AB 2828: Child health and safety: “Have a Heart, Be a Star, Help Our Kids” license plate program.

Existing law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to issue Have a Heart, Be a Star, Help Our Kids special license plates and imposes additional fees, as specified, for their issuance, renewal, replacement, and transfer. Existing law requires that those additional fees be deposited in the Child Health and Safety Fund, less specified amounts. Existing law requires that 50% of the funds derived from the Have a Heart, Be a Star, Help Our Kids license plates be available, upon appropriation, to the State Department of Social Services for administering various provisions related to childcare licensing, as specified. Existing law requires that, upon appropriation by the Legislature, the balance be available, as described, for programs that address other categories of potential childhood injury, as specified. Existing law requires counties to create local childcare resource and referral programs to identify childcare resources and establish a referral process for parents, among other things. Existing law also creates the California Children and Families Commission to promote, support, and improve early childhood development. Existing law provides for funding to county commissions that develop, adopt, promote, and implement local early childhood development programs consistent with specified goals and objectives.

This bill would increase the fees for the initial issuance and renewal of the Have a Heart, Be a Star, Help Our Kids license plates. The bill would allocate, upon an appropriation by the Legislature, 50% of the fees collected on or after January 1, 2026, to local childcare resource and referral programs, for specified purposes, including recruitment and training of new childcare providers, and to the State Department of Social Services for administering the above-described childcare licensing provisions, in equal measure except that in no case shall the allocation to the department be less than the amount appropriated in the 20222023 fiscal year. The bill would require a portion of the funds to be allocated to the agency having oversight of new and continuing childcare provider health and safety education and training program curriculum for specified purposes. Of the fees collected on or after January 1, 2026, the bill would allocate a portion to the State Department of Public Health in support of addressing childhood injury prevention and a portion to county commissions, as prescribed, that elect to receive funding and would limit the spending of those funds for certain purposes, including administering the California Unintentional Injury Prevention Strategic Plan Project. The bill would require that no more than 5% of the funds allocated to address childhood injury prevention be available to the nonprofit organization that provides administrative and staff support to the California Unintentional Injury Prevention Strategic Plan Project and would require the nonprofit organization to report annually to the State Department of Public Health on its activities and support evidence-based technical assistance and training for childhood unintentional injury prevention programs to the county commissions.