California Assembly Bill AB304 Latest Draft

 BILL NUMBER: AB 304AMENDED BILL TEXT AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 21, 2009 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 16, 2009 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Price FEBRUARY 17, 2009 An act to amend Section 8222 of the Education Code, relating to child care and development. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 304, as amended, Price. Child Care and Development Services Act: alternative payment programs. The Child Care and Development Services Act, administered by the State Department of Education, provides that children up to 13 years of age are eligible, with certain requirements, for child care and development services. The act requires the department to contract with local contracting agencies to provide for alternative payment programs  ,  and authorizes alternative payments to be made for services provided in licensed centers and family day care homes  ,  for care provided in the child's home, and for other types of care that conform to applicable law.  The act prohibits payments made by alternative payment programs from exceeding the applicable market rate ceiling, but allows alternative   payment programs to expend more than the standard reimbursement rate for a particular child, provided that the aggregate payments for services purchased by the agency during the contract year do not exceed the assigned reimbursable amount as established by the contract for the year.  This bill would  delete that authority to expend more than the standard reimbursement rate for a particular child. The bill, in addition, would  require an alternative payment program to establish a program of  direct deposit by  electronic  transfer   banking  for payments made to  licensed and license-exempt  family day care homes, and to implement that program no later than  6 months   one year  after  this act   the bill  takes effect. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) The state has a responsibility to ensure accountability, transparency, and efficiency regarding funds allocated for the provision of subsidized child care for working families. (b) The program operated by the state should be cost-effective, streamlined, and simple to administer in order to ensure adequate care for children placed in family day care homes, while not placing undue burdens on the providers. (c) The state has a compelling interest in retaining quality family day care providers and promoting best practices, fiscal accountability, and reducing fraud and waste in California's system of subsidized child care. SEC. 2. Section 8222 of the Education Code is amended to read: 8222. (a) Payments made by alternative payment programs shall not exceed the applicable market rate ceiling.  Alternative payment programs may expend more than the standard reimbursement rate for a particular child. However, the aggregate payments for services purchased by the agency during the contract year shall not exceed the assigned reimbursable amount as established by the contract for the year.  An agency shall not make payments in excess of the rate charged to full-cost families. This section does not preclude alternative payment programs from using the average daily enrollment adjustment factor for children with exceptional needs as provided in Section 8265.5. (b) Alternative payment programs shall reimburse licensed child care providers in accordance with a biennial market rate survey pursuant to Section 8447, at a rate not to exceed the ceilings established pursuant to Section 8357. (c) An alternative payment program shall reimburse a licensed provider for child care of a subsidized child based on the rate charged by the provider to nonsubsidized families, if any, for the same services, or the rates established by the provider for prospective nonsubsidized families. A licensed child care provider shall submit to the alternative payment program a copy of the provider's rate sheet listing the rates charged, and the provider's discount or scholarship policies, if any, along with a statement signed by the provider confirming that the rates charged for a subsidized child are equal to or less than the rates charged for a nonsubsidized child. (d) An alternative payment program shall maintain a copy of the rate sheet and the confirmation statement. (e) A licensed child care provider shall submit to the local resource and referral agency a copy of the provider's rate sheet listing rates charged, and the provider's discount or scholarship policies, if any, and shall self-certify that the information is correct. (f) Each licensed child care provider may alter rate levels for subsidized children once per year and shall provide the alternative payment program and resource and referral agency with the updated information pursuant to subdivisions (c) and (e), to reflect any changes. (g) A licensed child care provider shall post in a prominent location adjacent to the provider's license at the child care facility the provider's rates and discounts or scholarship policies, if any. (h) An alternative payment program shall verify provider rates no less than once a year by randomly selecting 10 percent of licensed child care providers serving subsidized families. The purpose of this verification process is to confirm that rates reported to the alternative payment programs reasonably correspond to those reported to the resource and referral agency and the rates actually charged to nonsubsidized families for equivalent levels of services. It is the intent of the Legislature that the privacy of nonsubsidized families shall be protected in implementing this subdivision. (i) The department shall develop regulations for addressing discrepancies in the provider rate levels identified through the rate verification process in subdivision (h). (j) (1) An alternative payment program shall establish a program of  direct deposit by electronic transfer   electronic banking  for payments made to  licensed or license-exempt  family day care homes that have a contract with that alternative payment program. A family day care home  provider  may choose to receive payments via  direct deposit   electronic banking  at the family day care home provider's option. The family day care home provider may  , but is not required to,  authorize payment to be directly deposited by electronic fund transfer into the family day care home provider's account at the financial institution of his or her choice. (2) Nothing in this subdivision shall preclude an alternative payment program that has  a direct deposit   an electronic banking  program in place prior to the effective date of this subdivision from continuing to require a provider  , including child care centers and family day care homes,  to accept direct deposit or another form of electronic payment after the effective date of this subdivision. (3) An alternative payment program shall implement  a direct deposit   an electronic banking  program pursuant to this subdivision no later than  six months   one year  from the effective date of this subdivision.