House File 2450 - Introduced
HOUSE FILE
BY JOCHUM, WESSEL=KROESCHELL,
MASCHER, WINCKLER, and
LENSING
Passed House, Date Passed Senate, Date
Vote: Ayes Nays Vote: Ayes Nays
Approved
A BILL FOR
1 An Act relating to child care by requiring registration or
2 licensing of child care providers and making a penalty
3 applicable.
4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
5 TLSB 6247HH 81
6 jp/gg/14
PAG LIN
1 1 Section 1. Section 237.1, subsection 4, paragraph d, Code
1 2 2005, is amended to read as follows:
1 3 d. Child care furnished by a child care center, or a child
1 4 development home, or a child care home as defined in section
1 5 237A.1.
1 6 Sec. 2. Section 237A.1, subsection 6, Code Supplement
1 7 2005, is amended by striking the subsection.
1 8 Sec. 3. Section 237A.1, subsection 7, Code Supplement
1 9 2005, is amended to read as follows:
1 10 7. "Child development home" means a person or program
1 11 registered under section 237A.3A that may provide child care
1 12 to six one or more children at any one time.
1 13 Sec. 4. Section 237A.1, subsection 11, Code Supplement
1 14 2005, is amended to read as follows:
1 15 11. "Involvement with child care" means licensed or
1 16 registered under this chapter, employed in a child care
1 17 facility, residing in a child care facility, receiving public
1 18 funding for providing child care, or providing child care as a
1 19 child care home provider, or residing in a child care home
1 20 with a person receiving public funding for providing child
1 21 care.
1 22 Sec. 5. Section 237A.5, subsection 2, paragraph a,
1 23 subparagraph (1), subparagraph subdivision (e), Code 2005, is
1 24 amended to read as follows:
1 25 (e) The person will reside or resides in with a child care
1 26 home that provider who is not registered subject to
1 27 registration or licensure under this chapter but that receives
1 28 public funding for providing child care.
1 29 Sec. 6. Section 237A.5, subsection 2, paragraph b,
1 30 unnumbered paragraph 2, Code 2005, is amended to read as
1 31 follows:
1 32 Prior to performing an evaluation, the department shall
1 33 notify the affected person, licensee, registrant, or child
1 34 care home person applying for or receiving public funding for
1 35 providing child care, that an evaluation will be conducted to
2 1 determine whether prohibition of the person's involvement with
2 2 child care is warranted.
2 3 Sec. 7. Section 237A.5, subsection 2, paragraph d,
2 4 subparagraph (2), Code 2005, is amended to read as follows:
2 5 (2) If, within five years prior to the date of application
2 6 for registration or licensure under this chapter, for
2 7 employment or residence in a child care facility or child care
2 8 home, or for receipt of public funding for providing child
2 9 care, a person subject to an evaluation has been convicted of
2 10 a controlled substance offense under chapter 124 or has been
2 11 found to have committed physical abuse, the person shall be
2 12 prohibited from involvement with child care for a period of
2 13 five years from the date of conviction or founded abuse.
2 14 After the five=year prohibition period, the person may submit
2 15 an application for registration or licensure under this
2 16 chapter, or to receive public funding for providing child care
2 17 or may request an evaluation, and the department shall perform
2 18 an evaluation and, based upon the criteria in paragraph "c",
2 19 shall determine whether prohibition of the person's
2 20 involvement with child care continues to be warranted.
2 21 Sec. 8. Section 237A.5, subsection 2, paragraph f, Code
2 22 2005, is amended to read as follows:
2 23 f. If it has been determined that a child receiving child
2 24 care from a child care facility or a child care home which
2 25 person who receives public funding for providing child care is
2 26 the victim of founded child abuse committed by an employee,
2 27 license or registration holder, child care home provider
2 28 person who receives public funding for providing child care or
2 29 an individual residing with that person, or resident of the
2 30 child care facility or child care home for which a report is
2 31 placed in the central registry pursuant to section 232.71D,
2 32 the administrator shall provide notification at the time of
2 33 the determination to the parents, guardians, and custodians of
2 34 children receiving care from the facility or child care home
2 35 person. A notification made under this paragraph shall
3 1 identify the type of abuse but shall not identify the victim
3 2 or perpetrator or circumstances of the founded abuse.
3 3 Sec. 9. Section 237A.12, subsection 1, paragraph c, Code
3 4 2005, is amended to read as follows:
3 5 c. The adequacy of activity programs and food services
3 6 available to the children. The department shall not restrict
3 7 the use of or apply nutritional standards to a lunch or other
3 8 meal which is brought to the center, or child development
3 9 home, or child care home by a school=age child for the child's
3 10 consumption.
3 11 Sec. 10. Section 237A.13, subsection 2, Code 2005, is
3 12 amended to read as follows:
3 13 2. Services under the program may be provided in by a
3 14 licensed child care center, a registered child development
3 15 home, the home of a relative who is registered or licensed
3 16 under this chapter, the child's own home by a provider who is
3 17 registered or licensed under this chapter, a child care home,
3 18 or in a facility exempt from licensing or registration under
3 19 the definition of child care in section 237A.1.
3 20 Sec. 11. Section 237A.19, subsection 2, Code 2005, is
3 21 amended to read as follows:
3 22 2. If registration is required under section 237A.3A, a A
3 23 person who establishes, conducts, manages, or operates a child
3 24 development home without registering, or a person who operates
3 25 a child development home contrary to section 237A.5, or a
3 26 person that has been prohibited by the department from
3 27 involvement with child care but continues that involvement,
3 28 commits a simple misdemeanor. Each day of continuing
3 29 violation after conviction, or notice from the department by
3 30 certified mail of the violation, is a separate offense. A
3 31 single charge alleging continuing violation may be made in
3 32 lieu of filing charges for each day of violation.
3 33 Sec. 12. Section 237A.19, subsection 3, Code 2005, is
3 34 amended by striking the subsection.
3 35 Sec. 13. Section 237A.20, Code 2005, is amended to read as
4 1 follows:
4 2 237A.20 INJUNCTION.
4 3 A person who establishes, conducts, manages, or operates a
4 4 center without a license or a child development home without a
4 5 certificate of registration, if registration is required under
4 6 section 237A.3A, may be restrained by temporary or permanent
4 7 injunction. A person who has been convicted of a crime
4 8 against a person, a person with a record of founded child
4 9 abuse, or a person who has been prohibited by the department
4 10 from involvement with child care may be restrained by
4 11 temporary or permanent injunction from providing unregistered,
4 12 registered, or licensed child care or from other involvement
4 13 with child care. The action may be instituted by the state,
4 14 the county attorney, a political subdivision of the state, or
4 15 an interested person.
4 16 Sec. 14. Section 237A.21, subsection 1, Code 2005, is
4 17 amended to read as follows:
4 18 1. A state child care advisory council is established
4 19 consisting of not more than thirty=five members from urban and
4 20 rural areas across the state. The membership shall include,
4 21 but is not limited to, all of the following persons or
4 22 representatives with an interest in child care: a licensed
4 23 center provider, a registered child development home provider
4 24 from a county with a population of less than twenty=two
4 25 thousand, an unregistered child care home provider, a parent
4 26 of a child in child care, staff members of appropriate
4 27 governmental agencies, and other members as deemed necessary
4 28 by the director. The members are eligible for reimbursement
4 29 of their actual and necessary expenses while engaged in
4 30 performance of their official duties.
4 31 Sec. 15. Section 237A.21, subsection 3, paragraph e, Code
4 32 2005, is amended by striking the paragraph.
4 33 Sec. 16. Section 237A.26, subsection 3, paragraph a, Code
4 34 2005, is amended to read as follows:
4 35 a. Organize assistance to child care homes and child
5 1 development homes utilizing training levels based upon the
5 2 homes' degrees of experience and interest.
5 3 Sec. 17. Section 237A.26, subsection 8, Code 2005, is
5 4 amended to read as follows:
5 5 8. For purposes of improving the quality and consistency
5 6 of data collection, consultation, and other support to child
5 7 care home and child development home providers, a resource and
5 8 referral services agency grantee shall coordinate and assist
5 9 with publicly and privately funded efforts administered at the
5 10 community level to provide the support. The support and
5 11 efforts addressed by a grantee may include but are not limited
5 12 to community=funded child care home and child development home
5 13 consultants. Community members involved with the assistance
5 14 may include but are not limited to the efforts of a community
5 15 empowerment area board under chapter 28, and of community
5 16 representatives of education, health, human services,
5 17 business, faith, and public interests.
5 18 Sec. 18. Section 237A.3, Code 2005, is repealed.
5 19 EXPLANATION
5 20 This bill relates to child care regulated by the department
5 21 of human services under Code chapter 237A by requiring
5 22 registration or licensing of child care providers and making
5 23 penalties applicable.
5 24 Under current law in Code section 237A.3, a person or
5 25 program providing child care to five children or fewer at any
5 26 one time is a child care home provider and is not required to
5 27 register under Code section 237A.3A as a child development
5 28 home. The bill repeals Code section 237A.3 and revises the
5 29 definition of registered child development home to mean care
5 30 provided to one or more children. Conforming amendments are
5 31 included to eliminate the term "child care home" throughout
5 32 the Code.
5 33 Code section 237A.13, relating to the state child care
5 34 assistance program, is amended to provide that care under the
5 35 program must be provided by a licensed or registered provider
6 1 unless specifically exempt under the child care definition.
6 2 Code section 237A.19 provides for a simple misdemeanor
6 3 penalty for each day of violation of operating a child
6 4 development home without registering. With the bill's change
6 5 in the number of children receiving child care from a child
6 6 development home, this penalty would apply to a person
6 7 providing care to one or more children without registering as
6 8 a child development home provider. The penalty in Code
6 9 section 237A.19 for a person operating a child care home or
6 10 having involvement with child care when prohibited is stricken
6 11 and the involvement penalty in the stricken subsection is
6 12 moved by the bill to a different subsection.
6 13 Code section 237A.21, relating to the state child care
6 14 advisory council, is amended to remove child care home
6 15 providers from the required membership.
6 16 LSB 6247HH 81
6 17 jp:nh/gg/14