Bill Text: FL S0364 | 2011 | Regular Session | Introduced
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Child Care Facilities
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (? 2-1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-05-03 - Read 2nd time -SJ 744 [S0364 Detail]
Download: Florida-2011-S0364-Introduced.html
Bill Title: Child Care Facilities
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (? 2-1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-05-03 - Read 2nd time -SJ 744 [S0364 Detail]
Download: Florida-2011-S0364-Introduced.html
Florida Senate - 2011 SB 364 By Senator Latvala 16-00493A-11 2011364__ 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to child care facilities; amending s. 3 402.302, F.S.; revising and providing definitions; 4 providing for certain household children to be 5 included in calculations regarding the capacity of 6 licensed family day care homes and large family child 7 care homes; providing conditions for supervision of 8 household children of operators of family day care 9 homes and large family child care homes; amending s. 10 402.318, F.S.; revising advertising requirements 11 applicable to child care facilities; providing 12 penalties; authorizing a cause of action against an 13 unlicensed or unregistered individual if certain 14 advertising requirements are not met; authorizing the 15 award of attorney’s fees and costs under certain 16 conditions; amending s. 411.01, F.S., relating to 17 school readiness programs; conforming a cross 18 reference; providing an effective date. 19 20 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 21 22 Section 1. Section 402.302, Florida Statutes, is amended to 23 read: 24 402.302 Definitions.—As used in this chapter, the term: 25 (1) “Child care” means the care, protection, and 26 supervision of a child, for a period of less than 24 hours a day 27 on a regular basis, which supplements parental care, enrichment, 28 and health supervision for the child, in accordance with his or 29 her individual needs, and for which a payment, fee, or grant is 30 made for care. 31 (2) “Child care facility” includes any child care center or 32 child care arrangement which provides child care for more than 33 five children unrelated to the operator and which receives a 34 payment, fee, or grant for any of the children receiving care, 35 wherever operated, and whether or not operated for profit. The 36 following are not included: 37 (a) Public schools and nonpublic schools and their integral 38 programs, except as provided in s. 402.3025; 39 (b) Summer camps having children in full-time residence; 40 (c) Summer day camps; 41 (d) Bible schools normally conducted during vacation 42 periods; and 43 (e) Operators of transient establishments, as defined in 44 chapter 509, which provide child care services solely for the 45 guests of their establishment or resort, provided that all child 46 care personnel of the establishment are screened according to 47 the level 2 screening requirements of chapter 435. 48 (3) “Child care personnel” means all owners, operators, 49 employees, and volunteers working in a child care facility. The 50 term does not include persons who work in a child care facility 51 after hours when children are not present or parents of children 52 in a child care facility. For purposes of screening, the term 53 includes any member, over the age of 12 years, of a child care 54 facility operator’s family, or person, over the age of 12 years, 55 residing with a child care facility operator if the child care 56 facility is located in or adjacent to the home of the operator 57 or if the family member of, or person residing with, the child 58 care facility operator has any direct contact with the children 59 in the facility during its hours of operation. Members of the 60 operator’s family or persons residing with the operator who are 61 between the ages of 12 years and 18 years are not required to be 62 fingerprinted but must be screened for delinquency records. For 63 purposes of screening, the term also includes persons who work 64 in child care programs that provide care for children 15 hours 65 or more each week in public or nonpublic schools, family day 66 care homes, or programs otherwise exempted under s. 402.316. The 67 term does not include public or nonpublic school personnel who 68 are providing care during regular school hours, or after hours 69 for activities related to a school’s program for grades 70 kindergarten through 12. A volunteer who assists on an 71 intermittent basis for less than 10 hours per month is not 72 included in the term “personnel” for the purposes of screening 73 and training if a person who meets the screening requirement of 74 s. 402.305(2) is always present and has the volunteer in his or 75 her line of sight. Students who observe and participate in a 76 child care facility as a part of their required coursework are 77 not considered child care personnel, provided such observation 78 and participation are on an intermittent basis and a person who 79 meets the screening requirement of s. 402.305(2) is always 80 present and has the student in his or her line of sight. 81 (4) “Child welfare provider” means a licensed child-caring 82 or child-placing agency. 83 (5) “Department” means the Department of Children and 84 Family Services. 85 (6) “Drop-in child care” means child care provided 86 occasionally in a child care facility in a shopping mall or 87 business establishment where a child is in care for no more than 88 a 4-hour period and the parent remains on the premises of the 89 shopping mall or business establishment at all times. Drop-in 90 child care arrangements shall meet all requirements for a child 91 care facility unless specifically exempted. 92 (7) “Evening child care” means child care provided during 93 the evening hours and may encompass the hours of 6:00 p.m. to 94 7:00 a.m. to accommodate parents who work evenings and late 95 night shifts. 96 (8) “Family day care home” means an occupied residence in 97 which child care is regularly provided for children from at 98 least two unrelated families and which receives a payment, fee, 99 or grant for any of the children receiving care, whether or not 100 operated for profit. Household children under 13 years of age, 101 when on the premises of the family day care home or on a field 102 trip with children enrolled in child care, shall be included in 103 the overall capacity of the licensed home. A family day care 104 home shall be allowed to provide care for one of the following 105 groups of children, which shall include householdthosechildren 106 under 13 years of agewho are related to the caregiver: 107 (a) A maximum of four children from birth to 12 months of 108 age. 109 (b) A maximum of three children from birth to 12 months of 110 age, and other children, for a maximum total of six children. 111 (c) A maximum of six preschool children if all are older 112 than 12 months of age. 113 (d) A maximum of 10 children if no more than 5 are 114 preschool age and, of those 5, no more than 2 are under 12 115 months of age. 116 (9) “Household children” means children who are related by 117 blood, marriage, or legal adoption to, or who are the legal 118 wards of, the family day care home operator, the large family 119 child care home operator, or an adult household member who 120 permanently or temporarily resides in the home. Supervision of 121 the operator’s household children shall be left to the 122 discretion of the operator unless those children receive 123 subsidized child care to be in the home. 124 (10)(9)“Large family child care home” means an occupied 125 residence in which child care is regularly provided for children 126 from at least two unrelated families, which receives a payment, 127 fee, or grant for any of the children receiving care, whether or 128 not operated for profit, and which has at least two full-time 129 child care personnel on the premises during the hours of 130 operation. One of the two full-time child care personnel must be 131 the owner or occupant of the residence. A large family child 132 care home must first have operated as a licensed family day care 133 home for 2 years, with an operator who has had a child 134 development associate credential or its equivalent for 1 year, 135 before seeking licensure as a large family child care home. 136 Household children under 13 years of age, when on the premises 137 of the large family child care home or on a field trip with 138 children enrolled in child care, shall be included in the 139 overall capacity of the licensed home. A large family child care 140 home shall be allowed to provide care for one of the following 141 groups of children, which shall include householdthosechildren 142 under 13 years of agewho are related to the caregiver: 143 (a) A maximum of 8 children from birth to 24 months of age. 144 (b) A maximum of 12 children, with no more than 4 children 145 under 24 months of age. 146 (11)(10)“Indoor recreational facility” means an indoor 147 commercial facility which is established for the primary purpose 148 of entertaining children in a planned fitness environment 149 through equipment, games, and activities in conjunction with 150 food service and which provides child care for a particular 151 child no more than 4 hours on any one day. An indoor 152 recreational facility must be licensed as a child care facility 153 under s. 402.305, but is exempt from the minimum outdoor-square 154 footage-per-child requirement specified in that section, if the 155 indoor recreational facility has, at a minimum, 3,000 square 156 feet of usable indoor floor space. 157 (12)(11)“Local licensing agency” means any agency or 158 individual designated by the county to license child care 159 facilities. 160 (13)(12)“Operator” means any onsite person ultimately 161 responsible for the overall operation of a child care facility, 162 whether or not he or she is the owner or administrator of such 163 facility. 164 (14)(13)“Owner” means the person who is licensed to 165 operate the child care facility. 166 (15)(14)“Screening” means the act of assessing the 167 background of child care personnel and volunteers and includes, 168 but is not limited to, employment history checks, local criminal 169 records checks through local law enforcement agencies, 170 fingerprinting for all purposes and checks in this subsection, 171 statewide criminal records checks through the Department of Law 172 Enforcement, and federal criminal records checks through the 173 Federal Bureau of Investigation. 174 (16)(15)“Secretary” means the Secretary of Children and 175 Family Services. 176 (17)(16)“Substantial compliance” means that level of 177 adherence which is sufficient to safeguard the health, safety, 178 and well-being of all children under care. Substantial 179 compliance is greater than minimal adherence but not to the 180 level of absolute adherence. Where a violation or variation is 181 identified as the type which impacts, or can be reasonably 182 expected within 90 days to impact, the health, safety, or well 183 being of a child, there is no substantial compliance. 184 (18)(17)“Weekend child care” means child care provided 185 between the hours of 6 p.m. on Friday and 6 a.m. on Monday. 186 Section 2. Section 402.318, Florida Statutes, is amended to 187 read: 188 402.318 Advertisement.— 189 (1) ANoperson, as defined in s. 1.01(3), may notshall190 advertise or publish an advertisement for a child care facility, 191 family day care home, or large family child care home without 192 including within such advertisement the state or local agency 193 license number or registration number of such facility or home. 194 Violation of this subsectionsectionis a misdemeanor of the 195 first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 196 775.083. 197 (2) An individual or local licensing agency has a cause of 198 action against an unlicensed or unregistered individual who 199 violates subsection (1). The court shall award the prevailing 200 party reasonable attorney’s fees and costs incurred in 201 connection with a claim filed under this section. 202 Section 3. Paragraph (c) of subsection (5) of section 203 411.01, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 204 411.01 School readiness programs; early learning 205 coalitions.— 206 (5) CREATION OF EARLY LEARNING COALITIONS.— 207 (c) Program expectations.— 208 1. The school readiness program must meet the following 209 expectations: 210 a. The program must, at a minimum, enhance the age 211 appropriate progress of each child in attaining the performance 212 standards and outcome measures adopted by the Agency for 213 Workforce Innovation. 214 b. The program must provide extended-day and extended-year 215 services to the maximum extent possible without compromising the 216 quality of the program to meet the needs of parents who work. 217 c. The program must provide a coordinated professional 218 development system that supports the achievement and maintenance 219 of core competencies by school readiness instructors in helping 220 children attain the performance standards and outcome measures 221 adopted by the Agency for Workforce Innovation. 222 d. There must be expanded access to community services and 223 resources for families to help achieve economic self 224 sufficiency. 225 e. There must be a single point of entry and unified 226 waiting list. As used in this sub-subparagraph, the term “single 227 point of entry” means an integrated information system that 228 allows a parent to enroll his or her child in the school 229 readiness program at various locations throughout a county, that 230 may allow a parent to enroll his or her child by telephone or 231 through an Internet website, and that uses a unified waiting 232 list to track eligible children waiting for enrollment in the 233 school readiness program. The Agency for Workforce Innovation 234 shall establish through technology a single statewide 235 information system that each coalition must use for the purposes 236 of managing the single point of entry, tracking children’s 237 progress, coordinating services among stakeholders, determining 238 eligibility, tracking child attendance, and streamlining 239 administrative processes for providers and early learning 240 coalitions. 241 f. The Agency for Workforce Innovation must consider the 242 access of eligible children to the school readiness program, as 243 demonstrated in part by waiting lists, before approving a 244 proposed increase in payment rates submitted by an early 245 learning coalition. In addition, early learning coalitions shall 246 use school readiness funds made available due to enrollment 247 shifts from school readiness programs to the Voluntary 248 Prekindergarten Education Program for increasing the number of 249 children served in school readiness programs before increasing 250 payment rates. 251 g. The program must meet all state licensing guidelines, 252 where applicable. 253 h. The program must ensure that minimum standards for child 254 discipline practices are age-appropriate. Such standards must 255 provide that children not be subjected to discipline that is 256 severe, humiliating, or frightening or discipline that is 257 associated with food, rest, or toileting. Spanking or any other 258 form of physical punishment is prohibited. 259 2. Each early learning coalition must implement a 260 comprehensive program of school readiness services in accordance 261 with the rules adopted by the agency which enhance the 262 cognitive, social, and physical development of children to 263 achieve the performance standards and outcome measures. At a 264 minimum, these programs must contain the following system 265 support service elements: 266 a. Developmentally appropriate curriculum designed to 267 enhance the age-appropriate progress of children in attaining 268 the performance standards adopted by the Agency for Workforce 269 Innovation under subparagraph (4)(d)8. 270 b. A character development program to develop basic values. 271 c. An age-appropriate screening of each child’s 272 development. 273 d. An age-appropriate assessment administered to children 274 when they enter a program and an age-appropriate assessment 275 administered to children when they leave the program. 276 e. An appropriate staff-to-children ratio, pursuant to s. 277 402.305(4) or s. 402.302(8) or (10)s.402.302(7) or (8), as 278 applicable, and as verified pursuant to s. 402.311. 279 f. A healthy and safe environment pursuant to s. 280 401.305(5), (6), and (7), as applicable, and as verified 281 pursuant to s. 402.311. 282 g. A resource and referral network established under s. 283 411.0101 to assist parents in making an informed choice and a 284 regional Warm-Line under s. 411.01015. 285 286 The Agency for Workforce Innovation, the Department of 287 Education, and early learning coalitions shall coordinate with 288 the Child Care Services Program Office of the Department of 289 Children and Family Services to minimize duplicating interagency 290 activities pertaining to acquiring and composing data for child 291 care training and credentialing. 292 Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2011.