AN ACT relating to licensed child-care centers and declaring an emergency.

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AN ACT relating to licensed child-care centers and declaring an emergency. 1
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky: 2
Section 1. KRS 199.896 is amended to read as follows: 3
(1) No person, association, or organization shall conduct, operate, maintain, or 4
advertise any child -care center without obtaining a license as provided in KRS 5
199.892 to 199.896. 6
(2) The cabinet may promulgate administrative regulations pursuant to KRS Chapte r 7
13A relating to license fees and may, in the administrative regulations, establish 8
standards of care and service for a child -care center, criteria for the denial of a 9
license if criminal records indicate convictions that may impact the safety and 10
security of children in care, and procedures for enforcement of penalties which are 11
not in contravention of this section. 12
(3) Each initial application for a license shall be made to the cabinet and shall be 13
accompanied by a fee that shall not exceed administrativ e costs of the program to 14
the cabinet and shall be renewable annually upon expiration and reapplication when 15
accompanied by a renewal fee that shall not exceed administrative costs of the 16
program to the cabinet. Regular licenses and renewals thereof shall expire one (1) 17
year from their effective date. 18
(4) No child-care center shall be refused a license or have its license revoked for failure 19
to meet standards set by the secretary until after the expiration of a period not to 20
exceed six (6) months from the d ate of the first official notice that the standards 21
have not been met. If, however, the cabinet has probable cause to believe that an 22
immediate threat to the public health, safety, or welfare exists, the cabinet may take 23
emergency action pursuant to KRS 13 B.125. All administrative hearings conducted 24
under authority of KRS 199.892 to 199.896 shall be conducted in accordance with 25
KRS Chapter 13B. 26
(5) If, upon inspection or investigation, the inspector general finds that a child -care 27
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center licensed under this section has violated the administrative regulations, 1
standards, or requirements of the cabinet, the inspector general shall issue a 2
statement of deficiency to the center containing: 3
(a) A statement of fact; 4
(b) A statement of how an administrative regulation, standard, or requirement of 5
the cabinet was violated; and 6
(c) The timeframe, negotiated with the child-care center, within which a violation 7
is to be corrected, except that a violation that poses an immediate threat to the 8
health, safety, or welfare of children in the center shall be corrected in no 9
event later than five (5) working days from the date of the statement of 10
deficiency. 11
(6) The cabinet[ for Health and Family Services] , in consultation with the Office of the 12
Inspector General, shall establish by administrative regulations promulgated in 13
accordance with KRS Chapter 13A an informal dispute resolution process through 14
which a child-care provider may dispute licensure deficiencies that have an adverse 15
effect on the child-care provider's license. 16
(7) A child -care center shall have the right to appeal to the cabinet [ for Health and 17
Family Services] under KRS Chapter 13B any action adverse to its license or the 18
assessment of a civil penalty issued by the inspector general as the result of a 19
violation contained in a statement of deficiency within twenty (20) days of the 20
issuance of the action or assessment of the civil penalty. An appeal shall not act to 21
stay the correction of a violation. 22
(8) In assessing the civil penalty to be levied against a child -care center for a violation 23
contained in a statement of deficiency issued under this section, the inspector 24
general or the inspector general's de signee shall take into consideration the 25
following factors: 26
(a) The gravity of the threat to the health, safety, or welfare of children posed by 27
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the violation; 1
(b) The number and type of previous violations of the child-care center; 2
(c) The reasonable dili gence exercised by the child -care center and efforts to 3
correct the violation; and 4
(d) The amount of assessment necessary to ensure[assure] immediate and 5
continued compliance. 6
(9) Upon a child -care center's failure to take action to correct a violation of the 7
administrative regulations, standards, or requirements of the cabinet contained in a 8
statement of deficiency, or at any time when the operation of a child -care center 9
poses an immediate threat to the health, safety, or welfare of children in the center , 10
and the child-care center continues to operate after the cabinet has taken emergency 11
action to deny, suspend, or revoke its license, the cabinet or the cabinet's designee 12
shall take at least one (1) of the following actions against the center: 13
(a) Institute proceedings to obtain an order compelling compliance with the 14
administrative regulations, standards, and requirements of the cabinet; 15
(b) Institute injunctive proceedings in Circuit Court to terminate the operation of 16
the center; 17
(c) Institute action to discontinue payment of child-care subsidies; or 18
(d) Suspend or revoke the license or impose other penalties provided by law. 19
(10) Upon request of any person, the cabinet shall provide information regarding the 20
denial, revocation, suspension, or violation of any type of child -care center license 21
of the operator. Identifying information regarding children and their families shall 22
remain confidential. 23
(11) The cabinet shall provide, upon request, public information regarding the 24
inspections of and the plans of correction for the child -care center within the past 25
year. All information distributed by the cabinet under this subsection shall include a 26
statement indicating that the reports as provided under this subsection from the past 27
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five (5) years are available from the child-care center upon the parent's, custodian's, 1
guardian's, or other interested person's request. 2
(12) All fees collected under the provisions of KRS 199.892 to 199.896 for license and 3
certification applications shall be paid into the State Tr easury and credited to a 4
special fund for the purpose of administering KRS 199.892 to 199.896 including the 5
payment of expenses of and to the participants in child -care workshops. The funds 6
collected are hereby appropriated for the use of the cabinet. The balance of the 7
special fund shall lapse to the general fund at the end of each biennium. 8
(13) Any advertisement for child -care services shall include the address of where the 9
service is being provided. 10
(14) All inspections of licensed and unlicensed child -care centers by the cabinet [ for 11
Health and Family Services] shall be unannounced. 12
(15) All employees and owners of a child -care center who provide care to children shall 13
demonstrate within the first three (3) months of employment completion of at least 14
a total of six (6) hours of orientation in the following areas: 15
(a) Basic health, safety, and sanitation; 16
(b) Recognizing and reporting child abuse; and 17
(c) Developmentally appropriate child-care practice. 18
(16) All employees and owners of a child -care center who provide care to children shall 19
annually demonstrate to the department completion of at least six (6) hours of 20
training in child development. These hours shall include but are not limited to one 21
and one-half (1.5) hours one (1) time every five (5) years of continuing education in 22
the recognition and prevention of pediatric abusive head trauma, as defined in KRS 23
620.020. Training in recognizing pediatric abusive head trauma may be designed in 24
collaboration with organizations and agencies that specialize in the prevention and 25
recognition of pediatric head trauma approved by the secretary [ of the Cabinet for 26
Health and Family Services] . The one and one -half (1.5) hours required under this 27
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section shall be included in the current number of required continuin g education 1
hours. 2
(17) The cabinet[ for Health and Family Services] shall make available either through 3
the development or approval of a model training curriculum and training materials, 4
including video instructional materials, to cover the areas specifie d in subsection 5
(15) of this section. The cabinet shall develop or approve the model training 6
curriculum and training materials to cover the areas specified in subsection (15) of 7
this section. 8
(18) Child-care centers licensed pursuant to this section and f amily child -care homes 9
certified pursuant to KRS 199.8982 shall not use corporal physical discipline, 10
including the use of spanking, shaking, or paddling, as a means of punishment, 11
discipline, behavior modification, or for any other reason. For the purpose s of this 12
section, "corporal physical discipline" means the deliberate infliction of physical 13
pain and does not include spontaneous physical contact that is intended to protect a 14
child from immediate danger. 15
(19) Child-care centers that provide instructional and educational programs for 16
preschool-aged children that operate for a maximum of twenty (20) hours per week 17
and that a child attends for no more than fifteen (15) hours per week shall: 18
(a) Notify the cabinet in writing that the center is operating; 19
(b) Meet all child -care center licensure requirements and administrative 20
regulations related to employee background checks; 21
(c) Meet all child -care center licensure requirements and administrative 22
regulations related to tuberculosis screenings; and 23
(d) Be exempt from all other child -care center licensure requirements and 24
administrative regulations. 25
(20) Child-care centers that provide instructional and educational programs for 26
preschool-aged children that operate for a maximum of twenty (20) hours per week 27
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and that a child attends for no more than ten (10) hours per week shall be exempt 1
from all child-care licensure requirements and administrative regulations. 2
(21) Instructional programs for school -age children that o ffer, whether free or for a fee, 3
recreational, educational, sports training, or vacation programs that include but are 4
not limited to martial arts and dance programs to children under eighteen (18) years 5
of age, that a child attends outside the presence of his or her parent or legal 6
guardian, shall be exempt from all child -care licensure administrative regulations if 7
the following criteria are met: 8
(a) The program provides primary instruction in a skill, talent, ability, expertise, 9
or proficiency; 10
(b) The p rogram operates outside the time period when school is in session, 11
including before or after school hours, holidays, school breaks, teaching 12
planning days, or summer vacation; 13
(c) The program does not advertise or otherwise represent that the program is a 14
licensed child-care center or that the program offers child-care services; 15
(d) The program informs the parent or guardian: 16
1. That the program is not licensed by the cabinet; and 17
2. About the physical risks a child may face while participating in the 18
program; and 19
(e) The program conducts the following background checks for all program 20
employees and volunteers who work with children: 21
1. Check of the child abuse and neglect records maintained by the cabinet; 22
and 23
2. In-state criminal background information che ck from the Justice and 24
Public Safety Cabinet or Administrative Office of the Courts. 25
(22) Directors and employees of child -care centers in a position that involves 26
supervisory or disciplinary power over a minor, or direct contact with a minor, shall 27
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submit to a criminal record check in accordance with KRS 199.8965. 1
(23) A director or employee of a child -care center may be employed on a probationary 2
status pending receipt of the criminal background check. Application for the 3
criminal record of a probationar y employee shall be made no later than the date 4
probationary employment begins. 5
(24) The cabinet shall promulgate administrative regulations in accordance with KRS 6
Chapter 13A to: 7
(a) 1. Require that a child -care center have a minimum of thirty -five (35) 8
square feet of indoor space per child enrolled at the center; and 9
2. Require that a child -care center that provides care for school -aged 10
children as described in KRS 158.030 and is granted a waiver under 11
subsection (25) of this section have a minimum of thi rty-five (35) 12
square feet of indoor space per school -age child enrolled, including 13
classroom storage and bathrooms that are exclusively used by children 14
enrolled at the child -care center and on the same level as the school -15
age classrooms; and 16
(b) Identify emergency care providers who provide essential child -care services 17
during an identified state of emergency. 18
(25) The cabinet shall promulgate administrative regulations in accordance with KRS 19
Chapter 13A to establish a waiver process, including an on -site inspection by the 20
Division of Regulated Child Care. The cabinet shall begin accepting waiver 21
applications by June 15, 2026, exclusively for the square footage requirements 22
established in subsection (24) of this section for school-age child care. The waiver 23
process shall include but not be limited to the following: 24
(a) Allowing the cabinet to deny a waiver on the basis of health and safety 25
concerns identified during the on -site inspection and associated with the 26
requested square footage calculation deviation; 27
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(b) Allowing the cabinet to establish an application fee not to exceed two 1
hundred fifty dollars ($250) to cover the expenses associated with waiver 2
administration and the required on-site evaluation; 3
(c) Establishing that the waiver application shall be limited to the allowable 4
square footage to include classroom storage and bathrooms only, but not 5
hallways or other common areas; 6
(d) Establishing that the waiver shall prohibit the enrollment of more than ten 7
(10) additional school -aged children beyond what is allowable under the 8
standard indoor space requirements in subsection (24)(a) of this section and 9
shall not allow waiver applican ts to exceed the maximum group size 10
established for type I child-care centers; 11
(e) Establishing that waiver applicants shall be from a licensed child -care 12
provider in Kentucky that has been operating for at least five (5) years, is 13
rated as high quality in Kentucky's quality-based graduated early childhood 14
rating system, and has no prior substantiated safety violations within the 15
last five (5) years from the date of application; 16
(f) Establishing that if any substantiated safety violation occurs after a waiv er 17
is granted, the waiver is effectively and immediately revoked; 18
(g) Requiring that waiver recipients apply for a new waiver within forty -five 19
(45) days of programmatic changes occurring regarding facilities or spaces, 20
enrollment, staffing, and other fact ors relevant to the existing waiver. If 21
programmatic changes are not reported within forty -five (45) days, the 22
wavier is effectively and immediately revoked; and 23
(h) Requiring the cabinet to review and render a decision on waiver 24
applications within forty -five (45) days of receipt of an application. The 25
waiver applicant shall not increase enrollment until the cabinet has issued a 26
final determination on the waiver application. 27
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(26)[(25)] Notwithstanding any state law, administrative regulation, executive ord er, or 1
executive directive to the contrary, during the 2020 or 2021 state of emergency 2
declared by the Governor in response to COVID -19, including but not limited to 3
any mutated strain of the COVID -19 virus, the cabinet shall not establish any 4
restrictions on capacity for class or group size or the ability to combine classes and 5
groups for capacity limits in the morning or afternoon that is below the number that 6
was in effect on February 1, 2020. 7
Section 2. Whereas it is essential that the General Assembly promptly provide 8
for the safety and well-being of children in the Commonwealth, an emergency is declared 9
to exist, and this Act takes effect upon its passage and approval by the Governor or upon 10
its otherwise becoming a law. 11