Pilot Legislative Report
Executive Summary of the legislative report mandated by Assembly Bill 1294 (Statutes of 2021).Report to the Legislature:
Recommendations from the Individualized County Child Care Subsidy Pilot Program Flexibilities
Executive Summary
This report is submitted in compliance with Education Code (EC) Section 8282.6, which was codified through the passage of Assembly Bill (AB) 1294 (Chapter 497, Statutes of 2021). The statute requires the California Department of Education (CDE) and the California Department of Social Services (CDSS), hereafter referred to collectively as the Departments, to review the existing individualized county childcare subsidy (pilot) plans and submit a report to the California State Legislature.
The Pilot Program was authorized by the Legislature to allow certain counties to adopt local policies (flexibilities) that supersede specified areas of statute or regulations. These flexibilities allowed pilot counties to overcome statutory and regulatory barriers to addressing local needs, thereby increasing access to care for vulnerable children and families and reducing unspent contract funds. This report includes recommendations on which pilot flexibilities should be adopted statewide and which are no longer justified given statewide policy changes.
The CDSS identified the following policy, given its success as a pilot flexibility, that the Legislature may wish to consider the policy implications of for adoption as state law:
- Instituting 24-month eligibility for all CDSS-administered childcare programs, except the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) Stage 1 program
The CDE is not recommending any pilot flexibilities for adoption for the California State Preschool Program (CSPP).
Additionally, both the CDSS and the CDE identified the pilot flexibilities that are no longer justified due to the following changes in state policy:
- An increase in the income eligibility threshold, a change in the definition of a three-year-old, and elimination of the enrollment quota for four-year-old children were codified by AB 2626 (Chapter 945, Statutes of 2018).
- Process of rate reform to create a unified reimbursement rate structure for all early learning and care programs was initiated by AB 131 (Chapter 116, Statutes of 2021).
- 24-month eligibility for most childcare programs was codified by AB 210 (Chapter 62, Statutes of 2022) and Senate Bill (SB) 1047 (Chapter 923, Statutes of 2022).
- Changes to the threshold for full-time reimbursement were enacted by SB 140 (Chapter 193, Statutes of 2023), removing the need for pilot flexibilities that increase service hours for families who are subject to service limitations.
This report is available on the CDE Individualized County Child Care Subsidy Plan web page at https://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/cd/ci/pilotprogram.asp and the CDSS Individualized County Child Care Subsidy (Pilot) Program: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) web page at https://www.cdss.ca.gov/inforesources/child-care-and-development/individualized-county-child-care-subsidy-program.
Return to the Individualized County Child Care Subsidy Program web page