Kansas Bill 447 / New Regulations Proposed for KS Providers - from original Bill on Legislature Site
“In The Line of Sight & Hearing” Regulation (aka Lexie’s Law): Currently children are to be within hearing distance of their provider. If this bill passes (as written) it will be within the Provider’s line of sight as well. This Regulation also calls for a written Supervision Policy (like our Discipline Policies I assume) between the Provider & Parents prior to placement. There are 5 provisions outlined in the Bill where a child can be out of the line of sight for a limited amount of time:
1) Emergencies that make it impossible. An “emergency” is defined as an extreme situation that directly affects the life safety of one or more children in care.
2) Children who are able to toilet independently (complete needs from undressing, wiping, washing hands) may use the restroom for no more than 5 minutes.
3) Children may nap in a room adjacent to the Provider – but must remain within hearing distance. When they are sleeping, the doors to the room must remain open and the provider must physically check on the child every 15 minutes.
4) Providers may attend to personal restroom needs for periods not to exceed five minutes, provided the children are within hearing distance.
5) Provider may interact with parents in person or by telephone and engage in necessary regulatory interactions with surveyors or other officials for periods not to exceed 5 minutes, provided children are within hearing distance.
Inspections: This Bill, along with House Bill 2223 eliminates the category of “Registered Home Day Care”. The new name for this group would be Family Child Care Home (FCCH). FCCH would move toward a licensed status. They will receive an Initial Inspection as part of the Application Process by KDHE’s regulatory agency (JOCO Health Department) and later - as funding provides - Annual Inspections as well. They are also loosening the current 12-month frequency for Annual Inspections to be as much as 15-months to allow for the inclusion of Inspections of current Registered Home Day Cares (which would be moved into the new FCCH category). Eldonna’s Testimony Notes (attached) explain this in better detail.
The Provider/Child Ratio: For FCCH’s (formerly Registered Homes) the ratio would move from 1 Provider with a maximum of 6 children (with no more than 3 being under age 18 months) to a maximum of 6 children (with no more than 2 being under the age of 24 months). The Provider/Child Ratio for Licensed Child Care Home remains unchanged.
Penalties: This bill has the same wording as House Bill 2223 regarding penalties assessed for violations.
All day care homes will be charged as licensed homes currently are: $500 per violation per day, with that amount being applied again for each day such violation continues.
