AB 641

Bill Subjects

Abstract

Existing law, the California Child Day Care Facilities Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of family day care homes 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 authorize family child care providers, as defined, to form, join, and participate in the activities of provider organizations, as defined, and to seek the certification of a provider organization to act as the exclusive representative for family child care providers on matters related to child care subsidy programs pursuant to a petition and election process overseen by the Public Employment Relations Board or a neutral 3rd party designated by the board. The bill would also establish a Family Child Care Parent Advisory Committee, consisting of 11 members, to advise, and make recommendations to, the Governor and any certified provider organization on certain issues, and would provide for the reimbursement of members of the committee for related travel expenses. The bill would require the State Department of Social Services and the State Department of Education, with the assistance of specified state departments and agencies, and their contractors and subcontractors, to make specified information regarding family child care providers available to provider organizations, and would require the provider organization requesting the information to bear the costs of collecting the information. The bill would establish the scope of representation of the certified provider organization, and would require the Governor, through the Department of Human Resources, in consultation with the Superintendent of Public Instruction and other entities, to meet and confer in good faith with the certified provider organization on all matters within that scope of representation. The bill would require the parties to jointly prepare a memorandum of understanding if agreement is reached, which would be binding on all state departments and agencies, and their contractors and subcontractors, that are involved in the administration of child care subsidy programs. The bill would authorize the parties, if, after a reasonable period of time they fail to reach agreement, to agree to submit unresolved issues to the California State Mediation and Conciliation Service for mediation or binding arbitration, and would authorize either party to declare that an impasse has been reached and request the Public Employment Relations Board to appoint a mediator or arbitrator from the service to perform mediation or binding arbitration. The bill would authorize a certified provider organization to enter into an agreement with the state regarding deduction of membership dues and fair share fees from subsidy payments made to providers, and would prohibit provider organizations and the state, as defined, from calling strikes and from interfering with, intimidating, restraining, coercing, or discriminating against a family child care provider for joining or refusing to join a provider organization. The bill would require the State Department of Education to require all resource and referral agencies to provide, without charge, workshops to family child care providers that include, among other things, training on child development and literacy, and to provide copies of curricula, frameworks, and introductory materials related to childhood education endorsed or published by the State Department of Education. The bill would require the State Department of Social Services to consult with a stakeholder group, as specified, regarding ways to ensure the most effective implementation of safety standards for family child care homes.