Committee OKs child care center bill
Sen. Danny Carroll, R-Paducah, testifies Tuesday on Senate Bill 160 during a Senate Families and Children Committee meeting. A high-res version can be found here.
FRANKFORT — Legislation that would provide more flexibility and support within the regulatory framework for child care centers advanced Tuesday following a unanimous vote during the Senate Families and Children Committee meeting.
Committee Chair Sen. Danny Carroll, R-Paducah, is the sponsor of Senate Bill 160. He called the measure a very fair and simple bill that offers more latitude to the state Office of Inspector General and the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services when overseeing child care centers.
“There have been a lot of times that there have been suspensions and revocation of licenses that I don’t think the cabinet really wanted to do,” he said. “But due to the current language, they were forced to do that.”
Under SB 160, health cabinet officials would be required to consider certain factors before issuing a plan of correction, suspension or revocation of a license to a child care center.
Among the considerations is whether the center self-reported the incident in question and has a history of self-reporting incidents. Officials would also need to consider if the incident resulted from a failure in policy, training, enforcement or supervision and whether the failure was an independent act by a director or staff person.
Another consideration would be if the child center appropriately responded to the violation by holding the party responsible for their actions, Carroll said.
The bill would also require that if officials issue a directive plan of correction, that will not result in suspension unless the incident itself was of a serious enough nature to lead to a suspension of the license, Carroll said.
“We want to set them up to succeed, not fail, because these services are crucial,” Carroll said.
Carroll said the bill calls for the cabinet to provide two weekly support contacts to child care centers with preliminary licenses during the center’s six-month probationary period.
“During those six months, the cabinet shall not issue any violations against the child care center unless the cabinet determines that the violation was knowingly committed after the cabinet had provided clear instructions or the violation created an immediate threat to the health and safety or welfare of the children in the center,” he said.
Sen. Shelley Funke Frommeyer, R-Alexandria, said her eight-month-old niece died from suffocation in child care due to a mattress that was too small for the bed.
“I was told that this facility had been inspected. So, my question is the frequency of inspections,” she said. “When a violation is determined, how quickly is it verified that things are in good order and that baby isn’t put back in a bed like she had died in.”
Carroll said when something like this occurs, the response would be immediate.
“There are reporting requirements within the time frame. Obviously, something of that serious of a nature, Child Protective Services would be involved. So, those responses would be very quick,” he said.
Senate Minority Caucus Chair Reginald L. Thomas, D-Lexington, said he was sorry for Funke Frommeyer’s loss, and generally, those at child care centers want to do the right thing. He said he favors the bill, especially the contact information for centers with preliminary licenses.
“Most of them, particularly the private ones, do struggle because of money, because of the difficulty in finding good staffing because of turnover, particularly. It’s sometimes a little difficult for them, but I think this bill is a step in the right direction to try to reach a balance,” he said.
