Existing law, the California Community Care Facilities Act, generally provides for the licensing and regulation of community care facilities, including child daycare facilities, by the State Department of Social Services. Existing law also requires the State Public Health Officer to establish rules and regulations establishing minimum standards for organized camps, defined as a site with a program and facilities established for the primary purposes of providing an outdoor group living experience with social, spiritual, educational, or recreational objectives, for 5 days or more during one or more seasons of the year, except as specified.

This bill would require the State Department of Social Services to establish and lead a stakeholder workgroup to gather information and provide recommendations to the Legislature regarding development of subsequent legislation inform department regulations for children’s camps. The bill would define a “children’s camp” for these purposes as a program that offers daytime or overnight experiences administered by adults, that provides social, cultural, educational, recreational, or artistic programming to more than 5 children between 3 and 17 years of age for 5 days or longer, with specified exceptions. The bill would require the stakeholder group to be composed of representatives of designated state entities, including, but not limited to, the State Department of Public Health and the State Department of Education. The bill would authorize require the department to consult with other stakeholders, as needed, such as parent advocate groups, children’s advocates and safety groups, and local parks and health departments. The bill would require the workgroup to consider regulatory goals, including establishing child supervision requirements, facility safety standards, and requirements for camp licensure and regulation, as prescribed. The bill would require the workgroup, under the direction of the department, to establish a workplan for achieving and implementing the regulatory goals identified in the bill, including relevant benchmarks and timelines. The bill would require the department to submit the workplan to the Legislature by an unspecified date.