The act requires at least one director or teacher at each daycare center and each family daycare home licensee who provides care to complete at least 15 hours of specified health and safety training that includes pediatric first aid, pediatric CPR, and preventive health practices.

This bill would instead require all staff who provide childcare at those facilities, each family daycare home licensee, and each substitute adult in a family daycare home to complete that training. The bill would also require those staff to complete a minimum of 12 hours of continuing education annually and would require that training to cover specified topics, including, among others, emergency and disaster preparedness and response planning. By expanding the scope of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The act also requires a child daycare license applicant and administrators and employees of a licensed child daycare facility to complete mandated reporter training and to complete renewal mandated reporter training every 2 years. Existing law exempts a person from that requirement if they have limited English proficiency and training is not made available in their primary language.

This bill would delete that exemption and authorize the department to implement, interpret, or make specific the above-described provisions by means of written directives, interim licensing standards, or similar instructions from the department until regulations are adopted. By expanding the scope of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

Existing law requires an applicant for a license to operate a daycare center or a family daycare home to provide with their application evidence satisfactory to the department that there is a disaster plan for the facility.

This bill would instead refer to that plan as an emergency and disaster plan and specify the components that the plan is required to include, including, among other things, evacuation procedures, a contact information list, and procedures for reunification of children in care with a parent or legal guardian after an emergency or disaster. The bill would require a facility to provide training on the plan to each staff member and volunteer, as specified, and review the plan annually. The bill would also require a facility to have specified information readily available during an emergency or disaster, including a roster of children in care for that day, and to have a set of keys available for use during an evacuation. The bill would require a child daycare facility to be in compliance with these provisions on and after January 1, 2027. By expanding the scope of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.