AB 1361

Bill Subjects

Abstract

(1) The Child Care and Developmental Services Act, administered by the State Department of Education, provides for a comprehensive, coordinated, and cost-effective system of childcare 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, which includes general childcare programs, family childcare home education network programs, and the California state preschool program. Existing law, commencing July 1, 2021, transfers responsibility for the administration of specified childcare and development services programs from the State Department of Education to the State Department of Social Services. Existing law requires statutory references to the Superintendent of Public Instruction, for purposes of the programs transferred to the State Department of Social Services on July 1, 2021, to instead be construed to mean the State Department of Social Services. The act prohibits a contracting agency, as part of the state preschool program, from expelling or unenrolling a child because of a child's behavior, except as provided. Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to consider, in determining whether to issue a citation or impose a civil penalty to a state preschool program, whether the program is in the process of complying with the above law relating to expulsion or unenrollment. This bill would revise and recast the above provisions relating to the expulsion or unenrollment of a child from the state preschool program and would include a general childcare and development program and family childcare home education network program as part of those provisions, as provided. The bill would also establish requirements for the use of suspensions in the programs described above. The bill would require these programs to maintain records on expulsion and suspension, as provided. The bill would require, no later than January 1, 2024, and annually thereafter, the State Department of Education and the State Department of Social Services to collect and publish aggregate data on this information, as provided. The bill would require those departments, on or before July 1, 2022, to issue guidance for programs, within their respective jurisdictions, on implementing these requirements. The bill would also require those departments to collaborate to create guidelines for offering additional support and additional staff training for programs with exceptionally high numbers of suspension and expulsion, as specified. The bill would also prohibit the State Department of Social Services from issuing a citation or imposing a civil penalty to a child daycare facility if the facility is complying with specified standards. (2) The California Child Day Care Facilities Act generally requires the State Department of Social Services to license, inspect, and regulate various types of child daycare facilities, defined to include, among others, family daycare homes and daycare centers. A person who willfully or repeatedly violates any provision of the act or any rule or regulation promulgated under the act is guilty of a crime. The bill would also require a licensed child daycare facility, as specified, to utilize positive, age-appropriate behavior management strategies, as specified, and would require those licensed child daycare facilities to develop guidelines for expulsion and suspension. The bill would require, on or before July 1, 2022, the State Department of Social Services to issue guidance to implement those requirements. By expanding the scope of an existing crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) Existing law requires the cost to a childcare provider agency of providing an early childhood mental health consultation service, as defined, to be reimbursable if certain requirements are met, including that the consultation service is provided on a schedule of sufficient and consistent frequency and that is supervised and provided by specified mental health professionals. This bill would update the definition of mental health consultation service, revise the requirements relating to the nature and frequency of the consultation service provided, and expand the types of mental health care professionals who can provide the consultation service, as specified. The bill would require, among other things relating to the consultants, the contracting agency to ensure, within the first 30 days upon hire or start of consultation service, that a consultant have specified training. Existing law requires, in order to reflect the additional expense of serving children who meet specified criteria, the provider agency's reported child days of enrollment for these children be multiplied by specified adjustment factors. Existing law requires the adjustment factor for specified children who are served in the state preschool program, in general childcare and development programs, or in a family childcare home education network setting funded by a general childcare and development program, where early childhood mental health consultation services are provided, to be 1.05. This bill would increase that adjustment factor to 1.1. (4) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.