, and how to identify and minimize those risks. The bill would require an early educator to attend that training within 6 years of it first being offered, or within 3 months of the person becoming an early educator, whichever occurs later. This one-time, two-hour, in-person, peer-led training will help early educators learn how to identify and avoid health and safety risks to protect the provider’s own health and safety as well as the health and safety of the children in her care.”

3. Opponent Arguments:

The California State Alliance of YMCAs argues the following:

“Our opposition to the newly amended version is similar to our concerns related to the previous version, with a few distinctions. Our opposition is based as follows:

• The proposed training would duplicate existing training and support we already provide to our staff. Additionally, safety and hazard trainings are widely available through workers compensation insurance programs, which all YMCAs retain. Moreover, the proposed trainings duplicate the content of existing external trainings and training resources currently under development by contract with the Department of Education.
• Related to the duplicate nature of the training, we also consider it unnecessary for YMCAs based on the reasoning in the bill. Our workers compensation rates are low, and our associations place high attention to risk management measures. We rigorously maintain compliance in all aspects of state licensing, and we benefit from the support of several departments of YMCA of the USA to ensure our compliance with federal guidelines.
• The proposed training, as it would be duplicative and unnecessary, would also be costly for us, and this will take resources away from our ability to serve communities, at no added value. With over child care 900 sites, with an estimated average of five staff requiring the training, costs could—conservatively—easily exceed $400,000 initially, with continuing costs as new staff are added….
• Because the proposed training would be duplicative, unnecessary and costly, we strongly oppose completion of the training being a condition for facility licensure.”

4. Prior Legislation:

SB 548 (DeLeon) would have established training requirements for both licensed and license-exempt family child care providers and requires both the Department of Social Services and the Department of Education to collect and deliver providers' personal information to provider organizations, upon their request. SB 548 was vetoed by Governor Brown.

SUPPORT

United Domestic Workers of America- AFSME Local 3930, AFL-CIO (Co-Sponsors)

Service Employees International Union (Co-Sponsors)

California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO

California State PTA

Courage Campaign

Santa Barbara Women’s Political Committee

United Domestic Workers of America-AFSME Local 3930, AFL-CIO

OPPOSITION

A Creative Beginning

Anaheim Family YMCA

Baby World Child Care Center

Burbank Community YMCA

California State Alliance of YMCA’s

Camp Pendleton Armed Services YMCA

Channel Islands YMCA

Corona-Norco Family YMCA

Corona-­‐Norco YMCA

Family YMCA of the Desert

Folsom Montessori

Growing Footprints

Hope 4 Kids Early Learning Center

KidzRock

La Canada Flintridge Community Center Preschool

Montessori Public Policy

Pacifica Montessori School, Inc.

Santa Monica Family YMCA

Shasta Family YMCA

Sonoma County Family YMCA

Southeast Ventura County YMCA

Turtle Rock Preschool

Valley View Children’s Center

YMCA of Greater Long Beach

YMCA of Greater Whittier

YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles

YMCA of Orange County

YMCA of San Francisco

YMCA of San Joaquin County

YMCA of Silicon Valley

YMCA of Superior California

YMCA of the Desert

Young World of Learning

Zion Christian School

Zion Lutheran Early Childhood Education Center

-- END --

SENATE COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES

Senator Wiener, Chair

2017 - 2018 Regular

Bill No: AB 676

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

SUMMARY

This bill requires the Commission on Health and Safety and Workers’ Compensation to establish and maintain an Early Educators’ Occupational Safety and Health Training Program relating to occupational health and safety risks that are specific to early education professionals that includes specified components. The bill requires an early educator to attend the training within six years of it first being offered, or within three months of the person becoming an early educator, whichever occurs later. This bill also establishes the Early Educators’ Safety and Health Education Fund to establish and maintain the training.

ABSTRACT

Existing law:

1. 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, and including a full range of supervision, health, and support services through full- and part-time programs. (EDC 8200 et seq.)
2. Establishes the California Child Day Care Facilities Act, which creates licensing categories for child day care centers and family day care homes within CDSS's existing licensing structure. (HSC 1596.70 et seq.)
3. Defines "day care center" to include infant centers, preschools, extended day care facilities, and school-age child care centers. (HSC 1596.76)
4. Defines “family day care home” to mean a home that regularly provides care, protection, and supervision for 14 or fewer children, in the provider’s own home, for periods of less than 24 hours per day, while the parents or guardians are away, and is either a large family day care home or a small family day care home. (HSC 1596.78 (a))
5. Defines “large family day care home” to mean a home that provides family day care for seven to 14 children, inclusive, including children under the age of 10 years who reside at the home, as specified. (HSC 1596.78 (b))
6. Defines “small family day care home” to mean a home that provides family day care for eight or fewer children, including children under the age of 10 years who reside at the home, as specified. (HSC 1596.78(c))
7. Requires any person or entity operating a child day care facility in California to have a current valid license, as specified. (HSC 1596.80)
8. Requires the director of CDSS to annually publish and make available to interested persons a list or lists covering all licensed child day care facilities, other than small family day care homes, and the services for which each facility has been licensed or issued a special permit, as specified. (HSC 1596.86 (a))
9. Requires CDSS, in order to encourage the recruitment of small family day care homes and to protect their personal privacy, to prevent the use of lists containing names, and other identifying information of small family day care homes, except as necessary for administering the licensing program, facilitating the placement of children in small family day care homes, and providing the names and addresses to certain designated state funded programs and other specified entities, including, but not limited to resource and referral agencies, food and nutrition programs, and family day care organizations, as specified. Permits parents seeking local day care services to receive the names and telephone numbers of local small family day care providers. (HSC 1596.86 (b))
10. Requires CDSS, in consultation with the California Department of Education, to adopt regulations relating to the confidentiality of information provided pursuant to CDSS about small family day care homes, as specified. (HSC 1596.86 (c))
11. Exempts child care providers from licensure requirements, as specified. (HSC 1596.792)
12. Defines “child day care facility” to mean a facility that provides nonmedical care to children under 18 years of age in need of personal services, supervision, or assistance essential for sustaining the activities of daily living or for the protection of the individual on less than a 24-hour basis. Child day care facility includes day care centers, employer-sponsored child care centers, and family day care homes. (HSC 1596.750)
13. Requires at least one director or teacher at each day care center and each family day care home licensee who provides care to have at least 15 hours of health and safety training, and if applicable, at least one additional hour of training, as specified (HSC 1596.866, et seq.)
14. Requires CDSS to develop and disseminate information to providers, administrators, and employees of licensed child day care facilities regarding detecting and reporting child abuse, and to provide training including statewide guidance on the responsibilities of those persons as mandated reporters, as provided. Beginning January 1, 2018, requires those persons, as a condition of licensure, to complete that training, as specified. (HSC 1596.8662)
15. Requires applicants for licensure for a day care center and family day care homes to attend an orientation given by CDSS, which shall outline all of the following:
16. The rules and regulations applicable to child day care facilities.
17. The scope of operation of a child day care facility.
18. The responsibility entailed in operating a child day care facility.
19. Information about the Healthy Schools Act of 2000 and integrated pest management practices. (HSC 1596.845)
20. Establishes the Dymally-Alatorre Bilingual Services Act, which places a number of requirements on state agencies directly involved in the furnishing of information or the rendering of services to the public regarding the provision of information and services in languages other than English. (GOV 7290 et seq.)

This bill:

1. States Legislative findings and declarations regarding occupational safety and health of early educators.
2. Makes the following changes to the Labor Code:
   1. Creates the Early Educators’ Safety and Health Education Fund, as specified.
   2. Creates the Early Educators’ Occupational Safety and Health Training Program, which entails a one-time, two-hour, in-person, peer-led training session on occupational safety and health risks specific to the early education profession, and requires that early educators attend the training, as specified.
   3. Defines “Early educator” to mean a person who works at a licensed child day care facility who is the licensee, an administrator, or an employee of that facility, and whose duties include providing child care services directly to children. Provides that early educator does not include volunteers or employees whose duties do not involve direct care for children.
   4. Defines “Peer-led training” to mean a training session for early educators that is led by one or more other early educators who have had training on promoting safety and health in their workplaces and on how to lead training sessions effectively.
3. Permits CDSS to provide a list containing names, addresses, and other identifying information of small family day care homes to the Commission on Health and Safety and Workers’ Compensation for purposes of conducting the Early Educators’ Occupational Safety and Health Training Program, as created in this bill
4. Requires every early educator to complete in-person training, as specified.
5. Requires all early educators to complete the in-person training within no more than six years of when the training is first offered, or within three months of the person becoming an early educator, whichever occurs later.
6. Requires that no more than 15,000 early educators shall be trained in the first year after the program is first offered.
7. Requires that alternative training to the in-person training shall be offered on a case-by-case basis for early educators who have been unable to attend a training because of geographic distance or other compelling reason within six years of when the training is first offered, or within three months of the person becoming an early educator, whichever occurs later.
8. Requires the training to be coordinated, to the extent possible, with other pre-service training requirements for early educators and with resource and referral networks, so as to reduce the burden on early educators. Once an early educator has completed the training, he or she shall not be required to complete it again if he or she moves to another early education job.
9. Requires that completion of the training by all early educators at a child day care facility shall be a condition of licensure for that facility.
10. Requires that administration and enforcement of the training requirement shall be in accordance with the administration and enforcement procedures for mandated reporter training, as specified.
11. Requires the Commission to use the contact information only for the purposes of carrying out the Early Educators’ Occupational Safety and Health Training Program, including publicizing the training and providing the periodic updated to early educators, as specified.
12. Prohibits the Commission from sharing the lists with, or selling the lists to, third parties except any entity with which it contracts or subcontracts to carry out the Early Educators’ Occupational Safety and Health Training Program.
13. Requires CDSS to remove the family day care home provider’s mailing address and home telephone number from the lists before the release of the lists, upon written request of a family day care home provider.
14. Provides that a family day care home provider who opts out of the disclosure of his or her mailing address and home telephone number shall still be required to attend the training required by this section.

FISCAL IMPACT

According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, the May 30, 2017 version of this bill may result in the following costs:

1. Estimated one-time training costs of approximately $1.5 million (General Fund) assuming 15,000 trainees. Actual training costs will depend on the number of early educators that will need to be trained and the number of new early educators entering the childcare workforce. Ongoing costs to train new caregivers entering the workforce are unknown;
2. The Department of Public Health notes minimal costs to provide consultation on the training curriculum;
3. Ongoing administrative costs to CDSS of approximately $140,000 to manage the program.
4. One-time costs to CDSS of approximately $200,000 (General Fund) to create the caregiver database; and
5. One-time costs to the California Department of Education (CDE) of approximately $20,000 to work with DSS on regulations and developing management bulletins to notify the field.

BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION

Purpose of the bill:

According to the author, “There are limited training options for early educators, and little instruction is offered in terms of these workers' health and safety on the job. In addition, early educators already suffer from some of the lowest wages in the state and few have job-related benefits. This coupled with the fact that many of these workers rely on the Affordable Care Act which may not survive causes grave concerns on the impact to this workforce if any of these workers where to get injured or fall ill on the job. The situation gets worse for home-based child care providers who are considered independent contractors and as a result lack employer-provided workers compensation insurance. When this set of early educators get hurt on the job, they must keep working through the pain or close their doors. This is both a financial hardship and creates serious challenges for working parents who rely on their care to go to work. With just two hours of preventative training, we can prevent serious injuries, and keep child care workers healthy and on the job. Two hours of prevention is literally worth years of care.”

Child Care

Child care can be provided in a wide array of settings, including unlicensed in-home care, licensed in-home care, licensed child care centers, state pre-school, and others. The California Child Day Care Facilities Act governs the licensure of child day care centers and family day care homes. This law and the accompanying regulations establish general health and safety requirements, staff-to-child ratios, and provider training requirements. However, not all child care providers are required to be licensed. For example, relatives of the child being cared for do not need to be licensed. If a child care provider is only providing services to one family, that provider does not need to be licensed. These are referred to as “license-exempt” providers.

This bill is focused on providing training for “early educators,” which are defined as persons who work at a licensed child day care facility and who is the licensee, an administrator, or an employee of that facility, and whose duties include providing child care services directly to children.

CDSS’ Community Care Licensing Division (CCLD) is the regulatory and enforcement program with the responsibility of protecting the health and safety of children and adults residing in, or spending a portion of their time in, out-of-home care. CCLD is responsible for the licensing of all community care facilities – including licensed child day care facilities - and for investigating all complaints against those facilities. There are about 44,000 licensed child care facilities in the state, with the capacity to serve more than 1 million children. These include large and small family day care homes, infant centers, school-age day care, and day care centers.

This bill would make participation in the training a condition of licensure, which would be enforced by CCLD.

Current training requirements

Current law requires at least one director or teacher at each day care center, and each family day care home licensee who provides care to receive at least 15 hours of health and safety training which is generally focused on the well-being of the children in their care. Topics include pediatric first aid, pediatric cardiopulmonary resuscitation, the recognition, management, and prevention of infectious diseases, including immunizations, and prevention of childhood injuries.

Additionally, for licenses issued on or after January 1, 2016, at least one director or teacher at each day care center, and each family day care home licensee who provides care, shall have at least one hour of childhood nutrition training as part of the preventive health practices course.

Current law also requires applicants for licensure for a day care center and family day care homes to attend an orientation given by CDSS, which includes the rules and regulations applicable to child day care facilities, the scope of operation of a child day care facility, responsibilities entailed in operating a child day care facility and information about the Healthy Schools Act of 2000 and integrated pest management practices.

Beginning January 1, 2018, all providers, administrators, and employees of licensed child day care facilities are required to attend training on detecting and reporting child abuse.

SUPPORT/OPPOSITION

Arguments in support:

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), AFL-IO, writes the following in support of this bill:

“AB 676 would require caregivers to attend a one-time, two-hour training on occupational health and safety risks. This training will help early educators learn how to protect their own health and safety as well as the health and safety of the children in their care. Ensuring early educators are fully made aware of these policies and practices is critical to their ability to be successful on the job. AB 676 will contribute to building a more stable and educated public sector workforce, ensure a higher quality of care to children and more efficiently meet working families’ needs for child care.”

Arguments in opposition:

The California State Alliance of YMCAs writes the following in support of this bill:

“The proposed training would duplicate existing training and support we already provide our staff. Additionally, safety and hazard trainings are widely available through workers compensation insurance programs, which all YMCAs retain...Because the proposed training would be duplicative, unnecessary and costly, we strongly oppose completion of training as a condition for facility licensure. We also have concerns about privacy of our employees. We have concerns about the collection, retention and ongoing use of sensitive employee information.”

Related legislation:

AB 1513 (Kalra, 2017) requires CDSS to provide a copy of a registered home care aide’s name, mailing address, telephone number, cellular telephone number, and email address to be made available to a labor organization, as specified. The bill prohibits a labor organization from using this information for any purpose other than employee organizing, representation, and assistance activities. The bill also requires CDSS to establish an opt-out procedure by which a registered home care aide may request that his or her contact information not be disclosed, as specified.

SB 548 (DeLeón, 2015) would have enacted the Raising Child Care Quality Act to require CDE to offer orientation training including health and safety training, either directly or through contracts, to specified providers in state-funded child care programs, and it would have required CDE to compile and DSS to provide provider contact information to certain provider organizations upon request. It was vetoed by the Governor.

AB 1207 (Lopez, Chapter 414, Statutes of 2015) requires CDSS to develop and disseminate information to providers, administrators, and employees of licensed child day care facilities regarding detecting and reporting child abuse, and to provide training on their mandated reporting requirements beginning January 1, 2018, as specified.

COMMENTS

The training requirements proposed in this bill apply to everyone who works at a licensed child day care facility and who is a licensee, an administrator, or an employee of that facility, and whose duties include providing child care services directly to children. The training is not required for license-exempt providers.

This bill requires CDSS to provide to the Commission with the contact information of licensed family day care home providers, including small family day care homes, who are required to attend the training. The Commission may share that information with an entity with which the Commission contracts or subcontracts to carry out the Early Educators’ Occupational Safety and Health Training Program. Typically, small family day care homes are the “home” of the child care provider, which means that this bill will allow the release of home address for purpose of occupational training. The bill does not permit the release of personal identifying information for the staff of any child day care facilities.

PRIOR VOTES

POSITIONS

Support:

AFSCME

Oppose:

Anaheim Family YMCA

Burbank Community YMCA

California State Alliance of YMCAs

Camp Pendleton Armed Services YMCA

Corona-Norco family YMCA

Family YMCA of the Desert

Kern County Superintendent of Schools

Santa Monica Family YMCA

Shasta Family YMCA

Sonoma County Family YMCA

Southeast Ventura County YMCA

YMCA of Greater Long Beach

YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles

YMCA of Orange County

YMCA of San Joaquin County

YMCA of Silicon Valley

YMCA of Superior California

YMCA, Channel Islands

YMCA, San Francisco

-- END --

ASSEMBLY THIRD READING

ATR Bill Id:AB 676

Author:(Limón)

As Amended Ver:

Majority vote

SUMMARY: Requires specified child care providers to attend a mandatory occupational health and safety training and requires the Department of Social Services (DSS) to compile and share lists of contact information for certain training attendees and prospective attendees with the entity selected to provide the training. Specifically, this bill:

1. Makes a number of Legislative findings and declarations related to the benefits of occupational safety and health and training for early educators.
2. Defines "early educator" to mean either:
   1. A child care provider, administrator, or employee of a licensed child day care facility who provides child care services directly to children in a licensed child day care facility, as specified; or
   2. A license-exempt provider who provides child care services directly to children under a publicly funded child care program, as specified.
3. Defines "contact information" to mean specified contact information for an early educator.
4. Defines "peer-led training" to mean an in-person training session for early educators held by other early educators with specific training.
5. Defines "publicly funded child care program" to mean a program that subsidizes early learning and care for children, as specified, but not to include teachers in, or before- or after-care programs operated by, the K-12 public education system.
6. Stipulates that DSS shall require an early educator to attend a two-hour peer-led training session on occupational health and safety risks, as specified, that must be completed once by a provider and which shall not be required to be completed again if a provider moves to another early education job.
7. Authorizes DSS to establish a schedule such that all early educators are required to complete the training within six years of it first being offered, or within three months of the person becoming an early educator.
8. Limits the number of early educators who can be trained pursuant to this bill in the first year to 15,000, and requires DSS to determine, with the entity selected to provide the training, the number of early educators to be trained each year and which early educators will receive training first.
9. Requires alternatives to the in-person, peer-led training session to be offered on a case-by-case basis to early educators who are unable to attend, as specified.
10. Requires the training session to include all of the following:
    1. A discussion of specified risks and how they can be identified and minimized;
    2. Small- and large-group discussion;
    3. An opportunity for early educators to learn from current early educators;
    4. Presentations by associations or organizations that foster professional development, as specified;
    5. Stakeholder engagement opportunities for early educators, upon approval by DSS, as specified; and
    6. An opportunity for a participant to give feedback on the training.
11. Requires the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) to select, on a competitive basis, a nonprofit entity to provide the training required by this bill that has experience providing occupational health and safety training to early educators, as specified.
12. Requires the entity selected by DIR to provide the training to develop curriculum in consultation with the State Department of Public Health (DPH) and early educators and further, requires DIR's Division of Occupational Safety and Health to review and approve that curriculum.
13. Requires DSS to administer the contract with the entity selected to provide the training.
14. Stipulates, to the extent possible, that the training required by this bill be coordinated with other preservice training requirements for early educators and resource and referral networks, as specified.
15. Requires the entity selected to provide the training to take attendance at the training and to inform DSS of the names and other identifying information of the attendees, as specified.
16. Requires, on a monthly basis, that DSS, beginning one month prior to the date of the first occupational health and safety training, provide the entity selected to provide the training with:
    1. A list containing the contact information of family day care home providers who have attended the training; and
    2. A list containing the contact information of family day care home providers who are required to attend the training but have not yet attended.
17. Requires the entity selected to provide the training to use the contact information provided pursuant to this bill only for the purposes of accomplishing the training goals, as specified, and further, prohibits the entity from selling the lists to, or sharing them with, third parties.
18. Requires DSS to compile the lists of contact information required by this bill with the assistance of the California Department of Education (CDE) and any other state department or agency, or its contractor or subcontractor, possessing the specified information.
19. Adds the entity selected to provide the training required by this bill to the list of entities authorized to have access to contact information for small family day care homes, as specified.
20. Requires DSS to, upon the written request of a family day care home provider, remove that individual's home address and home telephone number from the list before it is released, but stipulates that a family day care home provider who opts out of the disclosure of this information must still attend the required training.
21. Requires the entity selected to provide the training mandated by this bill to provide early educators with periodic updates on health and safety issues and other educational information relevant to the training using the contact and attendance information collected and provided pursuant to the provisions of this bill.
22. Requires DSS and the entity selected to provide the training to comply with the Dymally-Alatorre Bilingual Services Act, as specified.
23. Makes the provisions of this bill operative as of July 1, 2018.
24. Makes technical amendments.

EXISTING LAW:

1. 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, and including a full range of supervision, health, and support services through full- and part-time programs. (Education Code (EDC) 8200 et seq.)
2. Defines "child care and development services" to mean services designed to meet a wide variety of children's and families' needs while parents and guardians are working, in training, seeking employment, incapacitated, or in need of respite. (EDC 8208)
3. Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to administer general child care and development programs to include, among other things as specified, age- and developmentally-appropriate activities, supervision, parenting education and involvement, and nutrition. Further allows such programs to be designed to meet child-related needs identified by parents or guardians, as specified. (EDC 8240 and 8241)
4. To allow for maximum parental choice, authorizes the operation of Alternative Payment Programs (APPs) and provision of alternative payments and support services to parents and child care providers by local government agencies or non-profit organizations that contract with CDE. (EDC 8220)
5. Requires the Superintendent to adopt rules, regulations, and guidelines to facilitate funding and reimbursement procedures for subsidized child care. (EDC 8269)
6. Establishes the California Child Day Care Facilities Act, creating a separate licensing category for child day care centers and family day care homes within DSS's existing licensing structure. (Health and Safety Code (HSC) 1596.70 et seq.)
7. Defines "day care center" to include infant centers, preschools, extended day care facilities, and school-age child care centers. (HSC 1596.76)
8. Defines "family day care home" to mean a home that provides regular care, protection, and supervision for up to14 children, in the provider's own home, for periods of less than 24 hours per day, as specified. (HSC 1596.78 (a))
9. Requires any person or entity operating, as specified, a child day care facility in California to have a current valid license. (HSC 1596.80)
10. Exempts specified child care providers from licensure requirements, as specified. (HSC 1596.792)
11. Establishes the Dymally-Alatorre Bilingual Services Act, which places a number of requirements on state agencies directly involved in the furnishing of information or the rendering of services to the public regarding the provision of information and services in languages other than English. (Government Code (GOV) 7290 et seq.)

FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, this bill may result in the following costs:

1. Estimated one-time training costs of approximately $1.5million (General Fund) assuming 15,000 trainees. Actual training costs will depend on the number of early educators that will need to be trained and the number of new early educators entering the childcare workforce. Ongoing costs could to train new caregivers entering the workforce are unknown;
2. DPH notes minimal costs to provide consultation on the training curriculum;
3. Ongoing administrative costs to DSS of approximately $140,000 to manage the program.
4. One-time costs to DSS of approximately $200,000 (General Fund) to create the caregiver database; and
5. One-time costs to the California Department of Education (CDE) of approximately $20,000 to work with DSS on regulations and developing management bulletins to notify the field.

COMMENTS:

Subsidized child care: California's subsidized child care system is designed to provide assistance to parents and guardians who are working, in training, seeking employment, incapacitated, or in need of respite. This child care is available through a number of programs; additionally, California offers State Preschool Programs to eligible three-and four-year-olds.

The California Child Day Care Facilities Act governs the licensure and operation of child day care centers and family day care homes. This law and the attendant regulations found in Title 22 of the California Code of Regulations establish general health and safety requirements, staff-to-child ratios, and provider training requirements.

The Community Care Licensing Division (CCLD) of DSS is responsible for licensing and monitoring the state's 10,424 day care centers, which, as of June 30, 2016, provided 590,810 child care slots, and 29,348 family day care homes which provided 302,970 slots. There are also a large number of license-exempt child care providers who are typically relatives, friends or neighbors who provide care for one family at a time in their or the recipients' home; in order to provide care through the subsidized child care system (i.e., receive vouchers), these providers are required to undergo a background check by registering with TrustLine, a registery used by CCLD to verify an individual's history using a number of systems, including the California Criminal History System and California's Child Abuse Central Index.

Need for this bill: According to the author: "There are limited training options for early educators, and little instruction is offered in terms of these workers' health and safety on the job. In addition, early educators already suffer from some of the lowest wages in the state and few have job-related benefits. This coupled with the fact that many of these workers rely on the Affordable Care Act which may not survive causes grave concerns on the impact to this workforce if any of these workers where to get injured or fall ill on the job. The situation gets worse for home-based child care providers who are considered independent contractors and as a result lack employer-provided workers compensation insurance. When these set of early educators get hurt on the job, they must keep working through the pain or close their doors. This is both a financial hardship and creates serious challenges for working parents who rely on their care to go to work. With just 2 hours of preventative training, we can prevent serious injuries, and keep child care workers healthy and on the job. Two hours of prevention is literally worth years of care."

PRIOR LEGISLATION:

SB 548 (DeLeón), 2015, would have enacted the Raising Child Care Quality Act to require CDE to offer orientation training including health and safety training, either directly or through contracts, to specified providers in state-funded child care programs, and it would have required CDE to compile and DSS to provide provider contact information to certain provider organizations upon request. It was vetoed by the Governor.

Analysis Prepared by: Daphne Hunt / HUM. S. / (916) 319-2089 FN: 0000899

Date of Hearing: May 17, 2017

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 676

Author:(Limón) – As Amended Ver:March 27, 2017

Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: No Reimbursable: No

SUMMARY:

This bill, beginning July 1, 2018, 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. Further requires the California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) to select, on a competitive basis, a nonprofit entity to provide this training and requires that entity to develop curriculum for the training in consultation with the State Department of Public Health (DPH) and child care caregivers. Finally, this bill requires the Department of Social Services (DSS) 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 EFFECT:

1. Estimated onetime training costs of approximately $12 million (GF) assuming 70,000 existing caregivers. Actual training costs will depend on the number of caregivers that will need to be trained and the number of new caregivers entering the childcare workforce. These costs include curriculum development, translation of training materials, providing training materials, delivering the training, and administrative costs for the contracted training entity. Ongoing costs could to train new caregivers entering the workforce are unknown.
2. The DPH notes minimal costs to provide consultation on the training curriculum.
3. Ongoing administrative costs to DSS of approximately $140,000 to manage the program.
4. Onetime costs to DSS of approximately $200,000 (GF) to create the caregiver database.
5. Onetime costs to the California Department of Education (CDE) of approximately $20,000 to work with DSS on regulations and developing management bulletins to notify the field.

COMMENTS:

1. Purpose. According to the author:

“There are limited training options for early educators, and little instruction is offered in terms of these workers’ health and safety on the job. In addition, early educators already suffer from some of the lowest wages in the state and few have job-related benefits. This coupled with the fact that many of these workers rely on the Affordable Care Act, which may not survive, causes grave concerns on the impact to this workforce if any of these workers were to get injured or fall ill on the job.

The situation gets worse for home-based child care providers who are considered independent contractors and as a result lack employer-provided workers compensation insurance. When this set of early educators gets hurt on the job, they must keep working through the pain or close their doors. This is both a financial hardship and creates serious challenges for working parents who rely on their care to go to work.

With just 2 hours of preventative training, we can prevent serious injuries, and keep child care workers healthy and on the job. Two hours of prevention is literally worth years of care.”

1. Background. Existing state law establishes the California Child Day Care Facilities Act to provide for the licensure and regulation of family day care homes by the DSS and encourages the development of licensing staff with knowledge and understanding of children and child care needs.

The federal Child Care and Development Block Grant was reauthorized in 2014 and 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. DSS 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.

1. Prior Legislation. SB 548 (DeLeón), of the 2015-16 Legislative Session, would have enacted the Raising Child Care Quality Act to require CDE to offer orientation training including health and safety training to specified providers in state-funded child care programs, and it would have required CDE to compile and DSS to provide provider contact information to certain provider organizations upon request. It was vetoed by the Governor.

SB 1420 (Mendoza), of the 2015-16 Legislative Session, is similar to this bill, but placed the program with CDE rather than DSS. This bill was held in Senate Appropriaitons.

Analysis Prepared by: Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081

Date of Hearing: March 21, 2017

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HUMAN SERVICES

Blanca Rubio, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 676 (

Author:Limón) – As Introduced Ver:February 15, 2017

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

SUMMARY: Requires specified child care providers to attend a mandatory occupational safety and health training and requires the Department of Social Services (DSS) to compile and share lists of contact information for training attendees and prospective attendees with the entity selected to provide the training.

Specifically, this bill:

1. Makes a number of Legislative findings and declarations related to the benefits of occupational safety and health and training for early educators.
2. Defines “early educator” to mean either:
   1. A child care provider, administrator, or employee of a licensed child day care facility who provides child care services directly to children, as specified, in a licensed child day care facility; or
   2. A license-exempt provider who provides child care services directly to children under a publicly funded child care program, as specified.
3. Defines “contact information” to mean specified contact information for an early educator.
4. Defines “peer-led training” to mean a training session for early educators held by other early educators with specific training.
5. Defines “publicly funded child care program” to mean a program that subsidizes early learning and care for children, as specified, but not to include teachers in, or before- or after-care programs operated by, the K-12 public education system.
6. Stipulates that the Department of Social Services (DSS) shall require an early educator to attend a two-hour peer-led training session on occupational health and safety risks, as specified, that must be completed once by a provider and which shall not be required to be completed again if a provider moves to another early education job.
7. Requires DSS to establish a schedule such that all early educators are required to complete the training within four years of its first being offered, or within three months of an early educator beginning to care for children in a licensed facility, whichever is later, and further, stipulates that DSS must prioritize requiring licensed early educators to be trained first.
8. Requires the training session to include all of the following:
   1. A discussion of specified risks and how they can be identified and minimized;
   2. Small- and large-group discussion;
   3. An opportunity for early educators to learn from current child care professionals;
   4. Presentations by associations or organizations that foster professional development, as specified;
   5. Stakeholder engagement opportunities for early educators, upon approval by DSS, as specified; and
   6. An opportunity for a participant to give feedback on the training.
9. Requires the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) to select, on a competitive basis, a nonprofit entity to provide the training required by this bill that meets the following requirements:
   1. Has experience providing occupational health and safety training to early educators, as specified; and
   2. Will provide periodic updates on health and safety matters to early educators who have completed the training.
10. Requires the entity selected by DIR to provide the training to develop curriculum in consultation with the State Department of Public Health (DPH) and early educators and further, requires DIR’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health to review and approve that curriculum.
11. Requires DSS to administer the contract with the entity selected to provide the training.
12. Stipulates, to the extent possible, that the training required by this bill be coordinated with other preservice training requirements for early educators and resource and referral networks, as specified.
13. Requires the entity selected to provide the training to take attendance at the training and to inform DSS of the names and other identifying information of the attendees, as specified.
14. Requires, on a monthly basis, that DSS provide the entity selected to provide the training with:
    1. A list containing the contact information of early educators who have attended the training; and
    2. A list containing the contact information of early educators who are required to attend the training but have not yet attended.
15. Requires DSS to compile the lists of contact information required by this bill with the assistance of the California Department of Education (CDE) and any other state department or agency, or its contractor or subcontractor, possessing the specified information.
16. Adds the entity selected to provide the training required by this bill to the list of entities authorized to have access to contact information for small family day care homes, as specified.
17. Requires DSS to, upon the written request of an early educator, remove that individual’s home address and home telephone number from the list before it is released, but stipulates that an early educator who opts out of the disclosure of this information must still attend the required training.
18. Requires the entity selected to provide the training mandated by this bill to provide early educators with periodic updates on health and safety issues and other educational information using the contact and attendance information collected and provided pursuant to the provisions of this bill.
19. Requires DSS and the entity selected to provide the training to comply with the Dymally-Alatorre Bilingual Services Act, as specified.
20. Makes the provisions of this bill operative as of July 1, 2018.
21. Makes technical amendments.

EXISTING LAW:

1. 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, and including a full range of supervision, health, and support services through full- and part-time programs. (EDC 8200 et seq.)
2. Defines “child care and development services” to mean services designed to meet a wide variety of children’s and families’ needs while parents and guardians are working, in training, seeking employment, incapacitated, or in need of respite. (EDC 8208)
3. States the intent of the Legislature that all families have access to child care and development services, through resource and referral where appropriate, and regardless of demographic background or special needs, and that families are provided the opportunity to attain financial stability through employment, while maximizing growth and development of their children, and enhancing their parenting skills through participation in child care and development programs. (EDC 8202)
4. Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to administer general child care and development programs to include, among other things as specified, age- and developmentally-appropriate activities, supervision, parenting education and involvement, and nutrition. Further allows such programs to be designed to meet child-related needs identified by parents or guardians, as specified. (EDC 8240 and 8241)
5. Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to adopt rules and regulations regarding eligibility, enrollment, and priority of services. (EDC 8263)
6. Requires families, in order to be eligible for federal and state subsidized child development services, to meet at least one requirement in each of the following areas:
   1. Be a family that is either:
      1. A current aid recipient;
      2. Income eligible;
      3. Homeless; or
      4. One who has a child or children who is/are recipients of public services, or identified as being, or at risk of being, abused, neglected, or exploited.
   2. Have a need for child care services due to:
      1. Have a child that is identified, by specified entities, as either: a recipient of protective services; being, or at risk of being, neglected, abused, or exploited; or being homeless; or
      2. The parents being either: engaged in vocational training, as specified; employed or seeking employment; seeking permanent housing or family stability; or incapacitated. (EDC 8263)
7. To allow for maximum parental choice, authorizes the operation of Alternative Payment Programs (APPs) and provision of alternative payments and support services to parents and child care providers by local government agencies or non-profit organizations that contract with CDE. (EDC 8220)
8. Establishes rules and requirements for APPs and providers, as contracted agencies with CDE, to observe, including but not limited to accounting and auditing requirements, attendance monitoring requirements, referral requirements where applicable, and reimbursement and payment procedures. (EDC 8220 et seq.)
9. Requires the Superintendent to adopt rules, regulations, and guidelines to facilitate funding and reimbursement procedures for subsidized child care. (EDC 8269)
10. Requires the Superintendent to establish a family fee schedule for subsidized child care, as specified, contingent on income and subject to a cap. (EDC 8273)
11. Establishes the California Child Day Care Facilities Act, creating a separate licensing category for child day care centers and family day care homes within DSS’s existing licensing structure. (HSC 1596.70 et seq.)
12. Defines “day care center” to include infant centers, preschools, extended day care facilities, and school-age child care centers. (HSC 1596.76)
13. Defines “family day care home” to mean a home that provides regular care, protection, and supervision for up to14 children, in the provider’s own home, for periods of less than 24 hours per day, as specified. (HSC 1596.78 (a))
14. Requires any person or entity operating, as specified, a child day care facility in California to have a current valid license. (HSC 1596.80)
15. Exempts specified child care providers from licensure requirements, as specified. (HSC 1596.792)
16. Establishes the Dymally-Alatorre Bilingual Services Act, which places a number of requirements on state agencies directly involved in the furnishing of information or the rendering of services to the public regarding the provision of information and services in languages other than English. (GOV 7290 et seq.)

FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown.

COMMENTS:

Subsidized child care: California’s subsidized child care system is designed to provide assistance to parents and guardians who are working, in training, seeking employment, incapacitated, or in need of respite. This child care is available through a number of programs; additionally, California offers State Preschool Programs to eligible three-and four-year-olds.

Parents participating in CalWORKs, as well as families transitioning off of and no longer receiving CalWORKs aid, can be eligible for child care, which is offered in three “stages.” The Department of Social Services (DSS) administers Stage 1, and the California Department of Education (CDE) administers Stages 2 and 3. CDE also administers non-CalWORKs child care. The largest programs are: General Child Care, which includes contracted centers and family child care homes; the California State Preschool Program, which provides developmentally, culturally, and linguistically appropriate curriculum to eligible three- and four-year olds; and APPs, which provide vouchers that can be used to obtain child care in a center, family child care home, or from a license-exempt provider. Waitlists for non-CalWORKs child care are common.

The California Child Day Care Facilities Act governs the licensure and operation of child day care centers and family day care homes. This law and the attendant regulations found in Title 22 of the California Code of Regulations establish general health and safety requirements, staff-to-child ratios, and provider training requirements.

The Community Care Licensing Division (CCLD) of DSS is responsible for licensing and monitoring the state’s 10,424 day care centers, which, as of June 30, 2016, provided 590,810 child care slots, and 29,348 family day care homes which provided 302,970 slots. There are also a large number of license-exempt child care providers who are typically relatives, friends or neighbors who provide care for one family at a time in their or the recipients’ home; in order to provide care through the subsidized child care system (i.e., receive vouchers), these providers are required to undergo a background check by registering with TrustLine, a registery used by CCLD to verify an individual’s history using a number of systems, including the California Criminal History System and California’s Child Abuse Central Index.

Need for this bill: According to the author:

“There are limited training options for early educators, and little instruction is offered in terms of these workers’ health and safety on the job. In addition, early educators already suffer from some of the lowest wages in the state and few have job-related benefits. This coupled with the fact that many of these workers rely on the Affordable Care Act which may not survive causes grave concerns on the impact to this workforce if any of these workers where to get injured or fall ill on the job.

The situation gets worse for home-based child care providers who are considered independent contractors and as a result lack employer-provided workers compensation insurance. When these set of early educators get hurt on the job, they must keep working through the pain or close their doors. This is both a financial hardship and creates serious challenges for working parents who rely on their care to go to work.

With just 2 hours of preventative training, we can prevent serious injuries, and keep child care workers healthy and on the job. Two hours of prevention is literally worth years of care.”

Staff comments: Family, friends, and neighbors are often able to provide child care to recipients of subsidized child care through the voucher system (APP and CalWORKs child care) either in their homes or in the home of the recipient. This type of care can be particularly helpful for families who don’t work traditional 9 to 5 schedules and may need care during evenings and weekends in order to go to their jobs. In recognition of this important role that license-exempt providers play, the nontraditional hours they may work, and that they often work in their own homes, the author may wish to consider, should this bill move forward, putting measures in place to ensure that any burden placed on license-exempt providers by the requirements of this bill be minimized to the extent possible.

Additionally, the bill as currently written contains no date by which the first training must be offered. Should this bill move forward, the author may wish to consider setting deadlines for the introduction and initial provision of this training.

Recommended amendments: In order to make clear the date by which DSS must start making provider information available to the entity providing the training, as well as to make technical amendments (including the removal of redundant language), committee staff recommends the following amendments starting on line 7 of page 6 of the bill:

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(e) The entity selected pursuant to subdivision (f) to provide

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the training required by this section shall develop the curriculum

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for the training session in consulation consultation with the State Department

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of Public Health and with direct input from early educators. The

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curriculum shall be reviewed and approved by the Division of

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Occupational Safety and Health within the Department of Industrial

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Relations.

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(f) The Department of Industrial Relations shall, on a

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competitive basis, select a nonprofit entity to provide the

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occupational safety and health training required by this section.

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The Department of Industrial Relations shall select an entity that

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meets all of the following requirements:

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(A) The entity has experience providing occupational health

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and safety training to early educators as described in this section.

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(B) The entity will provide periodic updates on health and safety

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matters to early educators who have completed the training.

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(g) The department shall administer the contract with the entity

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selected to provide the occupational safety and health training.

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(h) The training required by this section shall be coordinated,

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to the extent possible, with other preservice training requirements

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for early educators and with resource and referral networks, so as

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to reduce burden on providers. Once an early educator has

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completed the training, he or she shall not be required to complete

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it again if he or she moves to another early education job.

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(i) The entity selected to provide the training shall take

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attendance at the training and shall inform the department of the

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names and other identifying information of the early educators

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who have attended.

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(j) (1) On a monthly basis beginning one month prior to the date of the first occupational safety and health training, the department shall provide to the

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entity selected to provide the training lists of the contact

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information of early educators who have attended the training, and

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of those who are required to attend the training but have not yet

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attended. Contact information shall include names, telephone

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numbers, e-mail addresses, addresses, and provider identifier

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numbers, as applicable and available.

PRIOR LEGISLATION:

SB 548 (DeLeón), 2015, would have enacted the Raising Child Care Quality Act to require CDE to offer orientation training including health and safety training, either directly or through contracts, to specified providers in state-funded child care programs, and it would have required CDE to compile and DSS to provide provider contact information to certain provider organizations upon request. It was vetoed by the Governor.

REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:

Support

UDW/AFSCME Local 3930 (Co-sponsor)

Voices for Progress Education Fund

Courage Campaign

American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees

Opposition

None on file.

Analysis Prepared by: Daphne Hunt / HUM. S. / (916) 319-2089