Senate Bill sb2400c1

    Florida Senate - 2007                           CS for SB 2400

    By the Committee on Children, Families, and Elder Affairs; and
    Senator Wilson




    586-2392-07

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to public child care; amending

  3         s. 402.301, F.S.; providing legislative intent

  4         that children meeting certain requirements be

  5         given first priority for placement into the

  6         Gold Seal Quality Care Program; requiring the

  7         licensing entity for each district within the

  8         program to ensure compliance with such

  9         legislative intent by developing processes for

10         receiving feedback and addressing complaints;

11         providing an effective date.

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13  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

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15         Section 1.  Subsection (8) is added to section 402.301,

16  Florida Statutes, to read:

17         402.301  Child care facilities; legislative intent and

18  declaration of purpose and policy.--It is the legislative

19  intent to protect the health, safety, and well-being of the

20  children of the state and to promote their emotional and

21  intellectual development and care. Toward that end:

22         (8)  It is the intent of the Legislature that a public

23  child care center designated as a Gold Seal Quality Care

24  facility under s. 402.281 allow children who have not attained

25  the age of eligibility for kindergarten and who are under the

26  jurisdiction of a circuit court of this state due to a

27  documented case of child abuse, abandonment, or neglect to

28  receive first priority for placement. To the extent that this

29  subsection creates a conflict with a priority placement

30  pursuant to s. 411.01(6), a child who is at least 3 years of

31  age but who has not yet attained the age of eligibility for

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    Florida Senate - 2007                           CS for SB 2400
    586-2392-07




 1  kindergarten shall have first priority for placement. The

 2  licensing entity for each district shall ensure compliance

 3  with this subsection by developing a process for consumers to

 4  provide feedback and an administrative process for addressing

 5  complaints which ensure that child care providers holding as

 6  Gold Seal Quality Care designation comply with the legislative

 7  intent of this subsection.

 8         Section 2.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2007.

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10          STATEMENT OF SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES CONTAINED IN
                       COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
11                         Senate Bill 2400

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13  The committee substitute (CS) clarifies the intent language
    relating to priority placement in public Gold Seal Quality
14  Care facilities; specifically, it identifies the target
    population as children who are under the jurisdiction of the
15  circuit court due to a documented case of abuse. The CS
    deletes the alternative for priority placement in programs
16  that are high quality pursuant to an alternate rating system.
    The CS deletes the requirement that a facility notify a
17  child's guardian if it is unable to accept the child, as well
    as the requirement that the Department of Children and
18  Families provide information about capacity levels of quality
    facilities. The CS includes a provision addressing potential
19  conflicts over priority placements, and a provision as to how
    the licensing entity in each district shall ensure compliance
20  with the section.

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.