AB-1981 • 2026

Subsidized childcare: reimbursement rates: reporting.

Budget Children Education

Passed Legislature

This bill passed both chambers and reached final enrollment, even if later executive action is not shown here.

Sponsor: Aguiar-Curry
Last action: 2026-04-23
Official status: In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment.
Effective date: Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The official source does not provide specific details on how the reimbursement system plan will be implemented or changed.

Subsidized Childcare: Reporting on Reimbursement Rates

The bill changes the reporting requirements for transitioning from old to new reimbursement rates for subsidized childcare and mandates continued quarterly updates until full implementation.

What This Bill Does

Requires the State Department of Social Services to provide the Chairperson of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee with an anticipated timeline if new reimbursement rates do not start by July 1, 2025.
Continues the requirement for quarterly reports on the implementation of new reimbursement rates until they are fully in place.

Who It Names or Affects

The State Department of Social Services
Providers and recipients of subsidized childcare

Terms To Know

Reimbursement rates: How much money the government pays providers for each child in subsidized childcare.
Joint Legislative Budget Committee: A group that helps decide how California's budget is spent.

Limits and Unknowns

The bill does not specify what happens if new rates are delayed beyond July 1, 2025.
It does not provide details on the implementation or changes to the reimbursement system plan.

Bill History

2026-04-23 California Legislative Information
In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment.
2026-04-23 California Legislative Information
Read third time. Urgency clause adopted. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 74. Noes 0.).
2026-04-16 California Legislative Information
Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar.
2026-04-15 California Legislative Information
From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 13. Noes 0.) (April 15).
2026-04-06 California Legislative Information
Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
2026-03-26 California Legislative Information
Read second time and amended.
2026-03-25 California Legislative Information
From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (March 24).
2026-03-23 California Legislative Information
Re-referred to Com. on HUM. S.
2026-03-20 California Legislative Information
From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on HUM. S. Read second time and amended.
2026-03-02 California Legislative Information
Referred to Com. on HUM. S.
2026-02-14 California Legislative Information
From printer. May be heard in committee March 16.
2026-02-13 California Legislative Information
Read first time. To print.

Official Summary Text

AB 1981, as amended, Aguiar-Curry.
Subsidized childcare: reimbursement rates: reporting.
Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services, in collaboration with the State Department of Education, to implement a reimbursement system plan that establishes reasonable standards and assigned reimbursement rates for subsidized childcare and development services, and to develop and conduct an alternative methodology for ratesetting, as specified.
Existing law requires the Governor and the Legislature to, by no later than July 1, 2025, establish reimbursement rates based on the alternative methodology, as specified. Existing law requires the department to provide quarterly updates from October 1, 2024, to July 1, 2027, inclusive, on the implementation of the new reimbursement rates set under the alternative methodology. If the new reimbursement rates do not take effect on July 1, 2025, existing law also requires the
department to provide the Legislature with a timeline for transitioning from the rates that are in effect on July 1, 2025, to the new established rates.
This bill would instead, under those circumstances, require the department to provide the Chairperson of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee with the department’s anticipated timeline for the above-described rate transition. The bill would also require the quarterly reports described above to continue until the new reimbursement rates set under the alternative methodology are fully implemented.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text

Download Bill PDF