There is hereby created a program in the state for the purposes of promoting, supporting, and improving the early development of children from the prenatal stage to five years of age. These purposes shall be accomplished through the establishment, institution, and coordination of appropriate standards, resources, and integrated and comprehensive programs emphasizing community awareness, education, nurturing, child care, social services, health care, and research.

(a) It is the intent of this act to facilitate the creation and implementation of an integrated, comprehensive, and collaborative system of information and services to enhance optimal early childhood development and to ensure that children are ready to enter school. This system should function as a network that promotes accessibility to all information and services from any entry point into the system. It is further the intent of this act to emphasize local decisionmaking, to provide for greater local flexibility in designing delivery systems, and to eliminate duplicate administrative systems.

(b) The programs authorized by this act shall be administered by the California Children and Families Commission and by county children and families commissions. In administering this act, the state and county commissions shall use outcome-based accountability to determine future expenditures.

(c) This division shall be known and may be cited as the “California Children and Families Act of 1998.”

(Amended by Stats. 2002, Ch. 245, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2003. Note: This section was added on Nov. 3, 1998, by initiative Prop. 10.)