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Senate Bill 1178 |
Senate Author: Nelson |
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Effective: See below |
House Sponsor: Raymond |
Senate Bill 1178 amends provisions of the Human Resources Code relating to the regulation of certain shelter day-care facilities, child-care facilities, and individuals providing child-care services and relating to access to certain criminal history record information. The bill authorizes certain municipalities that operate an elementary-age recreation program to, in lieu of an annual public hearing relating to the adoption of standards of care by ordinance, accept public comment through the municipality's Internet website. The bill requires the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) to investigate a listed family home if DFPS receives a complaint that alleges an immediate risk of danger to the health or safety of a child being cared for in the home and authorizes DFPS to investigate a family home to ensure that the home is providing care for compensation to not more than three children. The bill requires DFPS to notify the operator of a listed home of an investigation and to report the results of an investigation to the operator. The bill establishes suspension and revocation requirements for DFPS if an operator fails to submit certain information for a background and criminal history check or if a facility, agency, or home fails to pay the required annual fee within a certain time frame. The bill requires the director, owner, or operator of a before-school or after-school program or school-age program to submit a complete set of fingerprints of certain persons and establishes background and criminal history check requirements for a substitute employee provided by a person who contracts to provide substitute employees to a child-care facility or family home. The bill prohibits a person from being a controlling person in a child-care facility or family home under certain circumstances relating to eligibility for and revocation or denial of a license, listing, registration, or certification and removes the authorization for a person to continue to operate a child-care facility or family home during an appeal of a license, listing, or registration denial. The bill authorizes DFPS to refuse to issue a listing or registration to certain persons in relation to a child-care facility or family home, rather than a residential-care facility, and authorizes DFPS to impose an administrative penalty against a listed facility or family home that commits certain violations of law. The bill, effective September 1, 2012, establishes provisions for the regulation of temporary shelter day-care facilities, including provisions relating to permit requirements; inspection and background and criminal history checks; the conversion of a license to operate a child-care facility to a permit to operate a shelter day-care facility; caregiver qualifications and training; child-to-caregiver ratio requirements; reporting requirements for incidents and violations; the authority of DFPS to conduct limited inspections of facilities; and the suspension, denial, or revocation of a permit. The bill authorizes DFPS to deny, revoke, suspend, or refuse to renew a child-care or child-placing agency administrator license or place on probation or reprimand a license holder for having a criminal history relevant to the duties of a licensed child-care or child-placing administrator and amends the Government Code to specify the conditions under which a person, agency, department, political subdivision, or other entity entitled to access the state and national criminal history record information of a person is not required to collect or submit the person's fingerprints. The bill, effective September 1, 2012, repeals provisions of the Health and Safety Code relating to the licensing and regulation of maternity homes and a provision of the Human Resources Code requiring the executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission to adopt specific rules and minimum standards for a child-care facility that is located in a temporary shelter. Except as otherwise provided, the bill makes its provisions effective September 1, 2011.