Florida Senate - 2014                          SENATOR AMENDMENT
       Bill No. CS for SB 1702
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Ì379784]Î379784                         
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
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                  Floor: WD            .                                
             04/28/2014 04:37 PM       .                                
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       Senator Gibson moved the following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment 
    2  
    3         Delete lines 434 - 655
    4  and insert:
    5  1002.88 be licensed. Each licensed or registered family day care
    6  home shall conspicuously display its license or registration in
    7  the common area of the home.
    8         (a) If not subject to license, a family day care home must
    9  comply with this section and homes shall register annually with
   10  the department, providing the following information:
   11         1. The name and address of the home.
   12         2. The name of the operator.
   13         3. The number of children served.
   14         4. Proof of a written plan to identify a provide at least
   15  one other competent adult who has met the screening and training
   16  requirements of the department to serve as a designated to be
   17  available to substitute for the operator in an emergency. This
   18  plan must shall include the name, address, and telephone number
   19  of the designated substitute who will serve in the absence of
   20  the operator.
   21         5. Proof of screening and background checks.
   22         6. Proof of successful completion of the 30-hour training
   23  course, as evidenced by passage of a competency examination,
   24  which shall include:
   25         a. State and local rules and regulations that govern child
   26  care.
   27         b. Health, safety, and nutrition.
   28         c. Identifying and reporting child abuse and neglect.
   29         d. Child development, including typical and atypical
   30  language development; and cognitive, motor, social, and self
   31  help skills development.
   32         e. Observation of developmental behaviors, including using
   33  a checklist or other similar observation tools and techniques to
   34  determine a child’s developmental level.
   35         f. Specialized areas, including early literacy and language
   36  development of children from birth to 5 years of age, as
   37  determined by the department, for owner-operators of family day
   38  care homes.
   39         5.7. Proof that immunization records are kept current.
   40         8. Proof of completion of the required continuing education
   41  units or clock hours.
   42  
   43  Upon receipt of registration information submitted by a family
   44  day care home pursuant to this paragraph, the department shall
   45  verify that the home is in compliance with the background
   46  screening requirements in subsection (3) and that the operator
   47  and the designated substitute are in compliance with applicable
   48  training requirements of subsection (4).
   49         (b) A family day care home may volunteer to be licensed
   50  under this act.
   51         (c) The department may provide technical assistance to
   52  counties and operators of family day care homes home providers
   53  to enable counties and operators family day care providers to
   54  achieve compliance with family day care home homes standards.
   55         (2) This information shall be included in a directory to be
   56  published annually by the department to inform the public of
   57  available child care facilities.
   58         (3) Child care personnel in family day care homes are shall
   59  be subject to the applicable screening provisions contained in
   60  ss. 402.305(2) and 402.3055. For purposes of screening in family
   61  day care homes, the term “child care personnel” includes the
   62  operator, the designated substitute, any member over the age of
   63  12 years of a family day care home operator’s family, or persons
   64  over the age of 12 years residing with the operator in the
   65  family day care home. Members of the operator’s family, or
   66  persons residing with the operator, who are between the ages of
   67  12 years and 18 years may shall not be required to be
   68  fingerprinted, but shall be screened for delinquency records.
   69         (4)(a)Before licensure and before caring for children,
   70  operators of family day care homes and an individual serving as
   71  a substitute for the operator who works 40 hours or more per
   72  month on average must:
   73         1. Successfully complete an approved 30-clock-hour
   74  introductory course in child care, as evidenced by passage of a
   75  competency examination, before caring for children. The course
   76  must include:
   77         a. State and local rules and regulations that govern child
   78  care.
   79         b. Health, safety, and nutrition.
   80         c. Identifying and reporting child abuse and neglect.
   81         d. Child development, including typical and atypical
   82  language development, and cognitive, motor, social, and
   83  executive functioning skills development.
   84         e. Observation of developmental behaviors, including using
   85  a checklist or other similar observation tools and techniques to
   86  determine a child’s developmental level.
   87         f. Specialized areas, including numeracy, early literacy,
   88  and language development of children from birth to 5 years of
   89  age, as determined by the department, for operators of family
   90  child care homes.
   91         (5) In order to further develop their child care skills
   92  and, if appropriate, their administrative skills, operators of
   93  family day care homes shall be required to complete an
   94  additional 1 continuing education unit of approved training or
   95  10 clock hours of equivalent training, as determined by the
   96  department, annually.
   97         2.(6)Operators of family day care homes shall be required
   98  to Complete a 0.5 continuing education unit of approved training
   99  in numeracy, early literacy, and language development of
  100  children from birth to 5 years of age one time. For an operator,
  101  the year that this training is completed, it shall fulfill the
  102  0.5 continuing education unit or 5 clock hours of the annual
  103  training required in paragraph (c) subsection (5).
  104         3.Complete training in first aid and infant and child
  105  cardiopulmonary resuscitation as evidenced by current
  106  documentation of course completion.
  107         (b) Before licensure and before caring for children, family
  108  day care home substitutes who work fewer than 40 hours per month
  109  on average must complete the department’s 6-clock-hour Family
  110  Child Care Home Rules and Regulations training, as evidenced by
  111  successful completion of a competency examination and first aid
  112  and infant and child cardiopulmonary resuscitation training
  113  under subparagraph (a)3. A substitute who has successfully
  114  completed the 3-clock-hour Fundamentals of Child Care training
  115  established by rules of the department or the 30-clock-hour
  116  training under subparagraph (a)1. is not required to complete
  117  the 6-clock-hour Family Child Care Home Rules and Regulations
  118  training.
  119         (c) Operators of family day care homes must annually
  120  complete an additional 1 continuing education unit of approved
  121  training regarding child care and administrative skills or 10
  122  clock hours of equivalent training, as determined by the
  123  department.
  124         (5)(7) Operators of family day care homes must shall be
  125  required annually to complete a health and safety home
  126  inspection self-evaluation checklist developed by the department
  127  in conjunction with the statewide resource and referral program.
  128  The completed checklist shall be signed by the operator of the
  129  family day care home and provided to parents as certification
  130  that basic health and safety standards are being met.
  131         (6)(8)Operators of family day care homes home operators
  132  may avail themselves of supportive services offered by the
  133  department.
  134         (7)(9) The department shall prepare a brochure on family
  135  day care for distribution by the department and by local
  136  licensing agencies, if appropriate, to family day care homes for
  137  distribution to parents using utilizing such child care, and to
  138  all interested persons, including physicians and other health
  139  professionals; mental health professionals; school teachers or
  140  other school personnel; social workers or other professional
  141  child care, foster care, residential, or institutional workers;
  142  and law enforcement officers. The brochure shall, at a minimum,
  143  contain the following information:
  144         (a) A brief description of the requirements for family day
  145  care registration, training, and background fingerprinting and
  146  screening.
  147         (b) A listing of those counties that require licensure of
  148  family day care homes. Such counties shall provide an addendum
  149  to the brochure that provides a brief description of the
  150  licensure requirements or may provide a brochure in lieu of the
  151  one described in this subsection, provided it contains all the
  152  required information on licensure and the required information
  153  in the subsequent paragraphs.
  154         (c) A statement indicating that information about the
  155  family day care home’s compliance with applicable state or local
  156  requirements can be obtained from by telephoning the department
  157  office or the office of the local licensing agency, including
  158  the, if appropriate, at a telephone number or numbers and
  159  website address for the department or local licensing agency, as
  160  applicable which shall be affixed to the brochure.
  161         (d) The statewide toll-free telephone number of the central
  162  abuse hotline, together with a notice that reports of suspected
  163  and actual child physical abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect are
  164  received and referred for investigation by the hotline.
  165         (e) Any other information relating to competent child care
  166  that the department or local licensing agency, if preparing a
  167  separate brochure, considers deems would be helpful to parents
  168  and other caretakers in their selection of a family day care
  169  home.
  170         (8)(10) On an annual basis, the department shall evaluate
  171  the registration and licensure system for family day care homes.
  172  Such evaluation shall, at a minimum, address the following:
  173         (a) The number of family day care homes registered and
  174  licensed and the dates of such registration and licensure.
  175         (b) The number of children being served in both registered
  176  and licensed family day care homes and any available slots in
  177  such homes.
  178         (c) The number of complaints received concerning family day
  179  care, the nature of the complaints, and the resolution of such
  180  complaints.
  181         (d) The training activities used utilized by child care
  182  personnel in family day care homes for meeting the state or
  183  local training requirements.
  184  
  185  The evaluation, pursuant to this paragraph, shall be used
  186  utilized by the department in any administrative modifications
  187  or adjustments to be made in the registration of family day care
  188  homes or in any legislative requests for modifications to the
  189  system of registration or to other requirements for family day
  190  care homes.
  191         (11) In order to inform the public of the state requirement
  192  for registration of family day care homes as well as the other
  193  requirements for such homes to legally operate in the state, the
  194  department shall institute a media campaign to accomplish this
  195  end. Such a campaign shall include, at a minimum, flyers,
  196  newspaper advertisements, radio advertisements, and television
  197  advertisements.
  198         (9)(12) Notwithstanding any other state or local law or
  199  ordinance, any family day care home licensed pursuant to this
  200  chapter or pursuant to a county ordinance shall be charged the
  201  utility rates accorded to a residential home. A licensed family
  202  day care home may not be charged commercial utility rates.
  203         (10)(13) The department shall, by rule, establish minimum
  204  standards for family day care homes that are required to be
  205  licensed by county licensing ordinance or county licensing
  206  resolution or that voluntarily choose to be licensed. The
  207  standards should include requirements for staffing, training,
  208  maintenance of immunization records, minimum health and safety
  209  standards, reduced standards for the regulation of child care
  210  during evening hours by municipalities and counties, and
  211  enforcement of standards. Additionally, the department shall, by
  212  rule, adopt procedures for verifying a registered family day
  213  care home’s compliance with background screening and training
  214  requirements.
  215         (11)(14)During the months of August and September of each
  216  year, Each family day care home shall provide parents of
  217  children enrolling enrolled in the home detailed information
  218  regarding the causes, symptoms, and transmission of the
  219  influenza virus in an effort to educate those parents regarding
  220  the importance of immunizing their children against influenza as
  221  recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices
  222  of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
  223         Section 10. Subsections (1), (3), (5), and (9) of section
  224  402.3131, Florida Statutes, are amended, and subsection (10) is
  225  added to that section, to read:
  226         402.3131 Large family child care homes.—
  227         (1) A large family child care home must homes shall be
  228  licensed under this section and conspicuously display its
  229  license in the common area of the home.
  230         (a) A licensed family day care home must first have
  231  operated for a minimum of 2 consecutive years, with an operator
  232  who has had a child development associate credential or its
  233  equivalent for 1 year, before seeking licensure as a large
  234  family child care home.
  235         (b) The department may provide technical assistance to
  236  counties and family day care home providers to enable the
  237  counties and providers to achieve compliance with minimum
  238  standards for large family child care homes.