Bill Text: TX SB2164 | 2017-2018 | 85th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to staff-to-child ratios and group sizes in licensed day-care centers and reporting certain information related to child safety.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-04-26 - Left pending in committee [SB2164 Detail]
Download: Texas-2017-SB2164-Introduced.html
| By: Zaffirini | S.B. No. 2164 | |
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| relating to staff-to-child ratios and group sizes in licensed | ||
| day-care centers and reporting certain information related to child | ||
| safety. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. Subchapter C, Chapter 42, Human Resources Code, | ||
| is amended by adding Section 42.0412 to read as follows: | ||
| Sec. 42.0412. COLLECTION OF LICENSED DAY-CARE CENTER DATA. | ||
| (a) In this section, "group of children" means the number of | ||
| children assigned to a specific caregiver or group of caregivers, | ||
| occupying an individual classroom or well-defined physical space | ||
| within a larger room at a day-care center. | ||
| (b) During each monitoring inspection of a licensed | ||
| day-care center the department conducts between March 1, 2018, and | ||
| May 31, 2018, the department, using existing resources, shall | ||
| collect the following data for each group of children 4 years of age | ||
| and younger in the day-care center: | ||
| (1) the ages of the children in the group; | ||
| (2) the number of children in the group; and | ||
| (3) the number of caregivers supervising the children | ||
| in the group. | ||
| (c) Not later than June 30, 2018, the department shall make | ||
| the data collected under Subsection (b) available to community | ||
| agencies and institutions of higher education on request. | ||
| (d) The department shall collect the following information | ||
| for each licensed day-care center that the department has collected | ||
| data on under subsection (b) and on request shall provide the | ||
| information to community agencies and institutions of higher | ||
| education: | ||
| (1) the licensed day-care center's program capacity; | ||
| (2) the number of confirmed serious injuries and | ||
| fatalities for children 4 years of age and younger that occurred at | ||
| the day-care center between September 1, 2017, and August 31, 2018, | ||
| aggregated by the age of the injured or deceased child; | ||
| (3) the number of investigations the department | ||
| conducted at the day-care center between September 1, 2017, and | ||
| August 31, 2018, that were assigned the highest priority or | ||
| second-highest priority, aggregated by the age of the affected | ||
| child; and | ||
| (4) the number of violations that the department found | ||
| at the day-care center between September 1, 2017, and August 31, | ||
| 2018, that were assigned the highest priority or second-highest | ||
| priority, aggregated by the age of the child involved in the | ||
| violation. | ||
| (e) The department, using existing resources, shall provide | ||
| an annual report to the legislature that includes: | ||
| (1) the number of confirmed serious injuries and | ||
| fatalities for children 4 years of age and younger that occurred at | ||
| each licensed day-care center, aggregated by the age of the injured | ||
| or deceased child; | ||
| (2) the number of investigations conducted by the | ||
| department at each licensed day-care center that were assigned the | ||
| highest priority or second-highest priority, aggregated by the age | ||
| of the affected child; | ||
| (3) the number of violations the department found at | ||
| each licensed day-care center, aggregated by the age of the child | ||
| involved in the violation; and | ||
| (4) the investigation priority the department | ||
| assigned to an initial intake report for an incident that resulted | ||
| in a serious injury to a child or a child fatality. | ||
| (f) This subsection and Subsections (a), (b), (c), and (d) | ||
| expire on September 1, 2019. | ||
| SECTION 2. Section 42.042, Human Resources Code, is amended | ||
| by adding Subsection (m-1) to read as follows: | ||
| (m-1) Not later than January 1, 2019, the executive | ||
| commissioner shall use the data collected under Section 42.0412 to | ||
| determine whether to modify the standards related to staff-to-child | ||
| ratios and group sizes. In determining whether to modify the | ||
| standards, the executive commissioner shall compare licensed | ||
| day-care centers meeting staff-to-child ratios and group size | ||
| requirements with licensed day-care centers that have fewer | ||
| children per caregiver. The executive commissioner shall recommend | ||
| appropriate adjustments to any ratio standard by age for which the | ||
| data shows that licensed day-care centers meeting the state's | ||
| minimum standards have a rate that is 10 percent or higher than | ||
| those with fewer children per caregiver of: | ||
| (1) confirm serious injuries; | ||
| (2) confirmed child fatalities; and | ||
| (3) initial intake reports that are assigned the | ||
| highest priority or the second-highest priority. | ||
| SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives | ||
| a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as | ||
| provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this | ||
| Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this | ||
| Act takes effect September 1, 2017. | ||
