BILL NUMBER: SB 548 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 4, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 17, 2015
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 1, 2015
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 14, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Senator De León
(Coauthors: Senators Hancock and Jackson)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Atkins and Weber)
FEBRUARY 26, 2015
An act to add Article 19.5 (commencing with Section 8430) to
Chapter 2 of Part 6 of Division 1 of Title 1 of the Education Code,
relating to child care.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 548, as amended, De León. Child care: family child care
providers: bargaining representative.
providers: training.
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 state-funded child
care 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 require the State Department of Education to ensure
that all family child care providers, as defined, attend an
in-person orientation training, as provided. The bill would require
the orientation training to include at least 4 hours of instruction
and include specified information, including minimum health and
safety standards. The bill would authorize the Superintendent to
adopt rules and regulations regarding the orientation training. The
bill would provide that the above provisions are contingent upon an
appropriation of funds for these purposes in the annual Budget Act or
other statutes.
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, as provided.
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 state-funded child care 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 that provides that the state
will require entities that make subsidy payments to providers,
including the contractors or subcontractors of state agencies and
departments, to deduct membership dues and other voluntary deductions
from those subsidy payments. The bill would prohibit provider
organizations from calling strikes. The bill would prohibit the state
and provider organizations from engaging in specified prohibited
behavior with each other and providers.
The bill would require the Governor or his or her designee to
perform a study of best practices for engaging families in their
children's early care and education in family child care settings, as
provided, and would require the Governor or his or her designee to
report to the Legislature and the Department of Finance on or before
January 1, 2017, with his or her findings and a proposed framework of
priorities in which to invest.
The bill would require a certified provider organization and the
state to form a Partnership on Child Care Training, Education, and
Quality Improvement made up of specified individuals. Among other
things, the bill would require the partnership to identify gaps in
the training available to family child care providers and barriers
that prevent family child care providers from gaining greater skills
and accessing postsecondary education, and issue recommendations on
an annual basis to improve the quality of care offered by licensed
and licensed-exempt family child care providers. The bill would
require the certified provider organization to carry out the
recommendations of the partnership.
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) Quality, affordable child care is essential to prepare
California's children to succeed in school and in life and to allow
families to work and contribute to the state's economy with the
assurance that their children are safe, well cared for, and learning.
(b) Family child care is the child care setting of choice for many
families because of its warm homelike environment, convenience, and
affordability. The flexibility offered by many family child care
providers is particularly vital to low-wage workers who are subject
to highly unpredictable work schedules, and to the many California
workers who work nontraditional hours and need child care on
evenings, overnights, and weekends. Close to 40 percent of licensed
family child care homes offer evening, weekend, and overnight care,
compared with only 2 percent of centers.
(c) Family child care providers are small business owners who
contribute significantly to the economies of their communities and
the state. As businesses, family child care providers are engines for
economic growth, generating 100,000 direct and indirect jobs, three
billion five hundred million dollars ($3,500,000,000) in economic
output, and five hundred fifty million dollars ($550,000,000) in tax
revenues. Family child care providers also contribute to the economy
by serving as a vital job support for working families.
(d) There is a need to improve the quality of child care and to
increase stability in the industry that is charged with providing
safe and quality care for children in California. Turnover among
child care providers is estimated at more than 30 percent per year,
more than four times higher than among teachers in the public school
system. Losing a caregiver leaves working parents scrambling to find
other arrangements and disrupts the children's cognitive and social
development, putting them at a disadvantage when it is time for them
to start school.
(e) Experienced child care providers who care for children under
California's state-funded child care program are leaving the
profession because extremely low reimbursement rates and a lack of
access to employment benefits mean they cannot afford to provide for
their own families. The child care workforce is almost exclusively
female and predominantly people of color, including many recent
immigrants, first-generation college students, and working mothers.
Nearly one-half of child care workers nationwide live in families
that rely on public support, compared to 25 percent in the overall
United States' workforce.
(f) The state's fragmented, disorganized system for paying child
care providers under the state-funded child care program, in which
more than 120 different agencies contract with the state to pay child
care providers, also contributes to this turnover. Child care
providers' pay is often late, reduced, or does not arrive at all, and
there is a lack of clear authority and redress when problems arise.
(g) Family child care providers' role in the state's child care
program gives them unique insight into how quality, access, and
stability could be improved for children and families. For the last
several years, child care providers have worked together with the
State Department of Education to make improvements to the state's
requirements for timeliness of payment and communications with child
care providers and families. This progress shows the value that child
care provider voices can add. But it also highlights the need for
child care providers to have a formal role in decisionmaking on
issues that shape the child care system and the way they carry out
their profession.
(h) To promote higher quality and greater access and stability in
the child care system, it is necessary to enact legislation to grant
family child care providers the right to choose a representative to
negotiate with the state over the operation of the state-funded child
care program. Permitting family child care providers a formal voice
will allow the state to get input from providers and to maximize its
return on its investment in child care, and will allow providers to
advocate to improve the quality, access, and stability of care
available to California's children and families.
(i) The existing system for providing training to child care
providers is a patchwork. Training is provided by hundreds of
different entities and is challenging to access for large numbers of
child care providers. Family child care providers also face
particular barriers to gaining greater skills and accessing
postsecondary education, including language barriers, scheduling of
classes that are incompatible with the operation of their family
child care homes, and lack of access to tutoring and mentoring. No
existing child care training programs address the issue of low wages
and the high cost of education and training. Consistent with the
state's focus on the improvement and expansion of workforce
development and apprenticeships to include lower wage workers, a
training partnership between the state and a certified provider
organization will be able to draw down federal and private funding to
add capacity to existing state training resources, from General
Educational Development (GED) and English language learner (ELL)
classes to providing support for child care providers who seek to
obtain higher education credentials in child development. This
training partnership will help build skills, knowledge, and
techniques to provide higher quality early learning for family child
care providers as well as center or school-based care providers.
Financial incentives, such as rate add-ons for child care providers
who obtain additional training or who complete apprenticeship
programs, will encourage participation, acknowledge additional skill,
and help ensure that child care providers with greater training
remain serving at-risk children.
(j) Parent engagement is a crucial part of children's success in
early care, in school, and later in life. Family child care providers'
role in the state's child care program gives them unique insight
into how quality, access, and stability could be improved for
children and families. Many parents choose home-based child care
providers due to shared values and culture, close personal
relationships, and provider flexibility with erratic work schedules.
Accordingly, pursuant to Section 8439 of the Education Code, the
Governor or his or her designee shall perform a study of best
practices for culturally competent parent engagement in family child
care, including in particular engagement of parents who work
nontraditional hours. The study shall determine how to most
effectively ensure that parents are involved with their children's
development and are better able to provide learning and other
developmental opportunities for their children at home in a
culturally appropriate manner. The goal of the study will be to
identify best practices that target low-income families and to
propose some options for a California parent engagement program as
well as identify possible funding sources for such work.
(d) Family child care providers face significant health and safety
risks on the job, and will thus benefit from training on
occupational safety and health.
(e) Giving family child care providers training on how to better
navigate the state-funded child care system, including how to become
licensed, will result in a more efficient and cost-effective system
for family child care providers, families, and the state.
(f) California currently does not have a single list of all family
child care providers who participate in the state-funded child care
program. Creating such a list will enable the state to track and
ensure compliance with training and background check requirements.
Making that list available to provider organizations that will enable
family child care providers to meet one another, be informed about
training opportunities, and form and build organizations will allow
them to share their common concerns and advocate to improve the
quality, access, and stability of child care available to California'
s children and families. This will allow the state to maximize its
return on its investment in child care.
SEC. 2. Article 19.5 (commencing with Section 8430) is added to
Chapter 2 of Part 6 of Division 1 of Title 1 of the Education Code,
to read:
Article 19.5. Raising Child Care Quality and
Accessibility Act
8430. This article shall be known, and may be cited, as the
Raising Child Care Quality and Accessibility Act.
8430.5. (a) The purpose of this article is to promote quality,
access, and stability in the child care system by authorizing an
appropriate unit of family child care providers to choose a provider
organization to act as their exclusive representative for purposes of
the meet and confer process set forth in this article and the
administration and enforcement of any resulting memorandum of
understanding; by establishing a training partnership between the
state and that exclusive representative; and by conducting a study of
best practices for parent engagement in home-based early care and
education. It is also the purpose of this article to promote full
communication between family child care providers and the state by
permitting a provider organization certified as the representative of
family child care providers to meet and confer with the state
regarding the state's child care system.
(b) This article does not change the family child care providers'
status as independent business owners or classify family child care
providers as public employees.
8431. The purpose of this article is to ensure that family child
care providers receive orientation training on subjects including
occupational health and safety practices and standards and the state'
s early learning foundations, and to make it more possible for family
child care providers to be informed about training opportunities and
to form and join provider organizations to share their common
concerns and advocate for improvements to the state-funded child care
system.
8431.
8432. As used in this article:
(a) "Certified provider organization" means a provider
organization that is, or provider organizations that jointly are,
certified by the Public Employment Relations Board as the exclusive
representative of family child care providers in an appropriate unit
after a proceeding under Section 8434.
(b)
(a) "Family child care provider" or "provider" means a
child care provider that participates in a state-funded child care
program and is either of the following:
(1) A family day care home provider, as described in Section
1596.78 of the Health and Safety Code, who is licensed pursuant to
the requirement in Section 1596.80 of the Health and Safety Code.
(2) An individual who meets both of the following criteria:
(A) Provides child care in his or her own home or in the home of
the child receiving care.
(B) Is exempt from licensing requirements pursuant to Section
1596.792 of the Health and Safety Code.
(c) "Maintenance of checkoff" means an agreement between a
provider and a provider organization that the provider's
authorization for the deduction of union dues or their equivalent can
only be withdrawn during a designated window period.
(d)
(b) "Provider organization" means an organization that
has all of the following characteristics:
(1) Includes family child care providers as members.
(2) Has as one of its main purposes the representation of family
child care providers in their relations with public or private
entities in California and or in advancing
the concerns of providers regarding the terms of their
participation in state-funded child care programs.
(3) Is not an entity that contracts with the state or a county to
administer or process payments for a state-funded child care program.
(e) "Public Employment Relations Board" or "board" means the
Public Employment Relations Board established pursuant to Section
3541 of the Government Code. The powers and duties of the board
described in Sections 3514.5, 3520.5, and 3541.3 of the Government
Code, and the respective implementing regulations, shall apply, as
appropriate, to this article to the extent those procedures are not
inconsistent with the procedures specified in this article. If a
provision of this article is the same or substantially the same as
that contained in Chapter 10 (commencing with Section 3500), Chapter
10.3 (commencing with Section 3512), or Chapter 10.7 (commencing with
Section 3540) of Division 4 of Title 1 of the Government Code, it
shall be interpreted and applied in accordance with the regulations
and judicial interpretations of the provision in those statutes.
(f)
(c) "State-funded child care program" means a program
administered by the State Department of Education, the State
Department of Social Services, or another department, agency, or
political subdivision of the state, including programs established
subsequent to the passage of this article, to subsidize early
learning and care for children, but not including the public
education system.
8431.5. The state action antitrust exemption to the application
of federal and state antitrust laws is applicable to the activities
of family child care providers and their representatives authorized
under this article.
8432. Family child care providers have the right to form, join,
and participate in the activities of provider organizations of their
own choosing for the purpose of being represented in all matters
specified in this article. Family child care providers have the right
to refuse to join or participate in the activities of provider
organizations. This article does not change the rights of family
child care providers to represent themselves individually in their
relations with the state, agencies or departments of the state,
contractors of the state, parents, or others, or their rights to
speak to and petition the government with respect to all aspects of
the state's child care program or any other topic.
8432.5. Family child care providers are not public employees, and
this article does not create an employer-employee relationship
between family child care providers and the state or a public or
private nonprofit entity for any purpose, including, but not limited
to, eligibility for health or retirement benefits or vicarious
liability in tort. This article does not alter the status of a family
child care provider as a business owner, an employee of a family, or
a contractor.
8433. This article does not alter the rights of families to
select, direct, and terminate the services of family child care
providers.
8433. (a) To ensure that family child care providers have the
opportunity to receive substantive training on topics including
health and safety standards for child care workers, child care
subsidy program functioning, and the state's early learning
foundations, the State Department of Education shall ensure that all
family child care providers attend an in-person orientation training.
Providers who are new to the state-funded child care program shall
complete the orientation training within three months after they
begin participating in the state-funded child care program. Providers
who are already participating in the state-funded child care program
shall complete the orientation training within two years after it is
first offered. Other child care providers who are not family child
care providers or who do not participate in the state-funded child
care program may also be invited to attend the orientation training
at no cost to the providers personally.
(b) Family child care providers shall be compensated for their
time attending the orientation training. The orientation training
shall be offered at times and in community-based settings that are
convenient and accessible to family child care providers.
(c) If a substantial number of the family child care providers
participating in the state-funded child care program in a given
county are non-English speaking, some orientation training, including
written material distributed at the training, in that county shall
be provided in the languages spoken by a substantial number of family
child care providers, in order to facilitate full participation from
all providers.
(d) Alternatives to in-person orientation training shall be
offered on a case-by-case basis for providers who have been unable to
attend an orientation training within two years after the training
are first offered, or within three months after the family child care
provider begins participating in the state-funded child care
program.
(e) An orientation training shall include at least four hours of
instruction and shall include information about all of the following:
(1) Minimum health and safety standards, as required by Section
658E of the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act (42 U.S.C.
Sec. 9858c).
(2) Occupational health and safety for family child care
providers, including information about injuries, infectious diseases,
environmental risks, and job-related stress.
(3) Information about the state-funded child care program,
including the referral and listing process of resource and referral
agencies, alternative payment programs, including family approval and
payment processes, timelines, appeals processes, licensing
guidelines, and the process for becoming a licensed family child care
provider.
(4) Information about the state's early learning foundations and
how they align with K-5 standards.
(5) Information on resources available to providers and the
children and families they serve, including all of the following:
(A) The federal Child and Adult Care Food Program.
(B) The state early intervention system, First 5 county
commissions, and other sources of available training and resources,
particularly related to child development, literacy, and alignment
with K-5 standards.
(C) Information from provider organizations that notify the State
Department of Education they would like to make presentations at or
include information about their organizations at orientation
training. These programs or organizations may deliver this
information through brief presentations as part of the orientation
training.
(f) The State Department of Education shall offer the orientation
training either directly or through contracts. The occupational
safety and health portion of the training shall be offered through
contracts with a statewide organization that has expertise about the
state-funded child care program, that includes family child care
providers as members, and that is not an entity that contracts with
the state or a county to administer or process payments for a
state-funded child care program.
(g) Only curriculum approved by the State Department of Education
may be used to fulfill the training requirements specified in this
section. In order to ensure that the occupational safety and health
portion of the training reflects providers' needs and the realities
of their work with regard to the occupational safety and health
portion of the training, the State Department of Education shall only
approve training curriculum that has been developed with input from
family child care providers or their representatives.
(h) The Superintendent may adopt rules and regulations regarding
the orientations required under this section. The Superintendent may
consult with other appropriate entities, including provider
organizations and other early education and care advocates,
representatives of community colleges, higher education institutions,
resource and referral networks, First 5 county commissions,
organizations that operate training programs or apprenticeship
programs, and early education and care employers in developing these
rules and regulations.
(i) The requirements of this section are contingent upon
appropriation of funds for purposes of this section in the annual
Budget Act or other statutes.
8433.5. 8434. (a) Within 10 days of
receipt of a request from a provider organization, the State
Department of Social Services shall make available to that provider
organization information regarding family child care providers
described in paragraph (1) of subdivision (b)
(a) of Section 8431, 8432,
including each provider's name, home address, mailing address,
telephone number, email address, if known, and license number.
(b) Within 30 days of receipt of a request from a provider
organization, the State Department of Education, with the assistance
of the State Department of Social Services and any state department
or agency, or its contractor or subcontractor, in possession of the
relevant information, shall collect information regarding family
child care providers, including each provider's name, home address,
mailing address, telephone number, email address, if known, unique
provider identification number, if applicable, and shall make that
information available to the provider organization. The provider
organization shall bear the reasonable costs of collecting the
information described in this subdivision to the extent that the
state is not already collecting it and is not already required by
federal or state law or regulation to collect it.
(c) A provider organization under this article shall be considered
a family day care organization for purposes of subdivisions (b) and
(c) of Section 1596.86 of the Health and Safety Code. All
confidentiality requirements applicable to recipients of information
pursuant to Section 1596.86 of the Health and Safety Code apply to
provider organizations and shall apply also to protect the personal
information of family child care providers as defined in paragraph
(2) of subdivision (a) of Section 8432.
(c) Upon the request of a certified provider organization, the
State Department of Social Services and the State Department of
Education shall make available to that organization the information
specified in subdivisions (a) and (b), updated on a monthly basis.
(d) A provider organization under this article shall be considered
a family day care organization for purposes of subdivisions (b) and
(c) of Section 1596.86 of the Health and Safety Code. All
confidentiality requirements applicable to recipients of information
pursuant to Section 1596.86 of the Health and Safety Code apply to
provider organizations and shall apply also to protect the personal
information of family child care providers as defined in paragraph
(2) of subdivision (b) of Section 8431. Information provided pursuant
to this section shall be used only for purposes of organizing and
representing family child care providers.
(e)
(d) Upon written request of a family child care
provider, the State Department of Education and the State Department
of Social Services shall remove the family child care provider's home
address and home telephone number from the mailing lists referenced
in subdivisions (a), (b), and (c) (a) and (b)
before the release of the lists.
8434. (a) An appropriate unit of family child care providers, as
described in subdivision (e), may designate, in accordance with this
article, the provider organization, if any, that shall be its
exclusive representative. The board shall certify a provider
organization designated by an appropriate unit of family child care
providers as the exclusive representative of those providers.
(b) Requests for elections, challenges, competing claims, requests
for intervention, and requests for decertification shall be filed
with, received by, and acted upon by the board, in accordance with
its rules and regulations, provided that a valid petition for a
certification or decertification election is resolved by a secret
ballot election among
family child care providers. The board may designate a neutral third
party to act on any of the requests filed with the board pursuant to
this subdivision.
(c) A provider organization petitioning for an election to be
certified by the board as the exclusive representative for an
appropriate group of providers shall include in its petition proof of
a 30-percent showing of interest designating the provider
organization to act as the exclusive representative of the providers.
The provider organization shall pay the reasonable costs of
verifying this showing of interest. The board, or a neutral third
party designated by the board to act on a request for an election,
shall consider a document evidencing a family child care provider's
support, or lack of support, for a provider organization valid if it
was signed by the family child care provider within two years of the
date it is submitted to the board.
(d) All provider organizations placed on the ballot shall share
equally the cost of an election.
(e) There shall be no more than one bargaining unit at any time. A
unit of providers shall be considered an appropriate unit if it is a
statewide unit and is any of the following:
(1) All family child care providers described in subdivision (b)
of Section 8431 in the state.
(2) All family child care providers described in paragraph (1) of
subdivision (b) of Section 8431.
(3) All family child care providers described in paragraph (2) of
subdivision (b) of Section 8431.
(f) A certified provider organization shall represent each
provider in the represented unit fairly with respect to matters
within the scope of the certified provider organization's role as
exclusive representative of the bargaining unit, without
discrimination and without regard to whether the provider is a member
of the provider organization.
(g) A certified provider organization may file a request with the
board for an election to add providers to an existing unit, to be
voted on by a group of providers proposed to be added to the unit,
based on a showing of interest by 30 percent of the providers
proposed to be added to the unit, at any point after the provider
organization has been certified as an exclusive representative. This
article does not require a one-year waiting period after the provider
organization has been certified as an exclusive representative
before the election, authorized pursuant to this subdivision, can be
held.
8434.5. The scope of representation shall include all of the
following:
(a) The administration of laws and regulations governing licensing
for providers.
(b) Joint labor-management committees.
(c) Contract grievance arbitration.
(d) Expanded access to professional development and training
opportunities for providers, including, but not limited to, through
the training partnership established pursuant to Section 8439.5, and
state contributions to carry out the recommendations of the training
partnership.
(e) Benefits for providers.
(f) Payment procedures for state-funded child care programs.
(g) Reimbursement rates, including, but not limited to, rate
add-ons for providers who complete additional training, and other
economic matters.
(h) Expanded access to and funding for food and nutrition
programs.
(i) The deduction of membership dues and other voluntary
deductions authorized by individual family child care providers,
including, but not limited to, honoring maintenance of checkoff
agreements, and allocation of the costs of implementing such a
deduction system.
(j) Expanded access to the state-funded child care program to
families in need of subsidies.
(k) Any changes to current practice other than those listed in
subdivisions (a) to (j), inclusive, that would do any of the
following:
(1) Improve recruitment and retention of qualified providers.
(2) Improve the quality of the programs.
(3) Encourage qualified providers to seek additional education and
training.
(4) Promote the health and safety of providers and the children in
their care.
8435. (a) The Governor, through the Department of Human
Resources, in consultation with the Superintendent, other state
agencies that administer state-funded child care programs, and their
contractors, as needed, shall meet and confer in good faith regarding
all matters within the scope of representation with representatives
of a certified provider organization and, before arriving at a
determination of policy or course of action, shall consider fully the
presentations made by the certified provider organization on behalf
of the providers it represents.
(b) As used in this section, "meet and confer in good faith" means
that the Governor, through the Department of Human Resources, and
representatives of the certified provider organization shall have the
mutual obligation to meet and confer promptly upon request by either
party and continue for a reasonable period of time in order to
exchange freely information, opinions, and proposals. The duty to
meet and confer in good faith also requires the parties to begin
negotiations sufficiently in advance of the adoption of the state's
final budget for the ensuing fiscal year so that there is adequate
time for agreement to be reached before the adoption of the final
budget and for the resolution of an impasse.
8435.5. (a) If agreement is reached between the Governor, through
the Department of Human Resources, and the certified provider
organization, they jointly shall prepare a written memorandum of
understanding. Any portions of the memorandum of understanding
requiring appropriation by the Legislature or statutory or regulatory
revisions shall be subject to legislative approval of those
appropriations or statutory or regulatory revisions.
(b) A memorandum of understanding between the Governor, through
the Department of Human Resources, and the certified provider
organization is binding on all state departments and agencies that
are involved in the administration of the state-funded child care
program, and the relevant contractors or subcontractors of those
departments and agencies.
(c) An agreement pursuant to this section may provide for binding
arbitration of grievances concerning the interpretation, application,
or violation of the agreement.
(d) This article does not alter the requirements governing the
child care reimbursement system that are set forth in Section 8222.
8436. (a) A certified provider organization shall have the right
to enter into an agreement with the state that provides that the
state will require entities that make subsidy payments to providers,
including the contractors or subcontractors of state agencies and
departments, to deduct membership dues and other voluntary deductions
from those subsidy payments.
(b) If the deduction of membership dues or other voluntary
deductions for a provider requires action by more than one agency,
department, contractor, or subcontractor, the certified provider
organization shall establish procedures to ensure both of the
following:
(1) The total amount deducted does not exceed the total dues and
other voluntary deductions owed by that provider.
(2) The administrative procedures for deducting dues and other
voluntary deductions are reasonable.
(c) The state, its agencies and departments, and their contractors
and subcontractors shall not be liable in any action by a provider
seeking recovery of, or damage for, improper calculation or use of
dues or other voluntary deductions.
8436.5. (a) It is unlawful for the state, including its agencies,
boards, commissions, departments, public benefit corporations,
political subdivisions, contractors, subcontractors, or employees, to
do to the providers or provider organizations any of the things made
unlawful under Section 3519 of the Government Code.
(b) It shall be unlawful for a provider organization to do to the
state or to the providers any of the things made unlawful under
Section 3519.5 of the Government Code.
(c) For purposes of subdivisions (a) and (b), the references in
subdivision (e) of Section 3519 of, and subdivision (d) of Section
3519.5 of, the Government Code to "the mediation procedure set forth
in Section 3518" shall be deemed to refer to the impasse procedures
set forth in Section 8437.5.
(d) The initial determination as to whether charges of unfair
practices are justified and, if so, what remedy is necessary to
effectuate the purposes of this article shall be a matter within the
exclusive jurisdiction of the board.
8437. A provider organization shall not direct or call a strike.
8437.5. If after a reasonable period of time the parties fail to
reach agreement, the parties may agree to submit unresolved issues to
the California State Mediation and Conciliation Service established
by the Department of Industrial Relations for mediation or binding
arbitration, or either party may declare that an impasse has been
reached and request the board to appoint a mediator or an arbitrator
from the California State Mediation and Conciliation Service to
perform mediation or binding arbitration. A memorandum of
understanding reached by means of mediation or arbitration is subject
to appropriation by the Legislature and necessary statutory and
regulatory revisions.
8438. If preservice or orientation trainings are held for
providers by the state or a department, contractor, agency, or
political subdivision of the state, a certified provider organization
shall be permitted to make a brief presentation about the
organization and its activities, its negotiations and memorandum of
understanding, and membership at the preservice or orientation
trainings.
8439. (a) The Governor or his or her designee shall perform a
study of best practices for engaging families in their children's
early care and education in family child care settings, and of
federal and other funding streams that could support this work
without reducing the availability and affordability of child care in
California, and shall report to the Legislature and the Department of
Finance, on or before January 1, 2017, with its findings and a
proposed framework of priorities in which to invest. In performing
the study, the Governor or his or her designee shall consult with
stakeholders, including the State Department of Social Services,
First 5 California, and organizations that represent parents with
young children, particularly lower income and non-English-speaking
families, to consider how best to engage and support those families
in a culturally competent manner.
(b) (1) A report submitted to the Legislature pursuant to this
section shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the
Government Code.
(2) The requirement for submitting a report pursuant to this
section shall become inoperative on January 1, 2021, pursuant to
Section 10231.5 of the Government Code.
8439.5. (a) If a provider organization is certified pursuant to
Section 8434, the state and the certified provider organization shall
establish a training partnership that will consist of a Partnership
on Child Care Training, Education, and Quality Improvement, made up
of representatives of the certified provider organization and
designees of the Governor. The partnership shall make recommendations
regarding, and oversee, the expenditures referred to in subdivision
(e). The partnership may consult with other early education and care
advocates, the Superintendent or his or her designees,
representatives of community colleges, higher education institutions,
resource and referral networks, workforce investment boards, the
Division of Apprenticeship Standards of the Department of Industrial
Relations, organizations that operate training programs,
apprenticeship programs, and early education and care employers. The
certified provider organization shall carry out the recommendations
of the partnership.
(b) The partnership shall meet to identify gaps in the training
available to family child care providers and barriers that prevent
family child care providers from gaining greater skills and accessing
postsecondary education, and issue recommendations on an annual
basis to improve the quality of care offered by licensed and
licensed-exempt family child care providers.
(c) The partnership shall play a coordinating role in ensuring
that the training offered to providers meets the state's needs for
the overall child care workforce; satisfies the health, safety, and
educational standards prescribed by the state; aligns with the state'
s quality rating systems; and identifies and works to eliminate
barriers to providers accessing training in order to create a
sustainable career pathway for the early education workforce.
(d) The partnership's recommendations may include, but are not
limited to: ways to access federal and private funding for training
to expand capacity to existing state training resources, such as
general education classes and English language learner classes; ways
to expand and improve provider training and skills on subjects
including, but not limited to, child literacy, children with special
needs, and children's social and emotional development; ways to
support providers who seek to obtain training or higher education
credentials in child development or a related field; ways to work
with existing training providers and educational institutions,
including, but not limited to, resource and referral networks,
community colleges, workforce investment boards, and apprenticeship
programs; and ways to make training and education, which may include
unit-bearing courses and training, available to child care workers
and other workers employed by child care centers and schools.
(e) It is the intent of the Legislature that the recommendations
of the partnership shall be funded by contributions agreed to for
that purpose in the memorandum of understanding between the provider
organization and the Governor, through the Department of Human
Resources, as specified in Section 8435.5.