Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

H-2442.1
                                HOUSE BILL 2179
     State of Washington       68th Legislature       2024 Regular Session
     By Representatives Couture, Eslick, Graham, Hutchins, and Griffey
     Prefiled 01/05/24. Read first time 01/08/24.    Referred to Committee
     on Human Services, Youth, & Early Learning.
      AN ACT Relating to local licensing and regulation of child care
  providers; reenacting and amending RCW 43.216.010; adding new
  sections to chapter 43.216 RCW; repealing RCW 43.216.695; providing
  an effective date; and providing expiration dates.
 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
     NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. A new section is added to chapter 43.216
 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) Notwithstanding RCW 43.216.250 and 43.216.255, counties with
 a population of less than 100,000 may adopt and maintain ordinances
 as provided in this section for the licensing and regulation of child
 care centers and family home providers. Ordinances may be in effect
 for any period of time from July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2032.
 Before a county may engage in licensing and regulation in accordance
 with this section, it shall adopt ordinances that address, at a
 minimum, the following with regard to child care centers and family
 home providers:
     (a) The size, safety, cleanliness, and general adequacy of the
 premises;
     (b) The plan of operation;
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     (c) The character, suitability, and competence of the provider
 and its employees who are directly responsible for the care of
 children served;
     (d) The number of qualified persons required to render care;
     (e) The provision of necessary care, including food, clothing,
 supervision, and discipline;
     (f) The physical, mental, and social well-being of children
 served;
     (g) Educational and recreational opportunities for children
 served; and
     (h) The maintenance of records pertaining to children served.
     (2) The county shall notify the department in writing 60 days
 prior to the effective date of its enacted ordinances meeting the
 minimum requirements in subsection (1) of this section and shall
 indicate the termination date of the authorization. The transfer of
 licensing and regulatory authority shall occur on the effective date
 of the ordinances as indicated in the county's notification to the
 department. Licensing and regulation by counties of child care
 centers and family home providers as provided in this section shall
 be administered and enforced by those counties. The department shall
 not regulate these activities nor shall the department bear any civil
 liability associated with locally licensed and regulated providers
 for the period that the local regulations are in effect. Upon
 request, the department shall provide technical assistance to any
 county that is in the process of adopting the ordinances required by
 this section, and after the ordinances become effective.
     (3) Any county licensing and regulating child care centers and
 family home providers pursuant to this section shall report to the
 department on a quarterly basis with the following information: The
 ordinances adopted pursuant to this section that are currently in
 effect; a description of how these provisions address the specific
 areas of regulation identified in subsection (1) of this section; and
 a complete list of locally licensed providers that includes the type
 of provider and maximum number of children that may be served under
 the license. The department must compile and maintain on its website
 a list of counties that locally license child care centers and family
 home providers.
     (4) The department must adopt rules as necessary to allow locally
 licensed and regulated child care centers and family home providers
 to fully participate in the working connections child care program
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  and the early achievers program. In order for locally licensed and
  regulated providers to qualify to receive state subsidy payments
  through the working connections child care program, the rules must
  require providers to participate in the early achievers program, but
  must not require providers to rate or request to be rated at any
  particular early achievers program level.
      (5) This section expires July 1, 2034.
     NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 43.216
 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) The department shall contract for a third-party consultant to
 conduct an analysis of local licensing and regulation of child care
 centers and family home providers. The analysis must describe the
 rate of utilization of the local licensing and regulation option
 permitted under section 1 of this act, and the perceptions of
 providers, local governments, and the department of the local
 licensing and regulatory scheme as compared to the state licensing
 and regulatory scheme, along with their recommendations as to whether
 the local licensing and regulation authorization should continue.
     (2) The department must consult with representatives of local
 governments in selecting a consultant. The department must make the
 analysis available to the legislature, in compliance with RCW
 43.01.036, by July 1, 2031.
     (3) This section expires July 1, 2034.
     Sec. 3. RCW 43.216.010 and 2021 c 304 s 2 and 2021 c 199 s 501
 are each reenacted and amended to read as follows:
     The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter
 unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
     (1) "Agency" means any person, firm, partnership, association,
 corporation, or facility that provides child care and early learning
 services outside a child's own home and includes the following
 irrespective of whether there is compensation to the agency:
     (a) "Child day care center" and "child care center" mean an
 agency that regularly provides early childhood education and early
 learning services for a group of children for periods of less than 24
 hours;
     (b) "Early learning" includes but is not limited to programs and
 services for child care; state, federal, private, and nonprofit
 preschool; child care subsidies; child care resource and referral;
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 parental education and support; and training and professional
 development for early learning professionals;
     (c) "Family day care provider" and "family home provider" mean a
 child care provider who regularly provides early childhood education
 and early learning services for not more than 12 children at any
 given time in the provider's home in the family living quarters
 except as provided in RCW 43.216.692;
     (d) "Nongovernmental private-public partnership" means an entity
 registered as a nonprofit corporation in Washington state with a
 primary focus on early learning, school readiness, and parental
 support, and an ability to raise a minimum of $5,000,000 in
 contributions;
     (e) "Outdoor nature-based child care" means an agency or an
 agency-offered program that:
     (i) Enrolls preschool or school-age children;
     (ii) Provides early learning services to the enrolled children in
 an outdoor natural space approved by the department for not less than
 four hours per day or fifty percent of the daily program hours,
 whichever is less; and
     (iii) Teaches a nature-based curriculum to enrolled children;
     (f) "Service provider" means the entity that operates a community
 facility.
     (2) "Agency" does not include the following:
     (a) Persons related to the child in the following ways:
     (i) Any blood relative, including those of half-blood, and
 including first cousins, nephews or nieces, and persons of preceding
 generations as denoted by prefixes of grand, great, or great-great;
     (ii) Stepfather, stepmother, stepbrother, and stepsister;
     (iii) A person who legally adopts a child or the child's parent
 as well as the natural and other legally adopted children of such
 persons, and other relatives of the adoptive parents in accordance
 with state law; or
     (iv) Spouses of any persons named in (a)(i), (ii), or (iii) of
 this subsection, even after the marriage is terminated;
     (b) Persons who are legal guardians of the child;
     (c) Persons who care for a neighbor's or friend's child or
 children, with or without compensation, where the person providing
 care for periods of less than 24 hours does not conduct such activity
 on an ongoing, regularly scheduled basis for the purpose of engaging
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 in business, which includes, but is not limited to, advertising such
 care;
     (d) Parents on a mutually cooperative basis exchange care of one
 another's children;
     (e) Nursery schools that are engaged primarily in early childhood
 education with preschool children and in which no child is enrolled
 on a regular basis for more than four hours per day;
     (f) Schools, including boarding schools, that are engaged
 primarily in education, operate on a definite school year schedule,
 follow a stated academic curriculum, and accept only school age
 children;
     (g) Seasonal camps. For purposes of this chapter, "seasonal camp"
 means a program that:
     (i) Operates for three months or less within a period of twelve
 consecutive months;
     (ii) Is engaged primarily in recreational or educational
 activities conducted on a closely supervised basis; and
     (iii) Is owned by any person, organization, association, or
 corporation, or is operated by a federal, state, county, or municipal
 government;
     (h) Facilities providing child care for periods of less than 24
 hours when a parent or legal guardian of the child remains on the
 premises of the facility for the purpose of participating in:
     (i) Activities other than employment; or
     (ii) Employment of up to two hours per day when the facility is
 operated by a nonprofit entity that also operates a licensed child
 care program at the same facility in another location or at another
 facility;
     (i) Any entity that provides recreational or educational
 programming for school age children only and the entity meets all of
 the following requirements:
     (i) The entity utilizes a drop-in model for programming, where
 children are able to attend during any or all program hours without a
 formal reservation;
     (ii) The entity does not assume responsibility in lieu of the
 parent, unless for coordinated transportation;
     (iii) The entity is a local affiliate of a national nonprofit;
 and
     (iv) The entity is in compliance with all safety and quality
 standards set by the associated national agency;
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     (j) A program operated by any unit of local, state, or federal
 government;
     (k) A program located within the boundaries of a federally
 recognized Indian reservation, licensed by the Indian tribe;
     (l) A program located on a federal military reservation, except
 where the military authorities request that such agency be subject to
 the licensing requirements of this chapter;
     (m) A program that offers early learning and support services,
 such as parent education, and does not provide child care services on
 a regular basis; or
     (n) A child care center or family home provider that is locally
 licensed as authorized under section 1 of this act.
     (3) "Applicant" means a person who requests or seeks employment
 in an agency.
     (4) "Certificate of parental improvement" means a certificate
 issued under RCW 74.13.720 to an individual who has a founded finding
 of physical abuse or negligent treatment or maltreatment, or a court
 finding that the individual's child was dependent as a result of a
 finding that the individual abused or neglected their child pursuant
 to RCW 13.34.030(6)(b).
     (5) "Conviction information" means criminal history record
 information relating to an incident which has led to a conviction or
 other disposition adverse to the applicant.
     (6) "Department" means the department of children, youth, and
 families.
     (7) "Early achievers" means a program that improves the quality
 of early learning programs and supports and rewards providers for
 their participation.
     (8) "Early childhood education and assistance program contractor"
 means an organization that provides early childhood education and
 assistance program services under a signed contract with the
 department.
     (9) "Early childhood education and assistance program provider"
 means an organization that provides site level, direct, and high
 quality early childhood education and assistance program services
 under the direction of an early childhood education and assistance
 program contractor.
     (10) "Education data center" means the education data center
 established in RCW 43.41.400, commonly referred to as the education
 research and data center.
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     (11) "Employer" means a person or business that engages the
 services of one or more people, especially for wages or salary to
 work in an agency.
     (12) "Enforcement action" means denial, suspension, revocation,
 modification,   or  nonrenewal   of   a   license  pursuant  to   RCW
 43.216.325(1) or assessment of civil monetary penalties pursuant to
 RCW 43.216.325(3).
     (13) "Extended day program" means an early childhood education
 and assistance program that offers early learning education for at
 least 10 hours per day, a minimum of 2,000 hours per year, at least
 four days per week, and operates year-round.
     (14) "Family resource and referral linkage system" means a system
 that connects families to resources, services, and programs for which
 families are eligible and uses a database that is developed and
 maintained in partnership with communities, health care providers,
 and early learning providers.
     (15) "Family resource center" means a unified single point of
 entry where families, individuals, children, and youth in communities
 can obtain information, an assessment of needs, referral to, or
 direct delivery of family services in a manner that is welcoming and
 strength-based.
     (a) A family resource center is designed to meet the needs,
 cultures, and interests of the communities that the family resource
 center serves.
     (b) Family services may be delivered directly to a family at the
 family resource center by family resource center staff or by
 providers who contract with or have provider agreements with the
 family resource center. Any family resource center that provides
 family services shall comply with applicable state and federal laws
 and regulations regarding the delivery of such family services,
 unless required waivers or exemptions have been granted by the
 appropriate governing body.
     (c) Each family resource center shall have one or more family
 advocates who screen and assess a family's needs and strengths. If
 requested by the family, the family advocate shall assist the family
 with setting its own goals and, together with the family, develop a
 written plan to pursue the family's goals in working towards a
 greater level of self-reliance or in attaining self-sufficiency.
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     (16) "Full day program" means an early childhood education and
 assistance program that offers early learning education for a minimum
 of 1,000 hours per year.
     (17) "Inspection report" means a written or digital record or
 report created by the department that identifies or describes
 licensing violations or conditions within an agency. An inspection
 report does not include a child care facility licensing compliance
 agreement as defined in RCW 43.216.395.
     (18) "Low-income child care provider" means a person who
 administers a child care program that consists of at least 80 percent
 of children receiving working connections child care subsidy.
     (19) "Low-income neighborhood" means a district or community
 where more than 20 percent of households are below the federal
 poverty level.
     (20) "Negative action" means a court order, court judgment, or an
 adverse action taken by an agency, in any state, federal, tribal, or
 foreign jurisdiction, which results in a finding against the
 applicant   reasonably   related   to   the  individual's   character,
 suitability, and competence to care for or have unsupervised access
 to children in child care. This may include, but is not limited to:
     (a) A decision issued by an administrative law judge;
     (b) A final determination, decision, or finding made by an agency
 following an investigation;
     (c) An adverse agency action, including termination, revocation,
 or denial of a license or certification, or if pending adverse agency
 action, the volun