The Contra Costa County Local Planning Council for Child Care and Development (LPC) was established in April 1998. Required by AB 1542, which was passed in 1993, 30 members of the LPC were appointed by the County Board of Supervisors and the County Superintendent of Schools. Childcare consumers and providers, public agency representatives, and community representatives each comprise 20% of the LPC. The remaining 20% are discretionary appointees. Membership is for a three-year term. On January 7, 2003, membership was decreased from 30 to 25 members, due to the difficulty in filling all of the seats. On September 19, 2012, membership was further decreased from 25 to 20, due to continued difficulty to fill
vacant seats. Official reduction of appointed seats provides flexibility to ensure quorum is met in order to conduct Council business.
Current membership consists of the following:
- Four consumer representatives - a parent or person who receives or has received child care services in the past 36 months;
- Four child care providers - a person who provides child care services or represents persons who provide child care services;
- Four public agency representatives - a person who represents a city, county, city and county, or local education agency;
- Four community representatives - a person who represents an agency or business that provides private funding for child care services or who advocates for child care services through participation in civic or community based organizations;
- Four discretionary appointees - a person appointed from any of the above four categories or outside of those categories at the discretion of the appointing agencies.
Appointments to the LPC are subject to the approval of the Board of Supervisors and County Superintendent of Schools, Lynn Mackey. The Board of Supervisors designated the Family and Human Services (FHS) Committee to review and recommend appointments on its behalf. Since the FHS Committee did not meet in March 2019, recommendations for appointment in this instance are being made directly to the Board of Supervisors in order to expedite the filling of vacancies and promote achievement of a meeting quorum in April.