Healthy & Safety Code Sections 1596.70-1596.895, California Child Day Care Act
The California Child Day Care Act regulates day care facilities within community associations. The Legislature considers good quality child care services an essential service for parents. The following provisions of the Act are relevant to community associations.
1596.78.
(a) “Family daycare home” means a facility that regularly provides care, protection, and supervision for 14 or fewer children, in the provider's own home, for periods of less than 24 hours per day, while the parents or guardians are away, and is either a large family daycare home or a small family daycare home.
(b) “Large family daycare home” means a facility that provides care, protection, and supervision for 7 to 14 children, inclusive, including children under 10 years of age who reside at the home, as set forth in Section 1597.465 and as defined in regulations.
(c) “Small family daycare home” means a facility that provides care, protection, and supervision for eight or fewer children, including children under 10 years of age who reside at the home, as set forth in Section 1597.44 and as defined in regulations.
(d) A small family daycare home or large family daycare home includes a detached single-family dwelling, a townhouse, a dwelling unit within a dwelling, or a dwelling unit within a covered multifamily dwelling in which the underlying zoning allows for residential uses. A small family daycare home or large family daycare home is where the daycare provider resides, and includes a dwelling or a dwelling unit that is rented, leased, or owned.
(Amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 244, Sec. 3. (SB 234) Effective January 1, 2020.)
1597.40.
(a) It is the intent of the Legislature that family daycare homes for children should be situated in normal residential surroundings so as to give children the home environment that is conducive to healthy and safe development. It is the public policy of this state to provide children in a family daycare home the same home environment as provided in a traditional home setting.
(b) The Legislature declares this policy to be of statewide concern with the purpose of occupying the field. This act, the state building code, and the fire code, and regulations promulgated pursuant to those provisions, shall preempt local laws, regulations, and rules governing the use and occupancy of family daycare homes. Local laws, regulations, or rules shall not directly or indirectly prohibit or restrict the use of a facility as a family daycare home, including, but not limited to, precluding the operation of a family daycare home.
(Repealed and added by Stats. 2019, Ch. 244, Sec. 6. (SB 234) Effective January 1, 2020.)
1597.531.
(a) All family day care homes for children shall maintain in force either liability insurance covering injury to clients and guests in the amount of at least one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) per occurrence and three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000) in the total annual aggregate, sustained on account of the negligence of the licensee or its employees, or a bond in the aggregate amount of three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000). In lieu of the liability insurance or the bond, the family day care home may maintain a file of affidavits signed by each parent with a child enrolled in the home which meets the requirements of this subdivision. The affidavit shall state that the parent has been informed that the family day care home does not carry liability insurance or a bond according to standards established by the state. If the provider does not own the premises used as the family day care home, the affidavit shall also state that the parent has been informed that the liability insurance, if any, of the owner of the property or the homeowners' association, as appropriate, may not provide coverage for losses arising out of, or in connection with, the operation of the family day care home, except to the extent that the losses are caused by, or result from, an action or omission by the owner of the property or the homeowners' association, for which the owner of the property or the homeowners' association would otherwise be liable under the law. These affidavits shall be on a form provided by the department and shall be reviewed at each licensing inspection.
(b) A family day care home that maintains liability insurance or a bond pursuant to this section, and that provides care in premises that are rented or leased or uses premises which share common space governed by a homeowners' association, shall name the owner of the property or the homeowners' association, as appropriate, as an additional insured party on the liability insurance policy or bond if all of the following conditions are met:
(1) The owner of the property or governing body of the homeowners' association makes a written request to be added as an additional insured party.
(2) The addition of the owner of the property or the homeowners' association does not result in cancellation or nonrenewal of the insurance policy or bond carried by the family day care home.
(3) Any additional premium assessed for this coverage is paid by the owner of the property or the homeowners' association.
(c) As used in this section, “homeowners' association” means an association of a common interest development, as defined in Sections 4080 and 4100 of the Civil Code.
(Amended by Stats. 2012, Ch. 181, Sec. 62. (AB 806) Effective January 1, 2013. Operative January 1, 2014, by Sec. 86 of Ch. 181.)