Passed by the House March 4, 2006 Yeas 86   ________________________________________ Speaker of the House of Representatives Passed by the Senate February 28, 2006 Yeas 40   ________________________________________ President of the Senate | I, Richard Nafziger, Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives of the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is ENGROSSED SECOND SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 2353 as passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate on the dates hereon set forth. ________________________________________ Chief Clerk | |
Approved ________________________________________ Governor of the State of Washington | Secretary of State State of Washington |
State of Washington | 59th Legislature | 2006 Regular Session |
READ FIRST TIME 2/7/06.
AN ACT Relating to improving access to and the stability of quality child care through providing collective bargaining and other representation rights for family child care providers and licensees; amending RCW 41.56.030, 41.56.113, 41.04.810, 43.01.047, and 74.15.030; reenacting and amending RCW 74.15.020; adding a new section to chapter 41.56 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 74.15 RCW; creating new sections; and declaring an emergency.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1 A new section is added to chapter 41.56 RCW
to read as follows:
(1) In addition to the entities listed in RCW 41.56.020, this
chapter applies to the governor with respect to family child care
providers. Solely for the purposes of collective bargaining and as
expressly limited under subsections (2) and (3) of this section, the
governor is the public employer of family child care providers who,
solely for the purposes of collective bargaining, are public employees.
The public employer shall be represented for bargaining purposes by the
governor or the governor's designee appointed under chapter 41.80 RCW.
(2) This chapter governs the collective bargaining relationship
between the governor and family child care providers, except as
follows:
(a) A statewide unit of all family child care providers is the only
unit appropriate for purposes of collective bargaining under RCW
41.56.060.
(b) The exclusive bargaining representative of family child care
providers in the unit specified in (a) of this subsection shall be the
representative chosen in an election conducted pursuant to RCW
41.56.070, except that in the initial election conducted under this
act, if more than one labor organization is on the ballot and none of
the choices receives a majority of the votes cast, a run-off election
shall be held.
(c) Notwithstanding the definition of "collective bargaining" in
RCW 41.56.030(4), the scope of collective bargaining for child care
providers under this section shall be limited solely to: (i) Economic
compensation, such as manner and rate of subsidy and reimbursement,
including tiered reimbursements; (ii) health and welfare benefits;
(iii) professional development and training; (iv) labor-management
committees; (v) grievance procedures; and (vi) other economic matters.
Retirement benefits shall not be subject to collective bargaining. By
such obligation neither party shall be compelled to agree to a proposal
or be required to make a concession unless otherwise provided in this
chapter.
(d) The mediation and interest arbitration provisions of RCW
41.56.430 through 41.56.470 and 41.56.480 apply, except that:
(i) With respect to commencement of negotiations between the
governor and the exclusive bargaining representative of family child
care providers, negotiations shall be commenced initially upon
certification of an exclusive bargaining representative under (a) of
this subsection and, thereafter, by February 1st of any even-numbered
year;
(ii) In addition to the factors to be taken into consideration by
an interest arbitration panel under RCW 41.56.465, the panel shall
consider the financial ability of the state to pay for the compensation
and benefit provisions of a collective bargaining agreement; and
(iii) The decision of the arbitration panel is not binding on the
legislature and, if the legislature does not approve the request for
funds necessary to implement the compensation and benefit provisions of
the arbitrated collective bargaining agreement, is not binding on the
state.
(e) Family child care providers do not have the right to strike.
(3) Family child care providers who are public employees solely for
the purposes of collective bargaining under subsection (1) of this
section are not, for that reason, employees of the state for any
purpose. This section applies only to the governance of the collective
bargaining relationship between the employer and family child care
providers as provided in subsections (1) and (2) of this section.
(4) This section does not create or modify:
(a) The parents' or legal guardians' right to choose and terminate
the services of any family child care provider that provides care for
their child or children;
(b) The secretary of the department of social and health services'
right to adopt requirements under RCW 74.15.030, except for
requirements related to grievance procedures and collective
negotiations on personnel matters as specified in subsection (2)(c) of
this section;
(c) Chapter 26.44 RCW, RCW 43.43.832, 43.20A.205, and 74.15.130;
and
(d) The legislature's right to make programmatic modifications to
the delivery of state services through child care subsidy programs,
including standards of eligibility of parents, legal guardians, and
family child care providers participating in child care subsidy
programs, and the nature of services provided. The governor shall not
enter into, extend, or renew any agreement under this section that does
not expressly reserve the legislative rights described in this
subsection (4)(d).
(5) Upon meeting the requirements of subsection (6) of this
section, the governor must submit, as a part of the proposed biennial
or supplemental operating budget submitted to the legislature under RCW
43.88.030, a request for funds necessary to implement the compensation
and benefit provisions of a collective bargaining agreement entered
into under this section or for legislation necessary to implement such
agreement.
(6) A request for funds necessary to implement the compensation and
benefit provisions of a collective bargaining agreement entered into
under this section shall not be submitted by the governor to the
legislature unless such request has been:
(a) Submitted to the director of financial management by October
1st before the legislative session at which the request is to be
considered, except that, for initial negotiations under this section,
the request must be submitted by November 15, 2006; and
(b) Certified by the director of financial management as being
feasible financially for the state or reflects the binding decision of
an arbitration panel reached under this section.
(7) The legislature must approve or reject the submission of the
request for funds as a whole. If the legislature rejects or fails to
act on the submission, any such agreement will be reopened solely for
the purpose of renegotiating the funds necessary to implement the
agreement.
(8) The governor shall periodically consult with the joint
committee on employment relations established by RCW 41.80.010
regarding appropriations necessary to implement the compensation and
benefit provisions of any collective bargaining agreement and, upon
completion of negotiations, advise the committee on the elements of the
agreement and on any legislation necessary to implement such agreement.
(9) After the expiration date of any collective bargaining
agreement entered into under this section, all of the terms and
conditions specified in any such agreement remain in effect until the
effective date of a subsequent agreement, not to exceed one year from
the expiration date stated in the agreement, except as provided in
subsection (4)(d) of this section.
(10) If, after the compensation and benefit provisions of an
agreement are approved by the legislature, a significant revenue
shortfall occurs resulting in reduced appropriations, as declared by
proclamation of the governor or by resolution of the legislature, both
parties shall immediately enter into collective bargaining for a
mutually agreed upon modification of the agreement.
(11) In enacting this section, the legislature intends to provide
state action immunity under federal and state antitrust laws for the
joint activities of family child care providers and their exclusive
bargaining representative to the extent such activities are authorized
by this chapter.
Sec. 2 RCW 41.56.030 and 2004 c 3 s 6 are each amended to read as
follows:
As used in this chapter:
(1) "Public employer" means any officer, board, commission,
council, or other person or body acting on behalf of any public body
governed by this chapter, or any subdivision of such public body. For
the purposes of this section, the public employer of district court or
superior court employees for wage-related matters is the respective
county legislative authority, or person or body acting on behalf of the
legislative authority, and the public employer for nonwage-related
matters is the judge or judge's designee of the respective district
court or superior court.
(2) "Public employee" means any employee of a public employer
except any person (a) elected by popular vote, or (b) appointed to
office pursuant to statute, ordinance or resolution for a specified
term of office as a member of a multimember board, commission, or
committee, whether appointed by the executive head or body of the
public employer, or (c) whose duties as deputy, administrative
assistant or secretary necessarily imply a confidential relationship to
(i) the executive head or body of the applicable bargaining unit, or
(ii) any person elected by popular vote, or (iii) any person appointed
to office pursuant to statute, ordinance or resolution for a specified
term of office as a member of a multimember board, commission, or
committee, whether appointed by the executive head or body of the
public employer, or (d) who is a court commissioner or a court
magistrate of superior court, district court, or a department of a
district court organized under chapter 3.46 RCW, or (e) who is a
personal assistant to a district court judge, superior court judge, or
court commissioner((, or (f) excluded from a bargaining unit under RCW
41.56.201(2)(a))). For the purpose of (e) of this subsection, no more
than one assistant for each judge or commissioner may be excluded from
a bargaining unit.
(3) "Bargaining representative" means any lawful organization which
has as one of its primary purposes the representation of employees in
their employment relations with employers.
(4) "Collective bargaining" means the performance of the mutual
obligations of the public employer and the exclusive bargaining
representative to meet at reasonable times, to confer and negotiate in
good faith, and to execute a written agreement with respect to
grievance procedures and collective negotiations on personnel matters,
including wages, hours and working conditions, which may be peculiar to
an appropriate bargaining unit of such public employer, except that by
such obligation neither party shall be compelled to agree to a proposal
or be required to make a concession unless otherwise provided in this
chapter.
(5) "Commission" means the public employment relations commission.
(6) "Executive director" means the executive director of the
commission.
(7) "Uniformed personnel" means: (a) Law enforcement officers as
defined in RCW 41.26.030 employed by the governing body of any city or
town with a population of two thousand five hundred or more and law
enforcement officers employed by the governing body of any county with
a population of ten thousand or more; (b) correctional employees who
are uniformed and nonuniformed, commissioned and noncommissioned
security personnel employed in a jail as defined in RCW 70.48.020(5),
by a county with a population of seventy thousand or more, and who are
trained for and charged with the responsibility of controlling and
maintaining custody of inmates in the jail and safeguarding inmates
from other inmates; (c) general authority Washington peace officers as
defined in RCW 10.93.020 employed by a port district in a county with
a population of one million or more; (d) security forces established
under RCW 43.52.520; (e) fire fighters as that term is defined in RCW
41.26.030; (f) employees of a port district in a county with a
population of one million or more whose duties include crash fire
rescue or other fire fighting duties; (g) employees of fire departments
of public employers who dispatch exclusively either fire or emergency
medical services, or both; or (h) employees in the several classes of
advanced life support technicians, as defined in RCW 18.71.200, who are
employed by a public employer.
(8) "Institution of higher education" means the University of
Washington, Washington State University, Central Washington University,
Eastern Washington University, Western Washington University, The
Evergreen State College, and the various state community colleges.
(9) "Home care quality authority" means the authority under chapter
74.39A RCW.
(10) "Individual provider" means an individual provider as defined
in RCW 74.39A.240(4) who, solely for the purposes of collective
bargaining, is a public employee as provided in RCW 74.39A.270.
(11) "Child care subsidy" means a payment from the state through a
child care subsidy program established pursuant to RCW 74.12.340 or
74.08A.340, 45 C.F.R. Sec. 98.1 through 98.17, or any successor
program.
(12) "Family child care provider" means a person who: (a) Provides
regularly scheduled care for a child or children in the home of the
provider or in the home of the child or children for periods of less
than twenty-four hours or, if necessary due to the nature of the
parent's work, for periods equal to or greater than twenty-four hours;
(b) receives child care subsidies; and (c) is either licensed by the
state under RCW 74.15.030 or is exempt from licensing under chapter
74.15 RCW.
Sec. 3 RCW 41.56.113 and 2004 c 3 s 7 are each amended to read as
follows:
(1) Upon the written authorization of an individual provider or a
family child care provider within the bargaining unit and after the
certification or recognition of the bargaining unit's exclusive
bargaining representative, the state as payor, but not as the employer,
shall, subject to subsection (3) of this section, deduct from the
payments to an individual provider or a family child care provider the
monthly amount of dues as certified by the secretary of the exclusive
bargaining representative and shall transmit the same to the treasurer
of the exclusive bargaining representative.
(2) If the governor and the exclusive bargaining representative of
a bargaining unit of individual providers or family child care
providers enter into a collective bargaining agreement that:
(a) Includes a union security provision authorized in RCW
41.56.122, the state as payor, but not as the employer, shall, subject
to subsection (3) of this section, enforce the agreement by deducting
from the payments to bargaining unit members the dues required for
membership in the exclusive bargaining representative, or, for
nonmembers thereof, a fee equivalent to the dues; or
(b) Includes requirements for deductions of payments other than the
deduction under (a) of this subsection, the state, as payor, but not as
the employer, shall, subject to subsection (3) of this section, make
such deductions upon written authorization of the individual provider
or the family child care provider.
(3)(a) The initial additional costs to the state in making
deductions from the payments to individual providers or family child
care providers under this section shall be negotiated, agreed upon in
advance, and reimbursed to the state by the exclusive bargaining
representative.
(b) The allocation of ongoing additional costs to the state in
making deductions from the payments to individual providers or family
child care providers under this section shall be an appropriate subject
of collective bargaining between the exclusive bargaining
representative and the governor unless prohibited by another statute.
If no collective bargaining agreement containing a provision allocating
the ongoing additional cost is entered into between the exclusive
bargaining representative and the governor, or if the legislature does
not approve funding for the collective bargaining agreement as provided
in RCW 74.39A.300 or section 1 of this act, as applicable, the ongoing
additional costs to the state in making deductions from the payments to
individual providers or family child care providers under this section
shall be negotiated, agreed upon in advance, and reimbursed to the
state by the exclusive bargaining representative.
(4) The governor and the exclusive bargaining representative of a
bargaining unit of family child care providers may not enter into a
collective bargaining agreement that contains a union security
provision unless the agreement contains a process, to be administered
by the exclusive bargaining representative of a bargaining unit of
family child care providers, for hardship dispensation for license-exempt family child care providers who are also temporary assistance
for needy families recipients or WorkFirst participants.
Sec. 4 RCW 41.04.810 and 2004 c 3 s 3 are each amended to read as
follows:
Individual providers, as defined in RCW 74.39A.240, and family
child care providers, as defined in RCW 41.56.030, are not employees of
the state or any of its political subdivisions and are specifically and
entirely excluded from all provisions of this title, except as provided
in RCW 74.39A.270 and section 1 of this act.
Sec. 5 RCW 43.01.047 and 2004 c 3 s 4 are each amended to read as
follows:
RCW 43.01.040 through 43.01.044 do not apply to individual
providers under RCW 74.39A.220 through 74.39A.300 or to family child
care providers under section 1 of this act.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 6 A new section is added to chapter 74.15 RCW
to read as follows:
(1) Solely for the purposes of negotiated rule making pursuant to
RCW 34.05.310(2)(a) and 74.15.030, a statewide unit of all family child
care licensees is appropriate. As of the effective date of this act,
the exclusive representative of family child care licensees in the
statewide unit shall be the representative selected as the majority
representative in the election held under the directive of the governor
to the secretary of the department of social and health services, dated
September 16, 2005. If family child care licensees seek to select a
different representative thereafter, the family child care licensees
may request that the American arbitration association conduct an
election and certify the results of the election.
(2) In enacting this section, the legislature intends to provide
state action immunity under federal and state antitrust laws for the
joint activities of family child care licensees and their exclusive
representative to the extent such activities are authorized by this
chapter.
Sec. 7 RCW 74.15.020 and 2001 c 230 s 1, 2001 c 144 s 1, and 2001
c 137 s 3 are each reenacted and amended to read as follows:
For the purpose of this chapter ((74.15 RCW)) and RCW 74.13.031,
and unless otherwise clearly indicated by the context thereof, the
following terms shall mean:
(1) "Agency" means any person, firm, partnership, association,
corporation, or facility which receives children, expectant mothers, or
persons with developmental disabilities for control, care, or
maintenance outside their own homes, or which places, arranges the
placement of, or assists in the placement of children, expectant
mothers, or persons with developmental disabilities for foster care or
placement of children for adoption, and shall include the following
irrespective of whether there is compensation to the agency or to the
children, expectant mothers or persons with developmental disabilities
for services rendered:
(a) "Child day-care center" means an agency which regularly
provides care for a group of children for periods of less than twenty-four hours;
(b) "Child-placing agency" means an agency which places a child or
children for temporary care, continued care, or for adoption;
(c) "Community facility" means a group care facility operated for
the care of juveniles committed to the department under RCW 13.40.185.
A county detention facility that houses juveniles committed to the
department under RCW 13.40.185 pursuant to a contract with the
department is not a community facility;
(d) "Crisis residential center" means an agency which is a
temporary protective residential facility operated to perform the
duties specified in chapter 13.32A RCW, in the manner provided in RCW
74.13.032 through 74.13.036;
(e) "Emergency respite center" is an agency that may be commonly
known as a crisis nursery, that provides emergency and crisis care for
up to seventy-two hours to children who have been admitted by their
parents or guardians to prevent abuse or neglect. Emergency respite
centers may operate for up to twenty-four hours a day, and for up to
seven days a week. Emergency respite centers may provide care for
children ages birth through seventeen, and for persons eighteen through
twenty with developmental disabilities who are admitted with a sibling
or siblings through age seventeen. Emergency respite centers may not
substitute for crisis residential centers or HOPE centers, or any other
services defined under this section, and may not substitute for
services which are required under chapter 13.32A or 13.34 RCW;
(f) "Family day-care provider" means a child day-care provider who
regularly provides child day care for not more than twelve children in
the provider's home in the family living quarters;
(g) "Foster-family home" means an agency which regularly provides
care on a twenty-four hour basis to one or more children, expectant
mothers, or persons with developmental disabilities in the family abode
of the person or persons under whose direct care and supervision the
child, expectant mother, or person with a developmental disability is
placed;
(h) "Group-care facility" means an agency, other than a foster-family home, which is maintained and operated for the care of a group
of children on a twenty-four hour basis;
(i) "HOPE center" means an agency licensed by the secretary to
provide temporary residential placement and other services to street
youth. A street youth may remain in a HOPE center for thirty days
while services are arranged and permanent placement is coordinated. No
street youth may stay longer than thirty days unless approved by the
department and any additional days approved by the department must be
based on the unavailability of a long-term placement option. A street
youth whose parent wants him or her returned to home may remain in a
HOPE center until his or her parent arranges return of the youth, not
longer. All other street youth must have court approval under chapter
13.34 or 13.32A RCW to remain in a HOPE center up to thirty days;
(j) "Maternity service" means an agency which provides or arranges
for care or services to expectant mothers, before or during
confinement, or which provides care as needed to mothers and their
infants after confinement;
(k) "Responsible living skills program" means an agency licensed by
the secretary that provides residential and transitional living
services to persons ages sixteen to eighteen who are dependent under
chapter 13.34 RCW and who have been unable to live in his or her
legally authorized residence and, as a result, the minor lived outdoors
or in another unsafe location not intended for occupancy by the minor.
Dependent minors ages fourteen and fifteen may be eligible if no other
placement alternative is available and the department approves the
placement;
(l) "Service provider" means the entity that operates a community
facility.
(2) "Agency" shall not include the following:
(a) Persons related to the child, expectant mother, or person with
developmental disability 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;
(iv) Spouses of any persons named in (i), (ii), or (iii) of this
subsection (2)(a), even after the marriage is terminated; or
(v) Extended family members, as defined by the law or custom of the
Indian child's tribe or, in the absence of such law or custom, a person
who has reached the age of eighteen and who is the Indian child's
grandparent, aunt or uncle, brother or sister, brother-in-law or
sister-in-law, niece or nephew, first or second cousin, or stepparent
who provides care in the family abode on a twenty-four-hour basis to an
Indian child as defined in 25 U.S.C. Sec. 1903(4);
(b) Persons who are legal guardians of the child, expectant mother,
or persons with developmental disabilities;
(c) Persons who care for a neighbor's or friend's child or
children, with or without compensation, where: (i) The person
providing care for periods of less than twenty-four hours does not
conduct such activity on an ongoing, regularly scheduled basis for the
purpose of engaging in business, which includes, but is not limited to,
advertising such care; or (ii) the parent and person providing care on
a twenty-four-hour basis have agreed to the placement in writing and
the state is not providing any payment for the care;
(d) Parents on a mutually cooperative basis exchange care of one
another's children;
(e) A person, partnership, corporation, or other entity that
provides placement or similar services to exchange students or
international student exchange visitors or persons who have the care of
an exchange student in their home;
(f) A person, partnership, corporation, or other entity that
provides placement or similar services to international children who
have entered the country by obtaining visas that meet the criteria for
medical care as established by the United States immigration and
naturalization service, or persons who have the care of such an
international child in their home;
(g) Nursery schools or kindergartens which are engaged primarily in
educational work with preschool children and in which no child is
enrolled on a regular basis for more than four hours per day;
(h) Schools, including boarding schools, which are engaged
primarily in education, operate on a definite school year schedule,
follow a stated academic curriculum, accept only school-age children
and do not accept custody of children;
(i) Seasonal camps of three months' or less duration engaged
primarily in recreational or educational activities;
(j) Hospitals licensed pursuant to chapter 70.41 RCW when
performing functions defined in chapter 70.41 RCW, nursing homes
licensed under chapter 18.51 RCW and boarding homes licensed under
chapter 18.20 RCW;
(k) Licensed physicians or lawyers;
(l) Facilities providing care to children for periods of less than
twenty-four hours whose parents remain on the premises to participate
in activities other than employment;
(m) Facilities approved and certified under chapter 71A.22 RCW;
(n) Any agency having been in operation in this state ten years
prior to June 8, 1967, and not seeking or accepting moneys or
assistance from any state or federal agency, and is supported in part
by an endowment or trust fund;
(o) Persons who have a child in their home for purposes of
adoption, if the child was placed in such home by a licensed child-placing agency, an authorized public or tribal agency or court or if a
replacement report has been filed under chapter 26.33 RCW and the
placement has been approved by the court;
(p) An agency operated by any unit of local, state, or federal
government or an agency, located within the boundaries of a federally
recognized Indian reservation, licensed by the Indian tribe;
(q) A maximum or medium security program for juvenile offenders
operated by or under contract with the department;
(r) An agency located on a federal military reservation, except
where the military authorities request that such agency be subject to
the licensing requirements of this chapter.
(3) "Department" means the state department of social and health
services.
(4) "Family child care licensee" means a person who: (a) Provides
regularly scheduled care for a child or children in the home of the
provider for periods of less than twenty-four hours or, if necessary
due to the nature of the parent's work, for periods equal to or greater
than twenty-four hours; (b) does not receive child care subsidies; and
(c) is licensed by the state under RCW 74.15.030.
(5) "Juvenile" means a person under the age of twenty-one who has
been sentenced to a term of confinement under the supervision of the
department under RCW 13.40.185.
(((5))) (6) "Probationary license" means a license issued as a
disciplinary measure to an agency that has previously been issued a
full license but is out of compliance with licensing standards.
(((6))) (7) "Requirement" means any rule, regulation, or standard
of care to be maintained by an agency.
(((7))) (8) "Secretary" means the secretary of social and health
services.
(((8))) (9) "Street youth" means a person under the age of eighteen
who lives outdoors or in another unsafe location not intended for
occupancy by the minor and who is not residing with his or her parent
or at his or her legally authorized residence.
(((9))) (10) "Transitional living services" means at a minimum, to
the extent funds are available, the following:
(a) Educational services, including basic literacy and
computational skills training, either in local alternative or public
high schools or in a high school equivalency program that leads to
obtaining a high school equivalency degree;
(b) Assistance and counseling related to obtaining vocational
training or higher education, job readiness, job search assistance, and
placement programs;
(c) Counseling and instruction in life skills such as money
management, home management, consumer skills, parenting, health care,
access to community resources, and transportation and housing options;
(d) Individual and group counseling; and
(e) Establishing networks with federal agencies and state and local
organizations such as the United States department of labor, employment
and training administration programs including the job training
partnership act which administers private industry councils and the job
corps; vocational rehabilitation; and volunteer programs.
Sec. 8 RCW 74.15.030 and 2005 c 490 s 11 are each amended to read
as follows:
The secretary shall have the power and it shall be the secretary's
duty:
(1) In consultation with the children's services advisory
committee, and with the advice and assistance of persons representative
of the various type agencies to be licensed, to designate categories of
facilities for which separate or different requirements shall be
developed as may be appropriate whether because of variations in the
ages, sex and other characteristics of persons served, variations in
the purposes and services offered or size or structure of the agencies
to be licensed hereunder, or because of any other factor relevant
thereto;
(2) In consultation with the children's services advisory
committee, and with the advice and assistance of persons representative
of the various type agencies to be licensed, to adopt and publish
minimum requirements for licensing applicable to each of the various
categories of agencies to be licensed.
The minimum requirements shall be limited to:
(a) The size and suitability of a facility and the plan of
operation for carrying out the purpose for which an applicant seeks a
license;
(b) The character, suitability and competence of an agency and
other persons associated with an agency directly responsible for the
care and treatment of children, expectant mothers or developmentally
disabled persons. In consultation with law enforcement personnel, the
secretary shall investigate the conviction record or pending charges
and dependency record information under chapter 43.43 RCW of each
agency and its staff seeking licensure or relicensure. No unfounded
allegation of child abuse or neglect as defined in RCW 26.44.020 may be
disclosed to a child-placing agency, private adoption agency, or any
other provider licensed under this chapter. In order to determine the
suitability of applicants for an agency license, licensees, their
employees, and other persons who have unsupervised access to children
in care, and who have not resided in the state of Washington during the
three-year period before being authorized to care for children shall be
fingerprinted. The fingerprints shall be forwarded to the Washington
state patrol and federal bureau of investigation for a criminal history
records check. The fingerprint criminal history records checks will be
at the expense of the licensee except that in the case of a foster
family home, if this expense would work a hardship on the licensee, the
department shall pay the expense. The licensee may not pass this cost
on to the employee or prospective employee, unless the employee is
determined to be unsuitable due to his or her criminal history record.
The secretary shall use the information solely for the purpose of
determining eligibility for a license and for determining the
character, suitability, and competence of those persons or agencies,
excluding parents, not required to be licensed who are authorized to
care for children, expectant mothers, and developmentally disabled
persons. Criminal justice agencies shall provide the secretary such
information as they may have and that the secretary may require for
such purpose;
(c) The number of qualified persons required to render the type of
care and treatment for which an agency seeks a license;
(d) The safety, cleanliness, and general adequacy of the premises
to provide for the comfort, care and well-being of children, expectant
mothers or developmentally disabled persons;
(e) The provision of necessary care, including food, clothing,
supervision and discipline; physical, mental and social well-being; and
educational, recreational and spiritual opportunities for those served;
(f) The financial ability of an agency to comply with minimum
requirements established pursuant to chapter 74.15 RCW and RCW
74.13.031; and
(g) The maintenance of records pertaining to the admission,
progress, health and discharge of persons served;
(3) To investigate any person, including relatives by blood or
marriage except for parents, for character, suitability, and competence
in the care and treatment of children, expectant mothers, and
developmentally disabled persons prior to authorizing that person to
care for children, expectant mothers, and developmentally disabled
persons. However, if a child is placed with a relative under RCW
13.34.065 or 13.34.130, and if such relative appears otherwise suitable
and competent to provide care and treatment the criminal history
background check required by this section need not be completed before
placement, but shall be completed as soon as possible after placement;
(4) On reports of alleged child abuse and neglect, to investigate
agencies in accordance with chapter 26.44 RCW, including child day-care
centers and family day-care homes, to determine whether the alleged
abuse or neglect has occurred, and whether child protective services or
referral to a law enforcement agency is appropriate;
(5) To issue, revoke, or deny licenses to agencies pursuant to
chapter 74.15 RCW and RCW 74.13.031. Licenses shall specify the
category of care which an agency is authorized to render and the ages,
sex and number of persons to be served;
(6) To prescribe the procedures and the form and contents of
reports necessary for the administration of chapter 74.15 RCW and RCW
74.13.031 and to require regular reports from each licensee;
(7) To inspect agencies periodically to determine whether or not
there is compliance with chapter 74.15 RCW and RCW 74.13.031 and the
requirements adopted hereunder;
(8) To review requirements adopted hereunder at least every two
years and to adopt appropriate changes after consultation with affected
groups for child day-care requirements and with the children's services
advisory committee for requirements for other agencies; ((and))
(9) To engage in negotiated rule making pursuant to RCW
34.05.310(2)(a) with the exclusive representative of the family child
care licensees selected in accordance with section 6 of this act and
with other affected interests before adopting requirements that affect
family child care licensees; and
(10) To consult with public and private agencies in order to help
them improve their methods and facilities for the care of children,
expectant mothers and developmentally disabled persons.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 9 Part headings used in this act are not any
part of the law.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 10 If any provision of this act or its
application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the
remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other
persons or circumstances is not affected.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 11 If any part of this act is found to be in
conflict with federal requirements that are a prescribed condition to
the allocation of federal funds to the state, the conflicting part of
this act is inoperative solely to the extent of the conflict and with
respect to the agencies directly affected, and this finding does not
affect the operation of the remainder of this act in its application to
the agencies concerned. Rules adopted under this act must meet federal
requirements that are a necessary condition to the receipt of federal
funds by the state.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 12 This act may be known and cited as the
access to quality family child care act.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 13 Sections 1 through 5 of this act are
necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health,
or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public
institutions, and take effect immediately.