Assemblymember Introduces Bill That Would Require Calif. To Place Day Care Records Online

LONG BEACH (CBSLA.com) — Assemblymember Cristina Garcia has introduced a bill that would require California to place records of inspections, violations and complaints involving day care homes and centers online.

"A parent should know exactly where they're putting their kid," she said. "When I first found out that I could get way more information online about my nail shop or my hair salon and its safety and its violations, it seemed to me, why are we or how are we not putting even more information out about those that we love the most?"

Garcia said day care operators in the state have offered no opposition to her bill, which sailed through the Assembly and now heads to the Senate.

If only, Garcia said, it passed before the death of 11-month-old Adam Dash.

"I think Adam would be alive today and that smile that we saw in those pictures would continue to fill everyone with joy," she said.

Dash died from asphyxiation after he was improperly strapped into a car seat and placed in a closet for a nap at a Burbank in-home day care center.

Dash's parents said they didn't know the center had been cited for having two times the number of infants it was allowed to care for under its license.

"Had we known of any of the prior violations, or things like that, we wouldn't have gotten anywhere near that place," Dash's father, Daniel, said.