(a) Child care providers authorized to provide services pursuant to this article shall submit to the alternative payment program a monthly attendance record or invoice for each child who received services that, at a minimum, documents the dates and actual times care was provided each day, including the time the child entered and the time the child left care each day. The information shall be documented on a daily basis.

(b) The monthly attendance record or invoice shall, at a minimum, be signed by the parent or guardian of the child receiving services and the child care provider once per month to attest that the child’s attendance is accurately reflected. The verification of attendance shall be made by signature at the end of each month of care and under penalty of perjury by both the parent or guardian of the child receiving services and the child care provider.

(c) The monthly attendance record or invoice shall be maintained by the child care provider in the unaltered original format in which it was created, which may be in paper form or electronic format.

(d) The alternative payment program shall accept the monthly attendance record or invoice as documentation of the hours of care provided if the attendance record or invoice includes adequate information documented on a daily basis, including, at a minimum, the dates and actual times care was provided each day, including the time the child entered and the time the child left care each day. The alternative payment program shall reimburse child care providers based upon the following criteria:

(1) The hours of service provided that are broadly consistent with certified hours of need.

(2) For families with variable schedules, the actual days and hours of attendance, up to the maximum certified hours.

(3) For license-exempt providers that provide part-time services, the actual days and hours of attendance, up to the maximum certified hours.

(e) For purposes of reimbursement to providers through an alternative payment program, contractors shall not be required to track absences.

(f) For purposes of this section, a monthly attendance record or invoice is defined as documentation that includes, at a minimum, the name of the child receiving services, the dates and actual times care was provided each day, including the time the child entered and the time the child left care each day, that is signed under penalty of perjury by both the parent or guardian and the child care provider, attesting that the information provided is accurate.

(g) This section shall become operative on July 1, 2014.

(Added by Stats. 2013, Ch. 733, Sec. 1. (AB 274) Effective January 1, 2014. Section operative July 1, 2014, by its own provisions.)