BILL REQ. #:  H-4383.2 

Read first time 01/21/10.   Referred to Committee on Early Learning & Children's Services.

     AN ACT Relating to the renewal and regulation of licenses issued by the department of early learning; amending RCW 43.215.260; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   (1) The department of early learning shall develop recommendations for the legislature for the implementation of a continuing license under chapter 43.215 RCW. The recommendations shall be developed with input from licensed providers and include the following:
     (a) A description of tasks and resources necessary to streamline administrative paperwork used for license renewal and focus the department's licensing resources toward timely on-site inspections, investigation of complaints, and other enforcement activities;
     (b) An appropriate schedule for on-site inspections to adequately monitor compliance with licensing standards;
     (c) A method for licensors to access the complete history of a licensed facility, including but not limited to results of previous monitoring inspections, and any complaints or compliance agreements, when conducting on-site inspections;
     (d) A strategy for assuring all required background checks are completed on schedule and that documentation of the results of those checks is correctly filed and accessible to licensors; and
     (e) A process for tracking the timeliness of on-site inspections to monitor compliance with licensing standards.
     (2) The department of early learning also shall develop a plan for legislative review for the development and evaluation of weighted rules for child care licensing. The plan shall reflect appropriate use of any available risk-modeling data being developed by other states, and shall describe:
     (a) Resources and tasks necessary for collecting and analyzing data from pertinent sources in order to establish an evidence-based framework for risk modeling and conduct a comorbidity analysis;
     (b) Options, including funding needed, for acquiring the technology necessary to develop and periodically evaluate the effectiveness and appropriateness of weighted rules;
     (c) Preliminary estimates of administrative and operational efficiencies that could be achieved from one or more licensing technology solutions;
     (d) Appropriate processes for the inclusion of the child care community, including parents and providers, in the development and use of weighted rules; and
     (e) Training and communication strategies necessary to safely shift the entire licensed child care system, including family home, center-based, and after-school providers, to a weighted rule system.
     (3) The department of early learning shall submit to the appropriate committees of the legislature a report with recommendations required in subsection (1) of this section by December 1, 2010, and a report with the plan required under subsection (2) of this section by February 1, 2011.

Sec. 2   RCW 43.215.260 and 2006 c 265 s 307 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) Each agency shall make application for a license or renewal of license to the department on forms prescribed by the department. Upon receipt of such application, the department shall either grant or deny a license within ninety days. A license shall be granted if the agency meets the minimum requirements set forth in this chapter and the departmental requirements consistent with ((the [this])) this chapter, except that an initial license may be issued as provided in RCW 43.215.280. Licenses provided for in this chapter shall be issued for a period of three years. The licensee, however, shall advise the director of any material change in circumstances which might constitute grounds for reclassification of license as to category. The license issued under this chapter is not transferable and applies only to the licensee and the location stated in the application. For licensed family day care homes having an acceptable history of child care, the license may remain in effect for two weeks after a move.
     (2) Upon receiving a request for renewal of a license, the department may use its findings from the most recent on-site monitoring inspection of the licensed facility and incorporate those findings into the renewal process in order to streamline the license renewal paperwork and eliminate redundancies between on-site monitoring and license renewal.