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Posts tagged: day care licensing
When Idaho passed landmark legislation two years ago to, for the first time, require state licensing of day-care operations that served fewer than 13 kids, the state's day-care wars didn't end. Instead, social conservatives in the Idaho House who opposed the whole idea of day-care regulation - including some who said mothers should just stay home with their kids - blocked approval of the rules to implement the new law two years running, though it took effect anyway under temporary rules.
Now, a compromise reached at the close of this year's legislative session between the House and Senate has brought changes to the law that all sides expect to settle the issue, in part by removing all maximum group sizes for child care operations and restructuring required staff-child ratios. Sen. Joyce Broadsword, R-Sagle, said, “It is simple, it's easy to understand, and it's easy for people to comply with.” Broadsword, who along with Sen. Tim Corder, R-Mountain Home, revamped HB 129 to remove House-backed changes including no longer counting kids of providers in staff-child ratios, said, “I think that everybody had the best interest of the children of Idaho at heart. We just saw different ways to get there.” You can read my full story here from Sunday's Spokesman-Review.
The day-care licensing bill, SB 1112a, has passed the Senate on a strong 30-5 vote. Sen. Tim Corder, R-Mountain Home, gave an impassioned 40-minute opening debate, in which he said, “It’s not our policy to interfere in family business, but it is our policy to be providing safe businesses that families will use.” Idaho currently requires no criminal background checks, no smoke detectors, no minimum staffing requirements, or anything else for small day-care operators; it licenses only those with 13 or more unrelated children. Idaho ranks last in the nation for its oversight of child care. Corder said Idaho licenses an array of other occupations, from mortgage lenders to grooms for racehorses. “Today we have no less an obligation to protect our children,” he told the Senate.
Only two opponents of the bill spoke up. Sen. Monty Pearce, R-New Plymouth, said, “We’re sending the wrong message here to the parents of the state of Idaho. … I think we’re sending the message, ‘Parents, we’re going to guarantee you a safe place to put your child.’ You know, I think that’s wrong. I think the parents are in charge and I think they should make those inspections. …. The reality is our parents are responsible, and somehow we have raised children for thousands of years without this bill.”
Sen. Russ Fulcher, R-Meridian, said, “To me, this adds to the list of extremely well-intentioned bills … that add government intrusion in an area where it doesn’t belong.” The other three “no” votes came from Sens. Shirley McKague, R-Meridian; Dean Mortimer, R-Idaho Falls; and Melinda Smyser, R-Parma. All other senators voted in favor; the bill now moves to the House side.
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