AB 124: Childcare: local planning councils.
- Session Year: 2019-2020
- House: Assembly
- Latest Version Date: 2019-04-22
The Child Care and Development Services Act has a purpose of providing a comprehensive, coordinated, and cost-effective system of child care and development services for children from infancy to 13 years of age and their parents, including a full range of supervision, health, and support service through full- and part-time programs. The act requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to administer all California state preschool programs, which include part-day age and developmentally appropriate programs designed to facilitate the transition to kindergarten for 3- and 4-year-old children. Existing law establishes the Child Care Facilities Revolving Fund in the State Treasury to provide funding for loans for the renovation, repair, or improvement of an existing building to make the building suitable for licensure for child care and development services, and for the purchase of new relocatable child care facilities, as provided.
This bill would enact the Preschool Facilities Bond Act of 2020 which, if approved by the voters, would authorize the issuance of bonds in the amount of $500,000,000 pursuant to the State General Obligation Bond Law to finance a preschool facility grant program.
The bill would provide for the submission of the bond act to the voters at the _____, 2020, statewide general election.
This chapter shall be known, and may be cited, as the Preschool Facilities Bond Act of 2020.
8498.101.As used in this chapter:
(a)Committee means the Preschool Facilities Bond Act of 2020 Finance Committee created pursuant to Section 8498.105.
(b)Fund means the Preschool Facilities Bond Act of 2020 Fund Created pursuant to Section 8498.102.
(c)Superintendent means the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
2.Preschool Facilities Bond Act of 20208498.102.(a)The proceeds of bonds issued and sold pursuant to this chapter shall be deposited in the Preschool Facilities Bond Act of 2020 Fund, which is hereby created in the State Treasury. The moneys in that fund shall be available for appropriation by the Legislature to the Superintendent for purposes of providing grants, specified in subdivision (b), to local educational agencies or contracting agencies that receive funding for a state preschool program operated pursuant to Article 7 (commencing with Section 8235) of Chapter 2.
(b)The grants provided in subdivision (a) shall be used for the renovation, repair, or improvement of an existing building to make the building suitable for licensure for preschool services, and for the purchase of new relocatable preschool facilities.
3.Fiscal Provisions8498.103.(a)Bonds in the total amount of five hundred million dollars ($500,000,000), or so much thereof as is necessary, not including the amount of any refunding bonds issued in accordance with Section 8498.113, may be issued and sold to provide a fund to be used for carrying out the purposes expressed in this chapter and to reimburse the General Obligation Bond Expense Revolving Fund pursuant to Section 16724.5 of the Government Code. The bonds, when sold, shall be and constitute a valid and binding obligation of the State of California, and the full faith and credit of the State of California is hereby pledged for the punctual payment of both principal of, and interest on, the bonds as the principal and interest become due and payable.
(b)The Treasurer shall issue and sell the bonds authorized in subdivision (a) in the amount determined by the committee to be necessary or desirable pursuant to Section 8498.106. The bonds shall be issued and sold upon the terms and conditions specified in a resolution to be adopted by the committee pursuant to Section 16731 of the Government Code.
8498.104.(a)The bonds authorized by this chapter shall be prepared, executed, issued, sold, paid, and redeemed as provided in the State General Obligation Bond Law (Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 16720) of Part 3 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code), as amended from time to time, and all of the provisions of that law apply to the bonds and to this chapter and are hereby incorporated in this chapter as though set forth in full in this chapter.
(b)For purposes of this chapter, the references to committee in the State General Obligation Bond Law shall mean the Preschool Facilities Bond Act of 2020 Finance Committee created in Section 8498.105 and the references to board in the State General Obligation Bond Law shall mean the Superintendent.
8498.105.(a)Solely for the purpose of authorizing the issuance and sale pursuant to the State General Obligation Bond Law of the bonds authorized by this chapter, the Preschool Facilities Bond Act of 2020 Finance Committee is hereby created.
(b)The committee consists of the Controller, Treasurer, Director of Finance, and Superintendent. Notwithstanding any other law, any member may designate a representative to act as that member in his or her place for all purposes, as though the member were personally present.
(c)The Treasurer shall serve as chairperson of the committee. A majority of the committee may act for the committee.
8498.106.The committee shall determine by resolution whether or not it is necessary or desirable to issue and sell bonds authorized pursuant to this chapter in order to carry out the actions specified in this chapter and, if so, the amount of bonds to be issued and sold. Successive issues of bonds may be authorized and sold to carry out those actions progressively, and it is not necessary that all of the bonds authorized to be issued be sold at any one time.
8498.107.There shall be collected each year and in the same manner and at the same time as other state revenue is collected, in addition to the ordinary revenues of the state, a sum in an amount required to pay the principal of, and interest on, the bonds each year. It is the duty of all officers charged by law with any duty in regard to the collection of the revenue to do and perform each and every act that is necessary to collect that additional sum.
8498.108.Notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government Code, there is hereby continuously appropriated from the General Fund in the State Treasury, for the purposes of this chapter and without regard to fiscal years, an amount that equals the total of the following:
(a)The sum annually necessary to pay the principal of, and interest on, bonds issued and sold pursuant to this chapter, as the principal and interest become due and payable.
(b)The sum necessary to carry out Section 8498.110.
8498.109.The Committee may request the Pooled Money Investment Board to make a loan from the Pooled Money Investment Account, in accordance with Section 16312 of the Government Code, for the purpose of carrying out this chapter less any amount withdrawn pursuant to Section 8498.110. The amount of the request shall not exceed the amount of the unsold bonds that the committee has, by resolution, authorized to be sold for the purpose of carrying out this chapter, excluding any refunding bonds authorized pursuant to Section 8498.113, less any amount loaned pursuant to this section and not yet repaid and any amount withdrawn from the General Fund pursuant to Section 8498.110 and not yet returned to the General Fund. The committee shall execute any documents required by the Pooled Money Investment Board to obtain and repay the loan. Any amounts loaned shall be deposited in the fund to be allocated by the committee in accordance with this chapter.
8498.110.For the purposes of carrying out this chapter, the Director of Finance may authorize the withdrawal from the General Fund of an amount not to exceed the amount of the unsold bonds that have been authorized by the committee to be sold for the purpose of carrying out this chapter, excluding any refunding bonds authorized pursuant to Section 8498.113, less any amount loaned pursuant to Section 8498.109 and not yet repaid, and any amount withdrawn from the General Fund pursuant to this section and not yet returned to the General Fund. Any amounts withdrawn shall be deposited in the fund. Any moneys made available under this section shall be returned to the General Fund from proceeds received from the sale of bonds for the purpose of carrying out this chapter.
8498.111.All moneys deposited in the fund that are derived from premium and accrued interest on bonds sold pursuant to this chapter shall be reserved in the fund and shall be available for transfer to the General Fund as a credit to expenditures for bond interest, except those amounts derived from premium may be reserved and used to pay the cost of bond issuance prior to any transfer to the General Fund.
8498.112.Pursuant to the State General Obligation Bond Law (Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 16720), of Part 3 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code), the cost of bond issuance shall be paid out of the bond proceeds, including premium, if any. To the extent the cost of bond issuance is not paid from premiums received from the sale of bonds, these costs shall be shared proportionally by each program funded through this chapter by the applicable bond sale.
8498.113.The bonds issued and sold pursuant to this chapter may be refunded in accordance with Article 6 (commencing with Section 16780) of Chapter 4 of Part 3 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code, which is a part of the State General Obligation Bond Law. Approval by the voters of the state for the issuance of the bonds described in this chapter includes the approval of the issuance of any bonds issued to refund any bonds originally issued under this chapter or any previously issued refunding bonds.
8498.114.Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, or of the State General Obligation Bond Law, if the Treasurer sells bonds pursuant to this chapter that include a bond counsel opinion to the effect that the interest on the bonds is excluded from gross income for federal tax purposes under designated conditions or is otherwise entitled to any federal tax advantage, the Treasurer may maintain separate accounts for the bond proceeds invested and for the investment earnings on those proceeds. The Treasurer may use or direct the use of those proceeds or earnings to pay any rebate, penalty, or other payment required under federal law or take any other action with respect to the investment and use of those bond proceeds required or desirable under federal law to maintain the tax exempt status of those bonds and to obtain any other advantage under federal law on behalf of the funds of this state.
8498.115.The proceeds from the sale of bonds authorized by this chapter are not proceeds of taxes as that term is used in Article XIII B of the California Constitution, and the disbursement of these proceeds is not subject to the limitations imposed by that article.
SEC. 2.Section 1 of this act shall take effect upon the approval by the voters of the Preschool Facilities Bond Act of 2020, as set forth in Section 1 of this act.
SEC. 3.Section 1 of this act shall be submitted to the voters at the ______, 2020 statewide general election in accordance with provisions of the Elections Code and the Government Code governing the submission of a statewide measure to the voters.
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Date
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Status
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| Feb 3, 2020 | From committee: Filed with the Chief Clerk pursuant to Joint Rule 56. |
| Jan 31, 2020 | Died pursuant to Art. IV, Sec. 10(c) of the Constitution. |
| May 16, 2019 | In committee: Held under submission. |
| May 8, 2019 | In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. |
| Apr 25, 2019 | Coauthors revised. |
| Apr 23, 2019 | Re-referred to Com. on ED. |
| Apr 22, 2019 | From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on ED. Read second time and amended. |
| Jan 24, 2019 | Referred to Com. on ED. |
| Dec 4, 2018 | From printer. May be heard in committee January 3. |
| Dec 3, 2018 | Read first time. To print. |
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Date
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Description
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Location
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Votes
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| Apr 24, 2019 | Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar | Assembly Standing Committee on Education |
Passed |
This list shows positions taken on this bill by organizations on the date displayed, which is linked to the original source.
Positions by individuals are not included.
Date of Hearing: May 8, 2019
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
ABPCA Bill Id:AB 124
Author:(McCarty) – As Amended Ver:April 22, 2019
Policy Committee: | Education | Vote: | 7 - 0 |
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: Yes Reimbursable: Yes
SUMMARY:
This bill requires local childcare and development planning councils (LPCs) to provide information to cities and counties regarding facility needs for early childhood education.
FISCAL EFFECT:
Potential General Fund costs for 58 LPCs to provide information to cities and counties regrading facility needs. The costs would depend on the type and breadth of information provided, which this bill does not specify.
If the Commission on State Mandates determines the bill’s requirements to be a reimbursable state mandate, the state would need to reimburse these costs to LEAs or provide funding through the K-12 Mandate Block Grant, described in more detail below.
COMMENTS:
- LPCs. Each county in California has an LPC. Current law states legislative intent that every LCP serve as a local forum to identify and address local childcare needs and priorities. Specifically, law requires every LPC to conduct regional need assessments and prepare regional child care plans. State law requires the county board of supervisors and county superintendent of schools to select the members of an LPC and requires LPC to membership to include consumers, child care providers, public agency representatives, community representatives and agency appointees.
Statewide, LCPs receive about $3.6 million annually. The majority comes from federal Care and Development Block Grant funds (roughly $3.3 million) and the remainder is state General Fund.
- Early Childhood Education Facilities. Evidence indicates lack of facilities is a major barrier in expanding subsidized childcare to more children in California. Challenges to more facilities for childcare include lack of available land to construct centers, cost of construction, low childcare funding rates for providers such that paying back loans is difficult and lack of expertise by childcare providers in navigating the requirements of increasing facility space.
This bill requires LPCs “to provide information to cities and counties regarding facility needs for early childhood education, including but not limited to, childcare and preschool, in their jurisdictions” but contains no requirements that the information address specific barriers.
- Related Legislation. AB 1001 (Ting), of this session, makes various changes to the composition and duties of LPCs. The bill is pending before this committee.
AB 452 (Mullin), of this session, establishes the California Childcare Facilities Grant Fund and requires the California Department of Education to provide grants, subject to available funding, for the construction of new childcare centers that serve children in subsidized childcare programs, as well as the renovation, repair and modernization of family childcare homes. The bill is pending before this committee.
Analysis Prepared by: Natasha Collins / APPR. / (916) 319-2081
Date of Hearing: April 24, 2019
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Patrick O'Donnell, Chair
ABPCA Bill Id:AB 124 (
Author:McCarty) – As Amended Ver:April 22, 2019
SUBJECT: Childcare: local planning councils
SUMMARY: Requires local planning councils (LPCs) to provide information to cities and counties regarding the need for early childhood education facilities. Specifically, this bill:
- Requires local planning councils to provide information to cities and counties regarding facility needs for early childhood education, including but not limited to, childcare and preschool, in their jurisdictions.
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 support services. (EC 8200 et seq.)
- 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, and states that these services may include direct care supervision, instructional activities, resource and referral programs, and alternative payment arrangements. (EC 8208)
- States Legislative intent that local child care and development planning councils provide a forum for the identification of local priorities for child care and the development of policies to meet the needs identified within those priorities. (EC 8499.3)
- Requires the county board of supervisors and county superintendent of schools to select the members of the LPC and establish the term of appointments for those members, and requires the LPC to have consumers, child care providers, public agency representatives, community representatives, and agency appointees, each representing 20 percent of membership, as specified. (EC 8499.3)
- Requires every effort to be made to ensure that the ethnic, racial, and geographic composition of the LPC is reflective of the ethnic, racial, and geographic distribution of the population of the county. (EC 8499.3)
- Permits the board of supervisors and county superintendent of schools to designate an existing child care planning council or coordinated child and family services council as the LPC, provided representation requirements are met, as specified. (EC 8499.3)
- Requires each LPC to develop and implement a training plan to provide increased efficiency, productivity, and facilitation of LPC meetings, as specified. (EC 8499.3)
- Requires an LPC to, upon approval by the county board of supervisors and the county superintendent of schools, submit the local priorities it has identified that reflect all child care needs in the county to the California Department of Education (CDE) by May 30th of each year. (EC 8499.5)
- Requires an LPC to, in order to meet its obligation of annually submitting local priorities to the CDE, carry out a number of activities including: conducting an assessment of child care needs in the county at least once every five years; encouraging public input in the development of the priorities, including through at least one public hearing; and preparing a comprehensive countywide child care plan designed to mobilize public and private resources to address identified needs, as specified. (EC 8499.5)
- Requires the CDE, with specified exceptions, to allocate funding within each county in accordance with the priorities identified by the LPC of that county and submitted to the CDE, unless the priorities do not meet the requirements of state or federal law. (EC 8499.5)
FISCAL EFFECT: The Office of Legislative Counsel has keyed this as a possible state-mandated local program.
COMMENTS:
Need for the bill. According to the author, “Early learning facilities are crucial to the early childhood education (ECE) ecosystem. Without facilities, children cannot be served, even if the slots are available. California has made great strides in the last four years with expanding access to ECE in the budget process. LPCs support the overall coordination of child care services in counties. These councils play a significant role in determining how dollars are allocated for slots, compensation, and facilities. Through their hard work, they identify needs and gaps in all of the various facets that involve early learning services. They also provide recommendations if problems need solutions. In order to make ECE slots viable and sustainable, California needs spaces to house these programs. AB 124 provides a first step in expanding facilities by requiring LPCs to share ECE facilities needs data with city and county governments, who can prioritize these needs.”
Local planning councils. Each county in California has an LPC. These LCPs are designed to provide a forum for the identification of local priorities for child care, and the development of policies to meet the needs identified within those priorities. State law requires the county board of supervisors and county superintendent of schools to select the members of the LPC and to establish the term of appointments for those members, and requires the LPC to have consumers, child care providers, public agency representatives, community representatives, and agency appointees each represent 20 percent of the LPC’s membership. LPCs are charged with a number of responsibilities, including: conducting an assessment of child care needs at least once every five years, preparing local comprehensive countywide child care plans that are designed to mobilize public and private resources to address identified needs, and encouraging local input into development of community-level priorities.
LPCs were first established in California in the early 1990s, with the adoption of AB 2141 (Speier) which created local planning processes in response to the federal adoption of the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) program in 1991. The creation of local planning councils, was intended to ensure the inclusion of local voices when determining priorities for allocation of CCDBG dollars. LPCs were formalized in 1997 with the adoption of AB 1542 (Ducheny).
State of ECE facilities infrastructure. According to a 2019 policy brief by the Advancement Project, titled “Building California’s Future: Tackling the Facilities Challenge for our Youngest Learners”, California has nearly three million children under the age of six, yet the current ECE facilities infrastructure has the capacity to serve less than a quarter of these children. They report that California has 522,462 licensed childcare center seats for children ages two through five, plus 90,707 transitional kindergarten (TK) seats, leaving 1,401,331 children ages two through five without an available licensed childcare center or TK seat. The situation is more dire for children under the age of two, as the state only has 47,443 licensed childcare center seats for children ages birth through two, leaving 921,525 infants and toddlers without access. They suggest that 94 percent of infants and toddlers from income-eligible families do not currently have access to subsidized childcare.
The Advancement Project brief states that licensed family child care homes have seats for 283,544 children from birth through twelve and are a critical piece of the facilities puzzle in meeting the needs of children and families. These facilities tend to provide more affordable and flexible care options for families, as 41 percent offer evening, weekend, or overnight care.
Challenges to building the necessary ECE infrastructure. There are significant challenges to addressing the ECE infrastructure shortage in California including, but not limited to, the following:
- Available land to construct childcare centers or homes to operate family childcare programs may be in short supply in certain areas of the state.
- The cost of constructing facilities designed specifically for young children is relatively high compared to standard commercial space.
- Low reimbursement rates limit the ability of many childcare providers to be able to repay facilities loan funding.
- Land use and regulatory barriers present challenges to childcare providers, including zoning requirements, permitting approval processes, land use regulations, and the costs of application and permit fees.
- Most childcare providers lack the necessary knowledge of business, finances, local government processes, facility design, as well as development and construction management.
- The difficulty associated with navigating multiple funding sources with different requirements, as no single financial source is likely to provide all of the capital needs of a given project, requiring providers to leverage public and private funding sources to cover the cost of development.
Prior and related legislation. AB 1001 (Ting) of this Session updates the composition and duties of LPCs, renames them strategic planning councils, and defines requirements of these councils to collect local input and facilitate local decision-making regarding ECE services and to guide local and statewide ECE investments, through the more effective collection and sharing of data between local and statewide agencies. This bill is pending before this Committee.
AB 452 (Mullin) of this Session establishes the California Childcare Facilities Grant Fund and requires the CDE to provide grants, subject to available funding, for the construction of new childcare centers that serve children in subsidized childcare programs, as well as the renovation, repair and modernization of family childcare homes. This bill is pending before this Committee.
SB 192 (Liu) of the 2013-14 Session, would have required, among other things, LPCs to develop a draft of local priorities for early learning and educational support program funding that considers the resources currently available in attendance areas of elementary schools ranked in deciles 1 to 3, inclusive, of the Academic Performance Index. Also would have required the CDE to allocate funding within each county in accordance with the priorities identified by the LPC of that county unless the priorities do not meet the requirements of state or federal law. This bill was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
AB 1542 (Ducheny) Chapter 270, Statutes of 1997, established LPCs, among other things.
AB 2141 (Speier), Chapter 1187, Statutes of 1991, created local planning processes in response to the federal adoption, in 1991, of the CCDBG program.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
None on file
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by: Debbie Look / ED. / (916) 319-2087
