Alabama House approves day care oversight compromise bill
The Alabama House of Representatives on Thursday approved a day care compromise bill that intends to provide the most basic level of safety for children attending faith-based day care facilities throughout the state. A HB76, introduced by Tuskegee-Democrat state Rep. Pebblin Warren, advanced from the House Children and Senior Advocacy Committee on Tuesday. Under the legislation, the Alabama Department of Human Resources (ADHR) would be able to inspect the nearly 1,000 faith-based centers throughout Alabama once a year. “We are now one step closer to stopping another tragedy,” said Warren. “This bill would put in place the most basic safety standards for facilities that thousands and thousands of children across our state attend everyday.” The legislation would also require criminal background checks on the people whose care children are being placed into and proof of insurance. Under current law, Alabama is only one of seven states that still allows daycare centers to operate without regulation if they are a part of a church or ministry. Nearly half of the 1,914 day cares statewide claim the religious exemption, allowing them avoid background checks for workers and facility inspections. Warren had submitted the same bill last session. Despite being passed out of the House with bipartisan support, similar legislation was held up by a small number of Senators who voiced concerns about it being an attempt to regulate or influence curriculum and the like. In August, a young boy in Mobile, Kamden Johnson, died while in the care of an unlicensed daycare in Mobile, Ala. creating a bipartisan call for putting in place safeguards. Over the summer, Governor Kay Ivey said state laws need to change and that she believes all daycare centers operating in Alabama should be licensed through the state. “I strongly favor that if you’re going to be a daycare center for children you need to be licensed by the state,“ Ivey told reporters while attending the Association of County Commissions of Alabama Convention in Orange Beach in August. Warren agreed. “After the tragedy over the summer, I said this year would be different. It must be different,” added Warren. “We must put politics and special interests aside and do what is right and I hope with all my heart my colleagues in the Senate will do just that.”
Day care regulation bill unanimously passes House committee
Alabama faith-based day care facilities are one step closer to having to be annually inspected after a House committee approved a substitute version of HB76. HB76, as introduced by Tuskegee-Democrat state Rep. Pebblin Warren, would require all day care facilities statewide to be licensed and regulated by the Alabama Department of Human Resources (ADHR). Under the new substitute bill — which the House Children and Senior Advocacy Committee unanimously voted to advance to the House floor on Tuesday — the centers would remain exempt from needing to be licensed, but ADHR would be able to inspect the centers once annually. Faith-based day cares would also have to submit proof of insurance and the names of workers and their criminal histories. Alabama is only one of seven states that still allows daycare centers to operate without regulation if they are a part of a church or ministry. Nearly half of the 1,914 day cares statewide claim the religious exemption, allowing them avoid background checks for workers and facility inspections. The House overwhelmingly approved similar legislation last session, but the bill ultimately died in the Senate. Warren, a member of the House Rules Committee that has the ability to set the special order calendar, said she hopes the bill will quickly be considered by the full Alabama House. Watch a video excerpt of Tuesday’s hearing below:
Determined, Pebblin Warren re-files bill to require oversight of faith-based day care centers
Tuskegee-Democrat state Rep. Pebblin Warren has once again introduced a bill that would require all day care facilities statewide to be licensed and regulated by the Alabama Department of Human Resources. For the second year in a row, Warren has filed the Child Care Safety Act, which endeavors to give oversight to child care centers for the protection and benefit of the children. Under existing law, the term day care center is defined as a child care facility that receives more than 12 children for daytime care. The term includes child care centers, day nurseries, nursery schools, pre-kindergartens, kindergartens, and play groups, including those that are operated as part of a private school if they provide care for more than four hours a day. Also under existing law, faith-based daycares are exempt from state regulations and standards. HB76, endeavors to change that. This isn’t the first time the notion of licensing daycares has come up in the Yellowhammer State. Last session the state Legislature considered HB277, the Child Care Safety Act, which would have required more oversight for faith-based daycares. While the bill overwhelmingly passed the House of Representatives, it ultimately died in the Senate in April. The issue of licensing all day cares was revisited last summer following the tragic death of 5-year-old Kamden Johnson at an unlicensed daycare in Mobile, Ala., Governor Kay Ivey said state laws need to change and that she believes all daycare centers operating in Alabama should be licensed through the state. “I strongly favor that if you’re going to be a daycare center for children you need to be licensed by the state,“ Ivey told reporters while attending the Association of County Commissions of Alabama Convention in Orange Beach in August. Alabama is only one of seven states that still allows daycare centers to operate without regulation if they are a part of a church or ministry. Under current law, child care centers may claim religious exemption status and avoid background checks for workers and facility inspections. Many purport Johnson’s death could have been avoided had the facility been licensed and the workers better vetted. According to VOICES for Alabama’s Children about half of the daycares in the state are uninspected, as evidenced by to numbers from the Department of Human Resources.
