AB 2827 – Revises Outdoor Activity Space For Child Daycare Facilities Regulations By January 1, 2024

The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) administers the California Child Day Care Facilities Act, which provides for the licensure and regulation of child daycare facilities through law and regulation.  Under existing regulations, child daycare facilities must have an outdoor activity space with at least 75 square feet per child based on the total licensed capacity, unless the child daycare facility has obtained an approved waiver of or exception to that requirement from the Community Care Licensing Division of CDSS.  The existing regulations make a willful or repeated violation of this requirement a misdemeanor.

Assembly Bill 2827 (AB 2827) directs the Department of Social Services to revise its regulations with regard to outdoor activity spaces as follows:

• Permit children with exceptional needs, as defined by Education Code Section 8205, who are enrolled in separate programs or classrooms from nondisabled children to use outdoor activity spaces simultaneously with nondisabled children without requiring the child daycare facility to first obtain an approved waiver or exception.
• Specify any health and safety requirements that must be met when children with exceptional needs and nondisabled children are simultaneously using an outdoor activity space.

AB 2827 authorizes the CDSS to implement these requirements by means of an all-county letter or similar instruction issued on or before January 1, 2024.

(AB 2827 adds Section 1596.804 to the Health and Safety Code.)