STAND. COM. REP. NO. 34

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 511

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2017

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committees on Human Services and Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 511 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CHILD CARE FACILITIES,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Create a child care facility inspection information oversight committee to oversee the implementation and compliance with child care facility inspection and complaint investigation posting requirements by the Department of Human Services;

 

     (2)  Require the Department of Human Services to post certain child care facility inspection records on the Department's website;

 

     (3)  Require the Department of Human Services to publish reports of child care facility inspections occurring on or after January 1, 2018, and complaint investigations on the Department's website;

 

     (4)  Require the Department of Human Services to submit an annual report to the Legislature on child care facility inspections and complaint investigations; and

 

     (5)  Appropriate funds for the implementation of and compliance with the reporting requirements for child care facilities.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Children's Action Network and two individuals.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Human Services.

 

     Your Committees find that because many parents must work full time, infant child care is a necessity for many local families.  Through the Department of Human Services, the State regulates and inspects these child care facilities to ensure that all children are safe and healthy.  Requiring the Department of Human Services to post its inspection records of child care facilities on its website and establishing an oversight committee to oversee the posting requirements may help bring assurance to families who require child care services.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Adding a member of the Senate and member of the House of Representatives to the child care facility inspection information oversight committee;

 

     (2)  Reinstating the language that authorized, rather than mandated, the Department of Human Services to post certain child care facility records on the Department's website;

 

     (3)  Requiring the Department of Human Services to post reports for all inspections of child care facilities within thirty working days, rather than within five working days, of the conclusion of the inspection; and

 

     (4)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Human Services and Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 511, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 511, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Human Services and Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health,

 

________________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair

 

________________________________

JOSH GREEN, Chair