Bill Text: NH HB645 | 2016 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Relative to the licensure and regulation of child day care agencies.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Passed) 2016-06-10 - Signed by Governor Hassan 06/03/2016; Chapter 161; Eff. 6/3/2016 [HB645 Detail]
Download: New_Hampshire-2016-HB645-Chaptered.html
CHAPTER 161
HB 645-FN - FINAL VERSION
01/14/2016 3073s
2016 SESSION
15-0556
05/01
HOUSE BILL 645-FN
AN ACT relative to the licensure and regulation of child day care agencies.
COMMITTEE: Executive Departments and Administration
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AMENDED ANALYSIS
This bill:
I. Mandates that any person required to be licensed as a child day care agency under RSA 170-E comply with the chapter’s prohibition against child endangerment and the insurance disclosure requirement.
II. Establishes an enhanced criminal penalty for any person operating a child day care agency if a permanent debilitating injury or death occurs.
III. Requires a legally license exempt child care provider to notify the child’s parent of its license exempt status and prohibits such providers from holding themselves out as licensed.
IV. Requires a child care provider to inform the department of health and human services and program participants if the program ceases to be licensed by the department but continues to operate as a license exempt provider.
V. Establishes a criminal penalty for persons who falsely advertise or hold themselves out as licensed child day care providers.
VI. Provides that the requirements of RSA 170-E applicable to licensed child day care agencies shall apply to any child day care agency required to be licensed that is not so licensed.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
01/14/2016 3073s 15-0556
05/01
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Sixteen
AN ACT relative to the licensure and regulation of child day care agencies.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
161:1 Title. This act shall be known as “Willa’s law.”
161:2 Child Day Care Agencies; License Required; Prohibition Against Child Endangerment. Amend RSA 170-E:4, II to read as follows:
II. No child care provider, whether licensed as a child day care agency, required to be licensed as a child day care agency under paragraph I, or exempted from licensing pursuant to RSA 170-E:3, I, shall care for a child in a manner which endangers the health, safety or welfare of the child. For purposes of this paragraph, endangerment shall mean the negligent violation of a duty of care or protection owed to such child or negligently inducing such child to engage in conduct which endangers his or her health or safety. Licensees in violation of this paragraph shall be subject to the provisions of RSA 170-E:12. Persons exempted from licensing who are in violation of this paragraph shall be enjoined by a court of competent jurisdiction in accordance with the provisions of RSA 170-E:22 from caring for such child and may be enjoined, as the court may determine, from caring for other children. Persons operating a child day care agency without a license in violation of paragraph I who engage in negligent conduct that endangers the health, safety, or welfare of the children in their care shall be subject to the criminal penalties in RSA 170-E:21 and may be enjoined from caring for children in accordance with the provisions of RSA 170-E:22.
161:3 Child Day Care Agencies; Insurance Disclosures. Amend RSA 170-E:6-b to read as follows:
170-E:6-b Insurance Disclosures. Every [licensed child day care agency] person required to be licensed as a child day care agency under RSA 170-E:4 and every child day care provider required to be registered under RSA 170-E:6-a shall either maintain liability insurance or provide a disclosure to parents that the facility is uninsured.
161:4 New Paragraph; Penalty. Amend RSA 170-E:21 by inserting after paragraph II the following new paragraph:
II-a. Any person who operates a licensed or unlicensed child day care agency in violation of RSA 170-E:4, and, as a direct result of that persons’ negligent operation, a child suffers permanent impairment to brain function, permanent paralysis, or other permanent debilitating injury, or death, shall be guilty of a class B felony.
161:5 Penalty; Operating Without A License. Amend RSA 170-E:21, I to read as follows:
I. Any natural person shall be guilty of a class A misdemeanor, and any other person shall be guilty of a class B felony, who conducts, operates, or acts as a child day care agency without a license or permit to do so in violation of RSA 170-E:4, I.
161:6 New Paragraphs; Child Day Care Licensing; Exemptions; Notice Required. Amend RSA 170-E:3 by inserting after paragraph II the following new paragraphs:
III. Whenever a child day care that is license exempt under subparagraphs I(c), (e), (f), or (g) accepts a new child into the program, the provider shall inform the child’s parent or legal guardian that the program is not licensed and is operating as a legally license exempt program.
IV. If a licensed child day care agency ceases operating as a licensed program and continues to provide child care services as a legally license exempt provider, it shall notify the department of the date it ceased being licensed, return its license to the department, and notify the parent or legal guardian of all children in the program or who enroll in the program that it is no longer licensed by the department.
161:7 Child Day Care Licensing; Advertising. Amend RSA 170-E:16 to read as follows:
170-E:16 Advertising. A child day care agency licensed or operating under a permit issued by the department may publish advertisements of the services for which it is specifically licensed or issued a permit under this subdivision. No person who is required to obtain a license or permit under this subdivision may advertise or cause to be published an advertisement soliciting a child for child day care unless the person has obtained the requisite license or permit. A child care provider that is legally operating as a license exempt provider under RSA 170-E:3 shall not hold itself out in any way or advertise that it is licensed by the department, including using forms developed by the department for use by licensed child day care agencies.
161:8 New Subparagraph; Child Day Care Licensing; Penalty. Amend RSA 170-E:21, II by inserting after subparagraph (d) the following new subparagraph:
(e) Holds themselves out in any way or advertises that they are licensed if they do not hold a license issued by the department.
161:9 Child Day Care Agency; License Required. Amend RSA 170-E:4, I to read as follows:
I. No person shall establish, maintain, operate or conduct any child day care agency without a license or permit issued by the department under this subdivision. The requirements of this chapter applicable to licensed child day care agencies shall apply with equal force to any child day care agency required to be licensed under this chapter that is not so licensed.
161:10 Effective Date. This act shall take effect upon its passage.
Approved: June 3, 2016
Effective Date: June 3, 2016
