Bill Text: FL S0364 | 2011 | Regular Session | Comm Sub
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-Comm_Sub.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-Comm_Sub.html
Florida Senate - 2011 CS for SB 364 By the Committee on Children, Families, and Elder Affairs; and Senator Latvala 586-02286-11 2011364c1 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; amending s. 411.01, F.S., relating to 13 school readiness programs; conforming a cross 14 reference; providing an effective date. 15 16 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 17 18 Section 1. Section 402.302, Florida Statutes, is amended to 19 read: 20 402.302 Definitions.—As used in this chapter, the term: 21 (1) “Child care” means the care, protection, and 22 supervision of a child, for a period of less than 24 hours a day 23 on a regular basis, which supplements parental care, enrichment, 24 and health supervision for the child, in accordance with his or 25 her individual needs, and for which a payment, fee, or grant is 26 made for care. 27 (2) “Child care facility” includes any child care center or 28 child care arrangement which provides child care for more than 29 five children unrelated to the operator and which receives a 30 payment, fee, or grant for any of the children receiving care, 31 wherever operated, and whether or not operated for profit. The 32 following are not included: 33 (a) Public schools and nonpublic schools and their integral 34 programs, except as provided in s. 402.3025; 35 (b) Summer camps having children in full-time residence; 36 (c) Summer day camps; 37 (d) Bible schools normally conducted during vacation 38 periods; and 39 (e) Operators of transient establishments, as defined in 40 chapter 509, which provide child care services solely for the 41 guests of their establishment or resort, provided that all child 42 care personnel of the establishment are screened according to 43 the level 2 screening requirements of chapter 435. 44 (3) “Child care personnel” means all owners, operators, 45 employees, and volunteers working in a child care facility. The 46 term does not include persons who work in a child care facility 47 after hours when children are not present or parents of children 48 in a child care facility. For purposes of screening, the term 49 includes any member, over the age of 12 years, of a child care 50 facility operator’s family, or person, over the age of 12 years, 51 residing with a child care facility operator if the child care 52 facility is located in or adjacent to the home of the operator 53 or if the family member of, or person residing with, the child 54 care facility operator has any direct contact with the children 55 in the facility during its hours of operation. Members of the 56 operator’s family or persons residing with the operator who are 57 between the ages of 12 years and 18 years are not required to be 58 fingerprinted but must be screened for delinquency records. For 59 purposes of screening, the term also includes persons who work 60 in child care programs that provide care for children 15 hours 61 or more each week in public or nonpublic schools, family day 62 care homes, or programs otherwise exempted under s. 402.316. The 63 term does not include public or nonpublic school personnel who 64 are providing care during regular school hours, or after hours 65 for activities related to a school’s program for grades 66 kindergarten through 12. A volunteer who assists on an 67 intermittent basis for less than 10 hours per month is not 68 included in the term “personnel” for the purposes of screening 69 and training if a person who meets the screening requirement of 70 s. 402.305(2) is always present and has the volunteer in his or 71 her line of sight. Students who observe and participate in a 72 child care facility as a part of their required coursework are 73 not considered child care personnel, provided such observation 74 and participation are on an intermittent basis and a person who 75 meets the screening requirement of s. 402.305(2) is always 76 present and has the student in his or her line of sight. 77 (4) “Child welfare provider” means a licensed child-caring 78 or child-placing agency. 79 (5) “Department” means the Department of Children and 80 Family Services. 81 (6) “Drop-in child care” means child care provided 82 occasionally in a child care facility in a shopping mall or 83 business establishment where a child is in care for no more than 84 a 4-hour period and the parent remains on the premises of the 85 shopping mall or business establishment at all times. Drop-in 86 child care arrangements shall meet all requirements for a child 87 care facility unless specifically exempted. 88 (7) “Evening child care” means child care provided during 89 the evening hours and may encompass the hours of 6:00 p.m. to 90 7:00 a.m. to accommodate parents who work evenings and late 91 night shifts. 92 (8) “Family day care home” means an occupied residence in 93 which child care is regularly provided for children from at 94 least two unrelated families and which receives a payment, fee, 95 or grant for any of the children receiving care, whether or not 96 operated for profit. Household children under 13 years of age, 97 when on the premises of the family day care home or on a field 98 trip with children enrolled in child care, shall be included in 99 the overall capacity of the licensed home. A family day care 100 home shall be allowed to provide care for one of the following 101 groups of children, which shall include householdthosechildren 102 under 13 years of agewho are related to the caregiver: 103 (a) A maximum of four children from birth to 12 months of 104 age. 105 (b) A maximum of three children from birth to 12 months of 106 age, and other children, for a maximum total of six children. 107 (c) A maximum of six preschool children if all are older 108 than 12 months of age. 109 (d) A maximum of 10 children if no more than 5 are 110 preschool age and, of those 5, no more than 2 are under 12 111 months of age. 112 (9) “Household children” means children who are related by 113 blood, marriage, or legal adoption to, or who are the legal 114 wards of, the family day care home operator, the large family 115 child care home operator, or an adult household member who 116 permanently or temporarily resides in the home. Supervision of 117 the operator’s household children shall be left to the 118 discretion of the operator unless those children receive 119 subsidized child care to be in the home. 120 (10)(9)“Large family child care home” means an occupied 121 residence in which child care is regularly provided for children 122 from at least two unrelated families, which receives a payment, 123 fee, or grant for any of the children receiving care, whether or 124 not operated for profit, and which has at least two full-time 125 child care personnel on the premises during the hours of 126 operation. One of the two full-time child care personnel must be 127 the owner or occupant of the residence. A large family child 128 care home must first have operated as a licensed family day care 129 home for 2 years, with an operator who has had a child 130 development associate credential or its equivalent for 1 year, 131 before seeking licensure as a large family child care home. 132 Household children under 13 years of age, when on the premises 133 of the large family child care home or on a field trip with 134 children enrolled in child care, shall be included in the 135 overall capacity of the licensed home. A large family child care 136 home shall be allowed to provide care for one of the following 137 groups of children, which shall include householdthosechildren 138 under 13 years of agewho are related to the caregiver: 139 (a) A maximum of 8 children from birth to 24 months of age. 140 (b) A maximum of 12 children, with no more than 4 children 141 under 24 months of age. 142 (11)(10)“Indoor recreational facility” means an indoor 143 commercial facility which is established for the primary purpose 144 of entertaining children in a planned fitness environment 145 through equipment, games, and activities in conjunction with 146 food service and which provides child care for a particular 147 child no more than 4 hours on any one day. An indoor 148 recreational facility must be licensed as a child care facility 149 under s. 402.305, but is exempt from the minimum outdoor-square 150 footage-per-child requirement specified in that section, if the 151 indoor recreational facility has, at a minimum, 3,000 square 152 feet of usable indoor floor space. 153 (12)(11)“Local licensing agency” means any agency or 154 individual designated by the county to license child care 155 facilities. 156 (13)(12)“Operator” means any onsite person ultimately 157 responsible for the overall operation of a child care facility, 158 whether or not he or she is the owner or administrator of such 159 facility. 160 (14)(13)“Owner” means the person who is licensed to 161 operate the child care facility. 162 (15)(14)“Screening” means the act of assessing the 163 background of child care personnel and volunteers and includes, 164 but is not limited to, employment history checks, local criminal 165 records checks through local law enforcement agencies, 166 fingerprinting for all purposes and checks in this subsection, 167 statewide criminal records checks through the Department of Law 168 Enforcement, and federal criminal records checks through the 169 Federal Bureau of Investigation. 170 (16)(15)“Secretary” means the Secretary of Children and 171 Family Services. 172 (17)(16)“Substantial compliance” means that level of 173 adherence which is sufficient to safeguard the health, safety, 174 and well-being of all children under care. Substantial 175 compliance is greater than minimal adherence but not to the 176 level of absolute adherence. Where a violation or variation is 177 identified as the type which impacts, or can be reasonably 178 expected within 90 days to impact, the health, safety, or well 179 being of a child, there is no substantial compliance. 180 (18)(17)“Weekend child care” means child care provided 181 between the hours of 6 p.m. on Friday and 6 a.m. on Monday. 182 Section 2. Section 402.318, Florida Statutes, is amended to 183 read: 184 402.318 Advertisement.—ANoperson, as defined in s. 185 1.01(3), may notshalladvertise or publish an advertisement for 186 a child care facility, family day care home, or large family 187 child care home without including within such advertisement the 188 state or local agency license number or registration number of 189 such facility or home. Violation of this section is a 190 misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 191 775.082 or s. 775.083. 192 Section 3. Paragraph (c) of subsection (5) of section 193 411.01, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 194 411.01 School readiness programs; early learning 195 coalitions.— 196 (5) CREATION OF EARLY LEARNING COALITIONS.— 197 (c) Program expectations.— 198 1. The school readiness program must meet the following 199 expectations: 200 a. The program must, at a minimum, enhance the age 201 appropriate progress of each child in attaining the performance 202 standards and outcome measures adopted by the Agency for 203 Workforce Innovation. 204 b. The program must provide extended-day and extended-year 205 services to the maximum extent possible without compromising the 206 quality of the program to meet the needs of parents who work. 207 c. The program must provide a coordinated professional 208 development system that supports the achievement and maintenance 209 of core competencies by school readiness instructors in helping 210 children attain the performance standards and outcome measures 211 adopted by the Agency for Workforce Innovation. 212 d. There must be expanded access to community services and 213 resources for families to help achieve economic self 214 sufficiency. 215 e. There must be a single point of entry and unified 216 waiting list. As used in this sub-subparagraph, the term “single 217 point of entry” means an integrated information system that 218 allows a parent to enroll his or her child in the school 219 readiness program at various locations throughout a county, that 220 may allow a parent to enroll his or her child by telephone or 221 through an Internet website, and that uses a unified waiting 222 list to track eligible children waiting for enrollment in the 223 school readiness program. The Agency for Workforce Innovation 224 shall establish through technology a single statewide 225 information system that each coalition must use for the purposes 226 of managing the single point of entry, tracking children’s 227 progress, coordinating services among stakeholders, determining 228 eligibility, tracking child attendance, and streamlining 229 administrative processes for providers and early learning 230 coalitions. 231 f. The Agency for Workforce Innovation must consider the 232 access of eligible children to the school readiness program, as 233 demonstrated in part by waiting lists, before approving a 234 proposed increase in payment rates submitted by an early 235 learning coalition. In addition, early learning coalitions shall 236 use school readiness funds made available due to enrollment 237 shifts from school readiness programs to the Voluntary 238 Prekindergarten Education Program for increasing the number of 239 children served in school readiness programs before increasing 240 payment rates. 241 g. The program must meet all state licensing guidelines, 242 where applicable. 243 h. The program must ensure that minimum standards for child 244 discipline practices are age-appropriate. Such standards must 245 provide that children not be subjected to discipline that is 246 severe, humiliating, or frightening or discipline that is 247 associated with food, rest, or toileting. Spanking or any other 248 form of physical punishment is prohibited. 249 2. Each early learning coalition must implement a 250 comprehensive program of school readiness services in accordance 251 with the rules adopted by the agency which enhance the 252 cognitive, social, and physical development of children to 253 achieve the performance standards and outcome measures. At a 254 minimum, these programs must contain the following system 255 support service elements: 256 a. Developmentally appropriate curriculum designed to 257 enhance the age-appropriate progress of children in attaining 258 the performance standards adopted by the Agency for Workforce 259 Innovation under subparagraph (4)(d)8. 260 b. A character development program to develop basic values. 261 c. An age-appropriate screening of each child’s 262 development. 263 d. An age-appropriate assessment administered to children 264 when they enter a program and an age-appropriate assessment 265 administered to children when they leave the program. 266 e. An appropriate staff-to-children ratio, pursuant to s. 267 402.305(4) or s. 402.302(8) or (10)s.402.302(7) or (8), as 268 applicable, and as verified pursuant to s. 402.311. 269 f. A healthy and safe environment pursuant to s. 270 401.305(5), (6), and (7), as applicable, and as verified 271 pursuant to s. 402.311. 272 g. A resource and referral network established under s. 273 411.0101 to assist parents in making an informed choice and a 274 regional Warm-Line under s. 411.01015. 275 276 The Agency for Workforce Innovation, the Department of 277 Education, and early learning coalitions shall coordinate with 278 the Child Care Services Program Office of the Department of 279 Children and Family Services to minimize duplicating interagency 280 activities pertaining to acquiring and composing data for child 281 care training and credentialing. 282 Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2011.