High-quality Early Learning and Care (ECE) keeps children safe and healthy while ​setting the foundation upon which future learning is built. There are widespread staffing challenges for early childhood programs leading to less access for children to high-quality programs. This bill would remove a regulatory barrier that contributes to staffing shortages.

​Equity Impact:​
Subsidized early childhood programs are often unable to serve all the children they could due to staffing shortages, leading to vulnerable families being unable to find suitable care. This bill would increase access to early learning and childcare for California children.​​​

Summary:
County Offices of Education provide educational services to youth who are at juvenile detention facilities operated by county Probation Departments. Despite a constitutional right to an equitable education, some students are being denied access to education as a means of punishment and control. This bill would increase transparency of absenteeism at court schools and provide authority to a state agency to investigate facilities with high absenteeism rates.​

​Equity Impact:
Students at juvenile detention facilities are disproportionately children of color who faced challenges in graduating prior to confinement. This bill would increase access to education and remove barriers to students graduating from school.
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Summary:
Families of children with disabilities have greater difficulty finding an early learning and care provider who will accept their child and are three times more likely to experience job disruptions because they are unable to secure reliable childcare. This bill would increase access to childcare for children with disabilities by removing regulatory barriers that prevent children from being enrolled for months while maintaining fire safety. 

​Equity Impact:
Access to early learning reduces the prevalence and severity of disabilities and increases the likelihood that a child with a disability will graduate with their peers. This bill would increase access to early learning and childcare for children with disabilities.​

Summary:
During the pandemic, the state temporarily allowed state preschool programs to receive reimbursement based on student enrollment rather than attendance rates. This created greater fiscal stability for providers by protecting programs from the volatility of day to day attendance and prioritized health of children and staff. This bill would permanently extend enrollment-based funding as an option for preschool providers. 

​Equity Impact:
Reliable funding allows childcare providers to offer stable and safe programs for children and increased staff wages. This bill would provide more families with access to high-quality childcare.​​

Summary:
Within California’s K-12 school system, approximately 270,000 students are experiencing homelessness. While students experiencing homelessness receive services during their enrollment in school, between graduation and enrollment in post-secondary education many homeless youth experience a stark drop off in services. This leads to many students being unable to successfully enroll in college. This bill would provide guaranteed income to 12th grade students experiencing homelessness to support their transition from high school to employment and postsecondary education.

​Equity Impact:
Youth experiencing homelessness are disproportionately low-income, LGBTQ+, and children of color. This bill would provide fiscal stability to vulnerable youth to help them exit homelessness. ​​

Summary:
Even when mental health and substance use treatment is prescribed by a patient's physician, the patient’s health plan can deny authorization of the treatment. The health plan’s utilization decisions are often made by staff who are not medical experts and without the same clinical background as the physician who recommended the treatment. This bill would ensure that Californians with mental health and substance use disorders receive the level of treatment necessary by creating standards for health plans’ utilization decisions.

​Equity Impact:
Mental health challenges are the leading cause of disability and poor life outcomes among young people. This bill would increase access to necessary medical services for children and youth whose families cannot afford treatment that is not covered by their insurance. ​​

Summary:
Education Code requires all public schools to adopt a youth suicide prevention policy. The current model policy instructs school staff to “Call 911” as the first response to a youth experiencing a mental health crisis. This bill would revise the model policy to include protocols for addressing a student mental health crisis in a way that prioritizes use of mental health professionals rather than law enforcement.

​Equity Impact:
Law enforcement officers often have no training on how to address a mental health crisis and their presence may exacerbate an already volatile situation. This bill will ensure appropriately trained professionals are the first response to a student mental health crisis.​