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CSDA, together with other local government organizations, is working with recreation and park districts and the State of California to achieve the flexibility special districts and other local agencies need to help their communities confront the COVID-19 pandemic. With many schools moving to remote learning and with limited childcare options, families are turning to special districts for support. CSDA recently advocated for a statewide waiver for districts to provide youth day and after school programming, as well as successfully opposed legislation that would have restricted similar efforts.   

CSDA Requests Emergency Waiver for Park Districts’ Youth Programs

CSDA and other local government organizations are seeking a statewide, temporary waiver for public entities that already provide youth programming in an effort to support parents and children as schools move to distance learning. There is a need in many communities to offer more youth programs beyond the current hours of operation to support working families whose situations are not compatible with distance learning.

Recreation and parks districts often work with local school and community partners to off youth day and after school programs. However, their ability to fully serve the needs of our communities is severely limited by the restrictions on the hours of operation of public recreation programs. 

CSDA, and its local government partners representing recreation and parks districts and departments throughout the state, have requested that the Department of Social Services use its emergency authority under the Governor’s  March 4, 2020 proclamation to temporarily suspend the limitation on recreation and park programs to only operate outside of traditional school hours, and the limitations on total hours per week and the program’s length.

By providing a broad, statewide temporary waiver for public entities that are already provide programming and facilities and informing all recreation and parks service providers of such a waiver, recreation and park districts could expand their programming to meet the moment during this crisis and support families throughout the state.

SB 217-Recreational Camps will not Move Forward this Year

Over the summer, CSDA adopted an oppose position on a gut-and-amend measure,  SB 217 (Portantino), which created a new definition and a litany of mandates for  "recreational camps".  CSDA advocated for public agencies to be explicitly exempted from this measure both directly or indirectly as this could have affected Special Districts that provide Recreation and Parks services.

This measure was pulled from its policy hearing and the author’s office expressed their desire to not move forward with it this year.

SB 217 would have defined "recreational camp" as a camp that operates for profit or nonprofit purposes, serves five or more children, and operates for at least five days during any season, but exempts a licensed daycare facility from the definition of recreational camp.

Among other things, SB 217 would have:

• Required an organized camp or recreation camp to obtain a license from the local agency of the jurisdiction where the camp is located before operating a camp. It would require the local agency to inspect a camp for compliance with these provisions before issuing a license to operate.
• Required the State Public Health Officer and the State Fire Marshal to adopt rules and regulations governing the operation and minimum fire safety of recreational camps.
• Required local health officers to enforce building standards and the other rules and regulations recreational camps and organized camps.
• Required each local agency to report to the State Department of Public Health whether each camp within its jurisdiction complies with the licensing and operational requirements established in this bill.
• Established the Recreational Camp Safety Advisory Council within the state government to advise and consult on policy matters relating to recreational camps.
• Required each recreational camp to employ a camp director and health director and for the health director to develop a health care policy for the camp.
• Imposed various age and training requirements and criminal history review on camp counselors, staff, and volunteers.
• Required each camp to comply with a specified counselor-to-camper ratios.
• Required each camp to obtain specified certifications before offering high-risk activities.
• Authorized a local agency to levy a civil penalty on each camp that fails to comply with the requirements of the bill.
• Created Mandatory Reporter rules for camps.

CSDA anticipates this measure to return in 2021, perhaps in another form, and will continue to monitor this issue.