(March 20, 2023) – Today, the Senate Commerce Committee, chaired by Senator Renee Erickson (R-Wichita), worked the bills before them. Among those recommended favorably for passage was Senate Bill 282. The legislation establishes childcare licensing requirements relating to license capacity and staff-to-child ratios, eliminates certain license fees and training requirements, permits a 16-year-old staff member to staff a unit with children at least 12 months old without supervision, creates a process for daycare facility licensees to apply for a temporary waiver of certain statutory requirements and authorizes the secretary to develop and operate pilot programs to increase daycare facility availability or capacity.
The committee made the following amendments:
- Changes the terminology for lead and assistant teachers
- If someone has worked in other educational settings, allows those years to be used to accredit them as a director or assistant director
- The assistant group teacher would have to be 18 years of age
- Changes training hours to a minimum of eight hours, four hours can be outside training in childcare such as early childhood education, elementary education, special education, speech pathology, occupational therapy, social work, and family science and human development
- Makes changes to childcare home with one-provider ratios
- Makes changes to childcare home with two-providers ratios
- Strikes language about supervision and eliminates volunteers that are 14 years old or younger
- If you have four infants in your home, you must have some professional training in infant care
- Changes that a program director can be a teacher in another setting to meet requirements
- Changes in square footage requirements
- The outdoor play space minimum shall be 75 square feet for each child
- Adds drop-in definitions to include programs such as boys and girls club
- Strikes language stating counties can do the Kansas Department of Health and Environment inspections to eliminate fiscal notes
The bill as amended was moved into Senate Substitute for House Bill 2344. On a division vote, the chair broke the tie to recommend the bill favorably for passage.