Child Care Licensing
Recap from the Texas 86th legislative session
Child care and early education received much attention during the 86th legislative session that ended in May 2019. During this session, Child Care Licensing analyzed 141 bills, with 16 signed into law. Multiple bills have requirements that will apply to unregulated child care and listed family homes. Five bills, however, will have direct impacts on child care centers and homes. Below is a brief review of Senate Bill 568, Senate Bill 708, House Bills 1849 and 4260, and Senate Bill 952.
SB 568 requires licensed programs to provide written notice to parents or guardians of any violation of safe sleep standards (Section 42.0429.b). The bill also requires programs to notify the parents or guardians of each child who is in the care of a person who has been found to abuse, neglect, exploit, or injure a child (Section 42.063.b-1).
Additionally, the bill requires harsher administrative penalties (from $50 to $500 according to the violation, to license or registration revocation or non-renewal) for programs that fail to report violations of safe sleep standards or fail to report any serious injury to a child. Finally, the bill requires that the public website maintain 5 years of compliance data (currently, the website maintains 3 years of data).
For full details, click on the hyperlink.
SB 708 requires the collection of specific data related to basic health, safety, and child welfare from licensed child care operations. The bill directs the Health and Human Services Commission (CCL), in collaboration with the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS), to collect, compile, and publish data on the commission’s Internet site. Areas of data collection will include the following:
 staff-to-child ratios;
the number of children assigned to a group;
the ages of children in the group;
health and safety incidents, violations, and confirmed serious injuries to children;
staff turnover; and
fatalities of children 4 years of age and younger.
For full details, click on the hyperlink.
HB 1849 (HB 4260) allows child care programs the opportunity to use an operation-specific prescribed EpiPen in the event of an anaphylaxis emergency that is potentially life-threatening. The bills require training, storage, and documentation of use and provides for good faith immunity from civil or criminal liability or disciplinary action resulting from use according to legislative intent.
For full details, click on the hyperlink.
SB 952 requires the use of the physical activity and screen time standards that are found in Caring for Our Children 4th Edition in the minimum standards for centers and homes. Further, the bill directs child care programs to align the meal patterns to those of the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP). The bill does not, however, require operations to participate in the CACFP food program.
For more details, click on the hyperlink.
Child Care Licensing is currently working through implementation plans for the 16 bills that passed this session and planning for rule making. Child Care Licensing will begin communicating with providers on the implementation process step-by-step, so it is essential to read all emails that update you on the changes that will address legislation. Please keep in mind that proposing new rules is a collaborative process with stakeholder input and requires an organized timeframe.
Child Care Licensing does not anticipate regulatory changes before the end of 2020. We will communicate with providers throughout the process, and offer resources to help with implementing the new rules.
Questions? You can reach out to MSC@hhsc.state.tx.us. |
