Florida Senate - 2014 SENATOR AMENDMENT
Bill No. CS/CS/HB 7069, 1st Eng.
Ì326892GÎ326892
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 493 - 722
4 and insert:
5 1002.61, or s. 1002.88 be licensed. Each licensed or registered
6 family child care home must conspicuously display its license or
7 registration in the common area of the home.
8 (a) If not subject to license, a family child day care home
9 must comply with this section and homes shall register annually
10 with 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 child care home, the department shall verify that the home is in
45 compliance with the background screening requirements of
46 subsection (3) and that the operator and the designated
47 substitute are in compliance with applicable training
48 requirements of subsection (4).
49 (b) A family child day care home may volunteer to be
50 licensed under this act.
51 (c) The department may provide technical assistance to
52 counties and operators of family child day care homes home
53 providers to enable counties and operators family day care
54 providers to achieve compliance with family child day care home
55 homes standards.
56 (2) This information shall be included in a directory to be
57 published annually by the department to inform the public of
58 available child care facilities.
59 (3) Child care personnel in family child day care homes are
60 shall be subject to the applicable screening provisions
61 contained in ss. 402.305(2) and 402.3055. For purposes of
62 screening in family child day care homes, the term “child care
63 personnel” includes the operator, the designated substitute, any
64 member over the age of 12 years of a family child day care home
65 operator’s family, or persons over the age of 12 years residing
66 with the operator in the family child day care home. Members of
67 the operator’s family, or persons residing with the operator,
68 who are between the ages of 12 years and 18 years shall not be
69 required to be fingerprinted, but shall be screened for
70 delinquency records.
71 (4)(a) Before licensure and before caring for children,
72 operators of family child day care homes and an individual
73 serving as a substitute for the operator who works 40 hours or
74 more per month on average must:
75 1. Successfully complete an approved 30-clock-hour
76 introductory course in child care, as evidenced by passage of a
77 competency examination, before caring for children. The course
78 must include:
79 a. State and local rules and regulations that govern child
80 care.
81 b. Health, safety, and nutrition.
82 c. Identifying and reporting child abuse and neglect.
83 d. Child development, including typical and atypical
84 language development, and cognitive, motor, social, and
85 executive functioning skills development.
86 e. Observation of developmental behaviors, including using
87 a checklist or other similar observation tools and techniques to
88 determine a child’s developmental level.
89 f. Specialized areas, including numeracy, early literacy,
90 and language development of children from birth to 5 years of
91 age, as determined by the department, for operators of family
92 child care homes.
93 (5) In order to further develop their child care skills
94 and, if appropriate, their administrative skills, operators of
95 family day care homes shall be required to complete an
96 additional 1 continuing education unit of approved training or
97 10 clock hours of equivalent training, as determined by the
98 department, annually.
99 2.(6) Operators of family day care homes shall be required
100 to Complete 0.5 continuing education unit of approved training
101 in numeracy, early literacy, and language development of
102 children from birth to 5 years of age one time. For an operator,
103 the year that this training is completed, it shall fulfill the
104 0.5 continuing education unit or 5 clock hours of the annual
105 training required in paragraph (c) subsection (5).
106 3. Complete training in first aid and infant and child
107 cardiopulmonary resuscitation as evidenced by current
108 documentation of course completion.
109 (b) Before licensure and before caring for children, family
110 child care home substitutes who work fewer than 40 hours per
111 month on average must complete the department’s 6-clock-hour
112 Family Child Care Home Rules and Regulations training, as
113 evidenced by successful completion of a competency examination
114 and first aid and infant and child cardiopulmonary resuscitation
115 training under subparagraph (a)3. A substitute who has
116 successfully completed the 3-clock-hour Fundamentals of Child
117 Care training established by rules of the department or the 30
118 clock-hour training under subparagraph (a)1. is not required to
119 complete the 6-clock-hour Family Child Care Home Rules and
120 Regulations training.
121 (c) Operators of family day care homes must annually
122 complete an additional 1 continuing education unit of approved
123 training regarding child care and administrative skills or 10
124 clock hours of equivalent training, as determined by the
125 department.
126 (5)(7) Operators of family child day care homes must shall
127 be required annually to complete a health and safety home
128 inspection self-evaluation checklist developed by the department
129 in conjunction with the statewide resource and referral program.
130 The completed checklist shall be signed by the operator of the
131 family child day care home and provided to parents as
132 certification that basic health and safety standards are being
133 met.
134 (6)(8) Operators of family child day care homes home
135 operators may avail themselves of supportive services offered by
136 the department.
137 (7)(9) The department shall prepare a brochure on family
138 child day care for distribution by the department and by local
139 licensing agencies, if appropriate, to family child day care
140 homes for distribution to parents using utilizing such child
141 care, and to all interested persons, including physicians and
142 other health professionals; mental health professionals; school
143 teachers or other school personnel; social workers or other
144 professional child care, foster care, residential, or
145 institutional workers; and law enforcement officers. The
146 brochure shall, at a minimum, contain the following information:
147 (a) A brief description of the requirements for family
148 child day care registration, training, and background
149 fingerprinting and screening.
150 (b) A listing of those counties that require licensure of
151 family child day care homes. Such counties shall provide an
152 addendum to the brochure that provides a brief description of
153 the licensure requirements or may provide a brochure in lieu of
154 the one described in this subsection, provided it contains all
155 the required information on licensure and the required
156 information in the subsequent paragraphs.
157 (c) A statement indicating that information about the
158 family child day care home’s compliance with applicable state or
159 local requirements can be obtained from by telephoning the
160 department office or the office of the local licensing agency,
161 including the, if appropriate, at a telephone number or numbers
162 and website address for the department or local licensing
163 agency, as applicable which shall be affixed to the brochure.
164 (d) The statewide toll-free telephone number of the central
165 abuse hotline, together with a notice that reports of suspected
166 and actual child physical abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect are
167 received and referred for investigation by the hotline.
168 (e) Any other information relating to competent child care
169 that the department or local licensing agency, if preparing a
170 separate brochure, considers deems would be helpful to parents
171 and other caretakers in their selection of a family child day
172 care home.
173 (8)(10) On an annual basis, the department shall evaluate
174 the registration and licensure system for family child day care
175 homes. Such evaluation shall, at a minimum, address the
176 following:
177 (a) The number of family child day care homes registered
178 and licensed and the dates of such registration and licensure.
179 (b) The number of children being served in both registered
180 and licensed family child day care homes and any available slots
181 in such homes.
182 (c) The number of complaints received concerning family
183 child day care, the nature of the complaints, and the resolution
184 of such complaints.
185 (d) The training activities used utilized by child care
186 personnel in family child day care homes for meeting the state
187 or local training requirements.
188
189 The evaluation shall be used utilized by the department in any
190 administrative modifications or adjustments to be made in the
191 registration of family child day care homes or in any
192 legislative requests for modifications to the system of
193 registration or to other requirements for family child day care
194 homes.
195 (11) In order to inform the public of the state requirement
196 for registration of family day care homes as well as the other
197 requirements for such homes to legally operate in the state, the
198 department shall institute a media campaign to accomplish this
199 end. Such a campaign shall include, at a minimum, flyers,
200 newspaper advertisements, radio advertisements, and television
201 advertisements.
202 (9)(12) Notwithstanding any other state or local law or
203 ordinance, any family child day care home licensed pursuant to
204 this chapter or pursuant to a county ordinance shall be charged
205 the utility rates accorded to a residential home. A licensed
206 family child day care home may not be charged commercial utility
207 rates.
208 (10)(13) The department shall, by rule, establish minimum
209 standards for family child day care homes that are required to
210 be licensed by county licensing ordinance or county licensing
211 resolution or that voluntarily choose to be licensed. The
212 standards should include requirements for staffing, training,
213 maintenance of immunization records, minimum health and safety
214 standards, reduced standards for the regulation of child care
215 during evening hours by municipalities and counties, and
216 enforcement of standards. Additionally, the department shall, by
217 rule, adopt procedures for verifying a registered family child
218 care home’s compliance with background screening and training
219 requirements.
220 (11)(14) During the months of August and September of each
221 year, Each family child day care home shall provide parents of
222 children enrolling enrolled in the home detailed information
223 regarding the causes, symptoms, and transmission of the
224 influenza virus in an effort to educate those parents regarding
225 the importance of immunizing their children against influenza as
226 recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices
227 of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
228 Section 11. Subsections (1), (3), (5), and (9) of section
229 402.3131, Florida Statutes, are amended, and subsection (10) is
230 added to that section, to read:
231 402.3131 Large family child care homes.—
232 (1) A large family child care home must homes shall be
233 licensed under this section and conspicuously display its
234 license in the common area of the home.
235 (a) A licensed family day care home must first have
236 operated for a minimum of 2 consecutive years, with an operator
237 who has had a child development associate credential or its
238 equivalent for 1 year, before seeking licensure as a large
239 family child care home.
240 (b) The department may provide technical assistance to
241 counties and family day care home providers to enable the
242 counties and providers to achieve compliance with minimum
243 standards for large family child care homes.