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AB-258 Child care and development services: individualized county child care subsidy plan: County of Fresno.(2017-2018)

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Date Published: 10/13/2017 02:00 PM
AB258:v91#DOCUMENT

Assembly Bill No. 258
CHAPTER 697

An act to add and repeal Article 15.1.1 (commencing with Section 8334) of Chapter 2 of Part 6 of Division 1 of Title 1 of the Education Code, relating to child care and development services.

[ Approved by Governor  October 12, 2017. Filed with Secretary of State  October 12, 2017. ]

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 258, Arambula. Child care and development services: individualized county child care subsidy plan: County of Fresno.
The Child Care and Development Services Act has a purpose of providing a comprehensive, coordinated, and cost-effective system of child care and development services for children from infancy to 13 years of age and their parents, including a full range of supervision, health, and support services through full- and part-time programs. Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to develop standards for the implementation of quality child care programs. Existing law authorizes the County of Alameda, the City and County of San Francisco, the County of San Mateo, and the County of Santa Clara to develop individualized county child care subsidy plans, as provided.
This bill would authorize, until January 1, 2023, the County of Fresno to develop an individualized county child care subsidy plan, as specified. The bill would require the plan to be submitted to the local planning council and the Fresno County Board of Supervisors for approval, as specified. The bill would require the Early Education and Support Division of the State Department of Education to review and approve or disapprove the plan and any subsequent modifications to the plan and, in specified situations, would require the State Department of Social Services to only review the plan. The bill would require the County of Fresno to annually prepare and submit to the Legislature, the State Department of Social Services, and the State Department of Education a report that contains specified information relating to the success of the county’s plan. The bill would require the State Department of Education to review that report, and other specified records, and determine whether to allow the county to continue with the plan without change, or whether to require that modifications be made to the plan.
This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Fresno.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 It is the intent of the Legislature to build a stable, comprehensive, and adequately funded high-quality early learning and educational support system for children from birth to five years of age, inclusive, with alignment and integration into the K–12 education system by strategically using state and federal funds, and engaging all early care and education stakeholders, including K–12 education stakeholders, in an effort to provide access to affordable, high-quality services supported by adequate rates, integrated data systems, and a strong infrastructure that supports children and the educators who serve them.

SEC. 2.

 Article 15.1.1 (commencing with Section 8334) is added to Chapter 2 of Part 6 of Division 1 of Title 1 of the Education Code, to read:
Article  15.1.1. Individualized County of Fresno Child Care Subsidy Plan

8334.
 The County of Fresno may, as a pilot project, develop and implement an individualized county child care subsidy plan. The plan shall ensure that child care subsidies received by the County of Fresno are used to address local needs, conditions, and priorities of working families in the community.

8334.1.
 For purposes of this article, “county” means the County of Fresno.

8334.2.
 (a) For purposes of this article, “plan” means an individualized county child care subsidy plan developed and approved under the pilot project described in Section 8334, which includes all of the following:
(1) An assessment to identify the county’s goals for its subsidized child care system. The assessment shall examine whether the current structure of subsidized child care funding adequately supports working families in the county and whether the county’s child care goals coincide with the state’s requirements for funding, eligibility, priority, and reimbursement. The assessment shall also identify barriers in the state’s child care subsidy system that inhibit the county from meeting its child care goals. In conducting the assessment, the county shall consider all of the following:
(A) The general demographics of families who are in need of child care, including employment, income, language, ethnic, and family composition.
(B) The current supply of available subsidized child care.
(C) The level of need for various types of subsidized child care services, including, but not limited to, infant care, after-hours care, and care for children with exceptional needs.
(D) The county’s self-sufficiency income level.
(E) Income eligibility levels for subsidized child care.
(F) Family fees.
(G) The cost of providing child care.
(H) The regional market rates, as established by the department, for different types of child care.
(I) The standard reimbursement rate or state per diem for centers operating under contracts with the department.
(J) Trends in the county’s unemployment rate and housing affordability index.
(2) (A) Development of a local policy to eliminate state-imposed regulatory barriers to the county’s achievement of its desired outcomes for subsidized child care.
(B) The local policy shall do all of the following:
(i) Prioritize lowest income families first.
(ii) Follow the family fee schedule established pursuant to Section 8273 for those families that are income eligible, as defined by Section 8263.1, and provide the exemptions for family fees specified in Section 8273.1.
(iii) Meet local goals that are consistent with the state’s child care goals.
(iv) Identify existing policies that would be affected by the county’s plan.
(v) (I) Authorize an agency that provides child care and development services in the county through a contract with the department to apply to the department to amend existing contracts in order to benefit from the local policy.
(II) The department shall approve an application to amend an existing contract if the plan is modified pursuant to Section 8334.3.
(III) The contract of a department contractor who does not elect to request an amendment to its contract remains operative and enforceable.
(vi) Provide a family that qualifies for the second or third stage of child care services pursuant to Article 15.5 (commencing with Section 8350), for purposes of eligibility, fees, and reimbursements, the same or higher level of benefit as a family that qualifies for subsidized child care on another basis pursuant to the local policy, except as otherwise provided in Article 15.5 (commencing with Section 8350). Nothing in this section shall be interpreted to impact or reduce any element in the second or third stage of child care services pursuant to Article 15.5 (commencing with Section 8350) that provides a greater benefit to participating families than is provided for in the local policy.
(C) The local policy may supersede state law concerning child care subsidy programs with regard only to the following factors:
(i) Eligibility criteria, including, but not limited to, age, family size, time limits, income level, and special needs considerations.
(ii) Fees, including, but not limited to, family fees, sliding scale fees, and copayments for those families that are not income eligible, as defined by Section 8263.1.
(iii) Reimbursement rates.
(iv) Methods of maximizing the efficient use of subsidy funds, including, but not limited to, multiyear contracting with the department for center-based child care, and interagency agreements that allow for flexible and temporary transfer of funds among agencies.
(3) Recognition that all funding sources utilized by contractors that provide child care and development services in the county are eligible to be included in the county’s plan.
(4) Establishment of measurable outcomes to evaluate the success of the plan to achieve the county’s child care goals and to overcome any barriers identified in the state’s child care subsidy system.
(b) The plan may also include stage one child care services and all voucher-based child care programs.
(c) Nothing in this section shall be construed to permit the county to change the regional market rate survey results for the county.

8334.3.
 (a) The plan shall be submitted to the local planning council, as defined in subdivision (g) of Section 8499, for approval. Upon approval of the plan by the local planning council, the Board of Supervisors of the County of Fresno shall hold at least one public hearing on the plan. Following the hearing, if the board votes in favor of the plan, the plan shall be submitted to the Early Education and Support Division of the department for review. If the plan includes stage one child care services, the plan shall also be submitted to the State Department of Social Services for review only.
(b) Within 30 days of receiving the plan, the Early Education and Support Division shall review and either approve or disapprove the plan.
(c) Within 30 days of receiving a modification to the plan, the Early Education and Support Division shall review and either approve or disapprove that modification to the plan.
(d) The Early Education and Support Division may disapprove only those portions of modifications to the plan that are not in conformance with this article or that are in conflict with federal law.

8334.4.
 The county shall, by the end of the first fiscal year of operation under the approved child care subsidy plan, demonstrate, in the report required pursuant to Section 8334.5, an increase in the aggregate days a child is enrolled in child care in the county as compared to the enrollment in the final quarter of the 2016–17 fiscal year.

8334.5.
 (a) The county shall annually prepare and submit to the Legislature, the State Department of Social Services, and the department a report that summarizes the success of the county’s plan, and the county’s ability to maximize the use of funds and to improve and stabilize child care in the county.
(b) The department shall review the report submitted pursuant to subdivision (a), along with any applicable programmatic and fiscal compliance records submitted by the contracting agencies participating in the plan, and determine whether to allow the county to continue with the plan without change, or whether to require modifications to be made to the plan.
(c) The county shall, by the end of the first fiscal year of operation under the approved plan, demonstrate, in the report required pursuant to this section, that there was no reduction in the number of children served as compared to the number of children served before the implementation of the plan.
(d) A report submitted pursuant to subdivision (a) shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.

8334.6.
 A participating contractor shall receive an increase or decrease in funding that the contractor would have received if the contractor had not participated in the plan.

8334.7.
 This article shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2023, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute that is enacted before January 1, 2023, deletes or extends that date.

SEC. 3.

 The Legislature finds and declares that a special statute is necessary and that a general statute cannot be made applicable within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution because of the unique circumstances in the County of Fresno. Existing law does not reflect the fiscal reality of living in the County of Fresno, which results in reduced access to quality child care. Due to the high level of poverty, and the cost of operating child care programming coupled with the minimum wage increase, families are experiencing challenges in meeting eligibility criteria for state subsidized programs. Thus, this act is necessary to provide children and families in the County of Fresno proper access to child care through an individualized county child care subsidy plan.