Bill Text: TX SB708 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Enrolled

Texas Senate Bill 708 (Prior Session Legislation)

Bill Title: Relating to collection and use of child safety data for licensed day-care centers.

Sponsorship: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Passed) 2019-06-14 - Effective immediately [SB708 Detail]

Download: Texas-2019-SB708-Enrolled.html



	S.B. No. 708




	AN ACT
	relating to collection and use of child safety data for licensed
	day-care centers.
	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" and "specified age" are
	determined by the formula provided in the commission's minimum
	standards for child-care centers.
	(b) The commission, in collaboration with the department
	and using existing resources, shall collect, compile, and publish
	on the commission's Internet website the following data aggregated
	by child age on reported incidents in licensed day-care centers
	that threaten or impair the basic health, safety, or welfare of a
	child:
	(1) the number of incidents investigated by the
	commission or department and assigned the commission's highest
	priority;
	(2) the number of incidents investigated by the
	commission or department and assigned the commission's
	second-highest priority;
	(3) the number of violations;
	(4) the number of confirmed serious injuries to
	children; and
	(5) the number of child fatalities.
	(c) During each monitoring inspection of a licensed
	day-care center the commission conducts, the commission, using
	existing resources, shall collect the following data for each group
	of children four years of age and younger in the day-care center:
	(1) the specified age 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-1) The commission, using existing resources, shall
	collect and publish on the commission's Internet website data on
	the total number of employees who left employment with each
	licensed day-care center during the preceding calendar year.
	(d) The commission shall make the data collected under this
	section available to persons researching the factors related to
	child injury, maltreatment, and death in licensed day-care centers
	on request.
	(e) The commission, using existing resources, shall provide
	an annual report to the legislature that includes:
	(1) the number of confirmed serious injuries and
	fatalities for children four years of age and younger, aggregated
	by the age of the injured or deceased child, including information
	collected by the department, that occurred:
	(A) at each licensed day-care center; and
	(B) at a location other than a licensed day-care
	center;
	(2) the priority assigned to the investigation
	conducted by the commission or department in response to an
	incident that resulted in a serious injury or child fatality;
	(3) the number of investigations conducted by the
	commission or department at each licensed day-care center involving
	a child four years of age or younger that were assigned the highest
	priority or second-highest priority, aggregated by the age of the
	youngest affected child;
	(4) the number of violations the commission found at
	each licensed day-care center during investigations described by
	Subdivision (3); and
	(5) a comparison on whether children under the
	supervision of a licensed day-care center are more likely than
	children outside the supervision of a licensed day-care center to
	suffer a serious injury or death.
	(f) The commission, in collaboration with the department
	and using existing resources, shall research, collect, compile, and
	publish on the commission's Internet website, in a way that allows
	meaningful comparison on a pro-rata basis of the relative frequency
	of each event included in the information required under Subsection
	(b)(4) and (5), the following data aggregated by child age
	regarding incidents at a location other than a licensed day-care
	center that threaten or impair the basic health, safety, or welfare
	of a child:
	(1) the number of confirmed serious injuries to
	children; and
	(2) the number of child fatalities.
	(g) The commission may collaborate with one or more state
	agencies to perform a duty under Subsections (e) and (f).
	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, 2021, the executive
	commissioner shall review the data collected under Section 42.0412
	and prepare and submit to the legislature a report that includes
	legislative and regulatory recommendations by age group to enhance
	child safety. This subsection expires September 1, 2023.
	SECTION 3. Notwithstanding Section 42.0412(d), Human
	Resources Code, as added by this Act, the Health and Human Services
	Commission is not required to comply with that subsection until
	January 31, 2020.
	SECTION 4. 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, 2019.






	______________________________	______________________________
	President of the Senate	Speaker of the House

	I hereby certify that S.B. No. 708 passed the Senate on
	May 1, 2019, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 1; and that the
	Senate concurred in House amendments on May 23, 2019, by the
	following vote: Yeas 28, Nays 3.


	______________________________
	Secretary of the Senate

	I hereby certify that S.B. No. 708 passed the House, with
	amendments, on May 17, 2019, by the following vote: Yeas 137,
	Nays 9, one present not voting.


	______________________________
	Chief Clerk of the House



	Approved:

	______________________________
	Date


	______________________________
	Governor