October 9, 2015 - Introduced by Senators Petrowski, Cowles, Darling and Olsen,
cosponsored by Representatives Heaton, Ballweg, Edming, Jacque,
Kooyenga, Krug, Loudenbeck, Neylon, A. Ott, Rodriguez and Spiros.
Referred to Committee on Health and Human Services.
SB304,1,6 1An Act relating to: amending various rules promulgated by the Department of
2Children and Families governing the certification of child care operators,
3governing the licensing of child welfare agencies, and establishing standards
4for the operation of child care centers; and eliminating rules promulgated by the
5Department of Children and Families related to retaining public assistance
6case records.
Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
Introduction
This bill amends various rules promulgated by the Department of Children and
Families (DCF) governing the certification of child care operators, governing the
licensing of child welfare agencies, and establishing standards for the operation of
child care centers and eliminates rules promulgated by DCF related to retaining
public assistance case records.
Child care certification
Under current law, DCF regulates the certification of child care operators for
the purpose of reimbursement under the Wisconsin Shares child care subsidy
program. Under DCF's current rules, agencies that may certify child care operators
are called "county and tribal agencies" and include county departments of social
services, county departments of human services, and tribal agencies. This bill

amends DCF rules to refer to agencies that certify child care operators as
"certification agencies." The bill expands the definition to include DCF in a county
with a population of 750,000 or more and any agency that certifies child care
operators through a contract with DCF, a county department of social services, a
county department of human services, or a tribal agency.
DCF's current rules allow any county or tribal agency's action to deny, suspend,
revoke, or refuse to renew a child care operator's certification to be appealed under
administrative procedures that apply to local units of government. The bill amends
DCF rules to specify that an action by DCF to deny, suspend, revoke, or refuse to
renew a child care operator's certification in a county with a population of 750,000
or more may be appealed under administrative procedures that apply to state
agencies.
DCF's current rules also require a family child care operator or in-home child
care operator to demonstrate to a county or tribal agency that he or she is free from
tuberculosis prior to certification and recertification, and allows the agency to accept
tuberculosis test results only if administered up to 12 months before the certification
application date. This bill amends DCF rules to require a child care provider to
demonstrate that he or she is free from tuberculosis prior to the date the provider
began working with children and to allow a certification agency to accept the results
of a tuberculosis test administered up to 12 months prior to the date the provider
began working with children.
Child care center operations
Under current law, no person may for compensation provide care and
supervision for four or more children under the age of seven for less than 24 hours
a day unless that person obtains from DCF a license to operate a child care center.
Current law requires DCF to promulgate rules establishing standards for the
operation of child care centers.
Those rules include a rule requiring a child care center providing care and
supervision for not more than eight children (family child care center) to provide
written information to parents on whether the family child care center has insurance
coverage on vehicles, if transportation is provided by the family child care center.
This bill eliminates that requirement.
Those rules also include a rule requiring a family child care center to maintain
for each child enrolled in the family child care center a written record of enrollment
information and health history on a form provided by DCF. This bill requires
enrollment information and health history to be maintained on separate forms
provided by DCF.
In addition, those rules include: 1) a rule requiring a child receiving care from
a family child care center or a child care center providing care and supervision for
more than eight children (group child care center) to have an initial health
examination no later than three months after being admitted to the child care center
and to have followup health examinations at certain intervals after that; and 2) a
rule requiring a report on such a health examination to be made on a form provided
by DCF that is signed and dated by a licensed physician, physician assistant, or
HealthCheck provider, which is a provider of health assessment and evaluation

services certified by the Department of Health Services. This bill permits a health
examination report to be made on an electronic printout from a licensed physician,
physician assistant, or HealthCheck provider.
Current law permits DCF to award staff retention grants and quality
improvement grants to child care providers that meet certain quality of care
standards established under rules promulgated by DCF. Current law, however, does
not allocate any moneys for those grants. This bill eliminates those rules.
Finally, the bill corrects, in the DCF rules relating to child care, certain
cross-references to the rules governing the responsibilities and qualifications of
group child care center program directors, teachers, and assistant teachers.
Child welfare agency licensing
Under current law, no person may provide care and maintenance for four or
more children for 75 days in a 12-month period unless the person obtains from DCF
a license to operate a child welfare agency. A child welfare agency license is valid
until revoked or suspended, but must be reviewed every two years. To continue a
child welfare agency license for an additional two years, a child welfare agency must
submit an application for continuance of the license to DCF at least 30 days prior to
the continuation date of the license. If DCF approves the application, DCF must
continue the license for an additional two years.
Current rules promulgated by DCF governing the licensing of child welfare
agencies, however, require a subsequent application by a child welfare agency to be
submitted to DCF at least three weeks prior to the expiration of the current license.
This bill conforms those rules to the statutes by modifying those rules to require a
subsequent application by a child welfare agency to be submitted to DCF at least 30
days
prior to the continuation date of the current license.
Public assistance records
Under current DCF rules, a county, tribal, or W-2 agency that contracts with
DCF to administer one or more public assistance programs (income maintenance
agency) is required to retain certain items used to verify information related to a
public assistance case for certain amounts of time. For example, under current DCF
rules, an income maintenance agency must retain items to verify an applicant's
social security number, birth information, alien status, and medicare enrollment, if
required to determine eligibility for public assistance, while the public assistance
case is open. Current DCF rules also provide the conditions under which original
case records that are copied in microfilm reproduction, optical disk, or electronic
format may be destroyed. Finally, current DCF rules require that destruction of
public assistance records must be done in a manner that make the records
unreadable. This bill eliminates DCF's rules related to retaining public assistance
case records.
The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do
enact as follows:
SB304,1 1Section 1. DCF 54.02 (3) (d) 1. of the administrative code is amended to read:
SB304,4,2
1DCF 54.02 (3) (d) 1. At least 3 weeks 30 days prior to the expiration
2continuation date of the current licensing license.
SB304,2 3Section 2. Ch. DCF 121 of the administrative code is repealed.
SB304,3 4Section 3. DCF 201.02 (2m) of the administrative code is amended to read:
SB304,4,105 DCF 201.02 (2m) "Certification agency" means the department in a county
6having a population of 500,000 750,000 or more; a county department of social
7services established under s. 46.22, Stats.; a county department of human services
8established under s. 46.23, Stats.; a tribal agency;
or any agency that has a contract
9contracts with the department any of those entities to certify child care providers
10under s. 48.651, Stats., and ch. DCF 202 in a particular county or tribal area.
SB304,4 11Section 4. DCF 201.06 (3) (b) of the administrative code is repealed.
SB304,5 12Section 5. DCF 202.01 (2) of the administrative code is amended to read:
SB304,4,1713 DCF 202.01 (2) Applicability. This chapter applies to county and tribal
14certification agencies and to all providers of child care who receive reimbursement
15with state or federal child care funds and who are not required to be licensed under
16s. 48.65, Stats., including providers of child care for 1 to 3 children, providers of child
17care for a child in the child's home, and providers of child care for school-age children.
SB304,6 18Section 6. DCF 202.02 (1) of the administrative code is repealed.
SB304,7 19Section 7. DCF 202.02 (1s) of the administrative code is created to read:
SB304,4,2420 DCF 202.02 (1s) "Certification agency" means the department in a county
21having a population of 750,000 or more; a county department of social services
22established under s. 46.22, Stats.; a county department of human services
23established under s. 46.23, Stats.; a tribal agency; or any agency that contracts with
24any of those entities to certify child care operators under s. 48.651, Stats.
SB304,8 25Section 8. DCF 202.02 (2) of the administrative code is amended to read:
SB304,5,4
1DCF 202.02 (2) "Certified child care home" or "home" means the residence in
2which the certified child care operator provides care of children and which meets the
3standards under s. DCF 202.08 for reimbursement of care by county or tribal
4certification agencies.
SB304,9 5Section 9. DCF 202.02 (3h) of the administrative code is amended to read:
SB304,5,96 DCF 202.02 (3h) "Child care certification worker" means a person employed
7by a county, a governing body of a federally-recognized American Indian tribe, or
8an agency under contract with a county or tribe whose duties include determination
9of eligibility for child care certification.
SB304,10 10Section 10. DCF 202.02 (4) of the administrative code is repealed.
SB304,11 11Section 11. DCF 202.02 (14) of the administrative code is amended to read:
SB304,5,1312 DCF 202.02 (14) "Physician's Physician assistant" means a health care
13professional certified under s. 448.04 (1) (f), Stats., and ch. Med 8.
SB304,12 14Section 12. DCF 202.04 (3) (a) of the administrative code is amended to read:
SB304,5,1815 DCF 202.04 (3) (a) Form. Application for certification shall be made on a form
16available from the county or tribal certification agency in the county or tribal
17territory where the child care is provided. The applicant shall submit the completed
18form to that county or tribal certification agency.
SB304,13 19Section 13. DCF 202.04 (3) (d) of the administrative code is amended to read:
SB304,5,2120 DCF 202.04 (3) (d) Compliance with standards and certification. The county
21or tribal
certification agency shall process all certification applications as follows:
SB304,5,2422 1. If the application is for certification under sub. (2) (a), the county or tribal
23certification agency shall review the application for compliance with standards
24under s. DCF 202.08 prior to issuing a certificate.
SB304,6,6
12. If the application is for certification under sub. (2) (b), the county or tribal
2certification agency shall refer the application to a licensing representative in the
3department regional office. The licensing representative shall determine whether
4the applicant is in compliance with all standards under s. DCF 202.09 and report
5back to the county or tribal certification agency. The county or tribal certification
6agency may issue a certificate based on the licensing representative's report.
SB304,14 7Section 14. DCF 202.04 (3) (e) (intro.) of the administrative code is amended
8to read:
SB304,6,159 DCF 202.04 (3) (e) Approval. (intro.) Within 60 days after receiving a
10completed application for certification or recertification and satisfactory
11investigation and determination that the applicant is fit, the county or tribal
12certification agency shall either approve the application and issue a certificate or
13deny the application. Fit "Fit" means the applicant displays the capacity to
14successfully nurture and care for children and includes consideration of any of the
15following:
SB304,15 16Section 15. DCF 202.04 (3) (f) of the administrative code is amended to read:
SB304,6,1917 DCF 202.04 (3) (f) The county or tribal certification agency may backdate a
18certificate of approval to the date that the county or tribal certification agency
19received the applicant's completed application for certification.
SB304,16 20Section 16. DCF 202.04 (4) (a) of the administrative code is amended to read:
SB304,6,2521 DCF 202.04 (4) (a) A county or tribal certification agency may charge a fee for
22family child care certification not to exceed 150 percent of the licensing fee for a
23family child care center that provides care and supervision for 4 to 8 children, under
24s. 48.65 (3) (a), Stats., plus the costs of criminal record checks required under s.
2548.685, Stats.
SB304,17
1Section 17. DCF 202.04 (4) (b) of the administrative code is amended to read:
SB304,7,52 DCF 202.04 (4) (b) The county or tribal certification agency may charge a fee
3for school-age child care certification not to exceed the licensing fee for a group child
4care center that provides care and supervision for 9 or more children under s. 48.65
5(3) (a), Stats., plus the costs of criminal record checks required under s. 48.685, Stats.
SB304,18 6Section 18. DCF 202.04 (5) (intro.) of the administrative code is amended to
7read:
SB304,7,108 DCF 202.04 (5) Categories of family certification. (intro.) Certification of
9 a provider an operator by a county or tribal certification agency shall be Level I
10(regular) or Level II (provisional) as follows:
SB304,19 11Section 19. DCF 202.04 (6) (a) of the administrative code is amended to read:
SB304,7,1412 DCF 202.04 (6) (a) The county or tribal certification agency responsible for
13certification of a provider an operator shall be determined by the geographic area
14in which the child care is provided.
SB304,20 15Section 20. DCF 202.04 (6) (b) of the administrative code is amended to read:
SB304,7,1816 DCF 202.04 (6) (b) Certification issued to a provider an operator by a county
17or tribal
certification agency shall be accepted as valid by all other agencies
18authorized to certify providers.
SB304,21 19Section 21. DCF 202.04 (6) (c) of the administrative code is amended to read:
SB304,7,2220 DCF 202.04 (6) (c) The county or tribal certification agency shall ensure that
21each new day care certification worker completes the department-approved
22certification training during the first 6 months of employment.
SB304,22 23Section 22. DCF 202.04 (7) (a) of the administrative code is amended to read:
SB304,8,3
1DCF 202.04 (7) (a) Qualifications of certified child care operators. County and
2tribal
Certification agencies shall maintain records demonstrating child care
3operator compliance with s. DCF 202.08 (1).
SB304,23 4Section 23. DCF 202.04 (7) (b) 1. of the administrative code is amended to read:
SB304,8,75 DCF 202.04 (7) (b) 1. `General.' County and tribal Certification agencies shall
6help assure operator compliance with s. DCF 202.08 (2) to (12) in accordance with
7this section.
SB304,24 8Section 24. DCF 202.04 (7) (b) 2. (intro.) of the administrative code is amended
9to read:
SB304,8,1110 DCF 202.04 (7) (b) 2. `Required procedures.' (intro.) A county or tribal
11certification agency shall:
SB304,25 12Section 25. DCF 202.04 (7) (b) 3. (intro.) of the administrative code is amended
13to read:
SB304,8,1514 DCF 202.04 (7) (b) 3. `Optional procedures.' (intro.) A county or tribal
15certification agency may:
SB304,26 16Section 26. DCF 202.04 (7) (b) 3. e. of the administrative code is amended to
17read:
SB304,8,2418 DCF 202.04 (7) (b) 3. e. Require an evaluation and written statement by a
19physician or licensed mental health professional of any person associated with the
20care of children or any household resident if the county or tribal certification agency
21has reason to believe that the person's physical or mental health may endanger
22children in care. The county or tribal certification agency shall document what
23reason it has to believe that the person's physical or mental health may endanger
24children in care.
SB304,27 25Section 27. DCF 202.04 (8) of the administrative code is amended to read:
SB304,9,5
1DCF 202.04 (8) Exceptions to particular certification requirements. A
2county or tribal certification agency may grant an exception to any standard in s.
3DCF 202.08 or 202.09 if the county or tribal certification agency determines that an
4alternative means meets the intent of the requirement, except for rules related to
5criminal background investigation required under s. 48.685, Stats.
SB304,28 6Section 28. DCF 202.04 (9) of the administrative code is amended to read:
SB304,9,127 DCF 202.04 (9) Certification decision after background review. The county
8or tribal
certification agency shall conduct background reviews in accordance with
9s. 48.685, Stats. For guidance in resolving issues that arise in particular cases, the
10county or tribal certification agency shall follow ch. DHS 12, and the crimes table
11incorporated into ch. DHS 12, and shall apply the standards that apply to licensed
12child care facilities.
SB304,29 13Section 29. DCF 202.05 (1) of the administrative code is amended to read:
SB304,9,2414 DCF 202.05 (1) The county or tribal certification agency shall follow the
15requirements for criminal history and child abuse record search that are contained
16in s. 48.685, Stats., and ch. DHS 12, and the crimes table incorporated into ch. DHS
1712, and shall apply the standards that apply to licensed child care facilities, except
18the county or tribal certification agency shall require any prospective or current
19employee, contractor under the control of the certified child care operator, volunteer,
20or non-client resident to submit the completed background information form to the
21county or tribal certification agency prior to initial certification and recertification.
22In applying the provisions relating to rehabilitation decisions, all decisions and
23review procedures shall be made and conducted by the county or tribal certification
24agency.
SB304,30 25Section 30. DCF 202.05 (2) of the administrative code is amended to read:
SB304,10,8
1DCF 202.05 (2) Each county or tribal certification agency shall maintain its
2records concerning each person whose certificate is denied, revoked, or not renewed
3for a reason specified in s. 48.685 (4m) (a) 1. to 5., Stats. The county or tribal
4certification agency shall report this information to the department's bureau of early
5childhood education. The county or tribal certification agency shall immediately
6report the receipt of an application for rehabilitation review and the results of each
7rehabilitation review to the office of legal counsel of the department of health
8services.
SB304,31 9Section 31. DCF 202.06 (1) (intro.) of the administrative code is amended to
10read:
SB304,10,1211 DCF 202.06 (1) (intro.) The county or tribal certification agency may deny,
12suspend, revoke, or refuse to renew certification if any of the following apply:
SB304,32 13Section 32. DCF 202.06 (1) (c) of the administrative code is amended to read:
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