This bill makes several changes and additions to present law concerning child care agencies. USE OF UNDERUTILIZED OR VACANT LEA PROPERTY Present law requires LEAs in which one or more public charter schools operate to annually report underutilized and vacant property belonging to the LEA. A public charter school operating within the geographic boundaries of an LEA, excluding public charter schools in the achievement school district, has a right of first refusal to purchase or lease, at or below fair market value, underutilized or vacant property reported by the LEA. This bill changes present law by extending the requirement to report underutilized and vacant LEA property to LEAs in which one or more child care agencies are located. This bill adds to present law by extending to child care agencies the same right of first refusal to purchase or lease, at or below fair market value, underutilized or vacant property reported by the LEA as public charter schools have under present law. The procedure for sales and leases of vacant or underutilized LEA property to a child care agency would be the same as the process for such sales and leases to public charter schools under present law. For purposes of this bill, "child care agency" means a place or facility, regardless of whether it is currently licensed, that is operated as a family child care home, a group child care home, a child care center, or a drop-in center, or that provides child care for five or more children who are not related to the primary caregiver for three or more hours per day. HOST SCHOOLS Present law authorizes a person who does not have an existing child care agency license to apply for a provisional license, the purpose of which is to permit the applicant to begin the operation of a child care agency after meeting certain minimum requirements and to demonstrate during the provisional licensing period that it has the ability to attain and maintain compliance with all licensing laws and regulations. Present law specifies five minimum requirements that an applicant must meet for issuance of a provisional license, one of which is that the facility that is proposed for the care of children has received fire safety and environmental safety approval. If the department of human services determines that any of the five criteria for a provisional license are not met, then the department is authorized to deny the application for a provisional license. This bill adds that, a host school's fire inspection is sufficient to meet the department's requirements for a provisional license for a child care agency or early learning program in the host school for same age children as in the host school and the host school's facilities, such as a playground for the same age children as in the child care agency or early learning program in the host school, is sufficient to meet the department's requirements for an application for a provisional license. For purposes of this bill, a "host school" is a public or private school that has a child care agency or early learning program in the school not affiliated with such school. LOCAL REGULATION This bill requires municipal and county governing bodies to treat a child care family home as residential property in the application of local regulations for zoning, land use development, fire and safety, sanitation, and building codes. For purposes of this bill, a "child care family home" means a setting in which a caregiver provides child care in a family residence or a residence with a homelike environment. This bill specifies that, for zoning purposes, residential property use includes single-family residential zoning. For a child care family home, this bill prohibits a local governing authority from imposing: (1) Stricter requirements than those provided by the division of fire prevention; or (2) Any additional regulations that do not apply to other residential properties. ON MARCH 31, 2025, THE SENATE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED SENATE BILL 1379, AS AMENDED. AMENDMENT #1 revises this bill's provisions concerning child care agencies' use of vacant and underutilized LEA property, host schools, and local regulation. CHILD CARE AGENCIES USE OF VACANT AND UNDERUTILIZED LEA PROPERTY Like the introduced bill, this amendment extends the requirement to report underutilized and vacant LEA property to LEAs in which one or more child care agencies are located, provided that the child care agency is licensed by the department of human services. Under this amendment, a child care agency that is operating in an LEA that does not have one or more public charter schools operating within the geographic boundaries of the LEA has a right of first refusal to: (1) Purchase vacant LEA property at or below fair market value for child care purposes; or (2) Lease underutilized LEA property or vacant property at or below fair market value for child care purposes. A lease agreement executed between a child care agency and an LEA must not reflect any outstanding bonded debt on the underutilized property or vacant property, except as agreed upon to reflect any necessary costs associated with the occupation or remodeling of the agency. If one or more public charter schools operate in the LEA in which a child care agency also operates, then the child care agency operating in the LEA has a right of second refusal to purchase vacant property or lease underutilized property or vacant property. HOST SCHOOLS The provisions of this amendment concerning host schools are substantially similar to the introduced bill, except that this amendment specifies that the department of human services is prohibited from denying a provisional license if: (1) A host school's fire inspection is sufficient to meet the department's requirements for a provisional license for a child care agency or early learning program operating at the host school for same age children as in the host school; and (2) The host school's facilities are sufficient to meet the department's requirements for a provisional license. LOCAL REGULATION This amendment redefines "child care family home" to mean a family child care home that is operated in an occupied residential dwelling. This amendment requires that a local governing authority apply the fire and safety standards and building codes adopted by the state fire marshal to a child care family home, instead of treating a child care family home as a residential property for such purposes.

Statutes affected:
Introduced: 49-13-136(c), 49-13-136, 71-3-501, 71-3-502(d)(3), 71-3-502