(a) It is the intent of the Legislature that local child care and development planning councils shall provide a forum for the identification of local priorities for child care and the development of policies to meet the needs identified within those priorities.

(b) The county board of supervisors and the county superintendent of schools shall do both of the following:

(1) Select the members of the local planning council. Before making selections pursuant to this subdivision, the board of supervisors and the county superintendent of schools shall publicize their intention to select the members and shall invite local organizations to submit nominations. In counties in which the superintendent is appointed by the county board of education, the county board of education may make the appointment or may delegate that responsibility to the superintendent.

(2) Establish the term of appointment for the members of the local planning council.

(c) (1) The local planning council shall be comprised as follows:

(A) Twenty percent of the membership shall be consumers.

(B) Twenty percent of the membership shall be child care providers, reflective of the range of child care providers in the county.

(C) Twenty percent of the membership shall be public agency representatives.

(D) Twenty percent of the membership shall be community representatives, who shall not be child care providers or agencies that contract with the department to provide child care and development services.

(E) The remaining 20 percent shall be appointed at the discretion of the appointing agencies.

(2) The board of supervisors and the superintendent of schools shall each appoint one-half of the members. In the case of uneven membership, both appointing entities shall agree on the odd-numbered appointee.

(d) Every effort shall be made to ensure that the ethnic, racial, and geographic composition of the local planning council is reflective of the ethnic, racial, and geographic distribution of the population of the county.

(e) The board of supervisors and county superintendent of schools may designate an existing child care planning council or coordinated child and family services council as the local planning council, as long as it has or can achieve the representation set forth in this section.

(f) Upon establishment of a local planning council, the local planning council shall elect a chair and select a staff.

(g) Each local planning council shall develop and implement a training plan to provide increased efficiency, productivity, and facilitation of local planning council meetings. This may include developing a training manual, hiring facilitators, and identifying strategies to meet the objectives of the council.

(h) No member of a local planning council shall participate in a vote if he or she has a proprietary interest in the outcome of the matter being voted upon.

(Amended by Stats. 2002, Ch. 435, Sec. 8. Effective January 1, 2003.)