This bill amends the laws related to child care providers as follows.
1. It establishes the Child Care Appeal Review Panel to review and make determinations of disputes between the Department of Health and Human Services and a child care facility, family child care provider or nursery school relating to compliance with licensing or certification, complaints and disputes.
2. It requires the department to establish payment rates for child care services that are at least equal to the 75th percentile of local market rates and requires that payment rates for child care services for children with special needs be higher than the 75th percentile.
3. It establishes a license for a period of 5 years to a child care facility or family child care provider that has been continuously in operation for at least 5 years and has completed satisfactory inspections.
4. It limits an inspection as a result of a complaint to the substance of the complaint.
5. It authorizes conditional employment for up to 90 days for an individual working in a child care facility.
6. It authorizes a recipient of a child care subsidy provided by the department to pay the difference between the amount of the subsidy and the amount charged by the child care provider.
7. It amends the definitions of "family child care provider," "nursery school" and "small child care facility" to increase the minimum number of children from 3 to 5.
8. It removes the authority of the department to publish certain information regarding an investigation on the department's publicly accessible website.
9. It requires the department to develop a plan for a sliding scale of income and subsidy to eliminate the so-called welfare cliff.
10. It requires the department to amend its rules for child care facilities and family child care providers in order to change staff-child ratios and change requirements relating to inspections and the licensing process, among other changes.

Statutes affected:
Bill Text LD 1729, SP 693: 22.3737, 22.3762, 22.3782, 22.3931, 22.8301, 22.8302, 22.8357, 22.9057