Kentucky HB 190: AN ACT relating to taxation.

Bill Text

UNOFFICIAL COPY 26 RS HB 190/GA
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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 Chapter 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 administrative 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 date 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 13B.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

UNOFFICIAL COPY 26 RS HB 190/GA
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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 designee 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 diligence 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