Bill Text: IA SF2304 | 2015-2016 | 86th General Assembly | Enrolled
Bill Title: A bill for an act relating to standards for and certification and inspection of children's residential facilities. (Formerly SSB 3172.)
Spectrum: Committee Bill
Status: (Enrolled - Dead) 2016-04-29 - Sent to Governor. S.J. 0. [SF2304 Detail]
Download: Iowa-2015-SF2304-Enrolled.html
Senate File 2304 - Enrolled
SENATE FILE
BY COMMITTEE ON
GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT
(SUCCESSOR TO SSB
3172)
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A BILL FOR
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Senate File 2304
AN ACT
RELATING TO STANDARDS FOR AND CERTIFICATION AND INSPECTION OF
CHILDREN'S RESIDENTIAL FACILITIES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
Section 1. NEW SECTION. 237C.1 Definitions.
As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise
requires:
1. "Administrator" means the administrator of that division
of the department designated by the director of human services
to administer this chapter or the administrator's designee.
2. "Child" or "children" means an individual or individuals
under eighteen years of age.
3. "Children's residential facility" means a private
facility designed to serve children who have been voluntarily
placed for reasons other than an exclusively recreational
activity outside of their home by a parent or legal guardian
and who are not under the custody or authority of the
department of human services, juvenile court, or another
governmental agency, that provides twenty=four hour care,
including food, lodging, supervision, education, or other care
on a full=time basis by a person other than a relative or
guardian of the child, but does not include an entity providing
any of the following:
a. Care furnished by an individual who receives the child of
a personal friend as an occasional and personal guest in the
individual's home, free of charge and not as a business.
b. Care furnished by an individual with whom a child has
been placed for lawful adoption, unless that adoption is not
completed within two years after placement.
c. Child care furnished by a child care facility as defined
in section 237A.1.
d. Care furnished in a hospital licensed under chapter
135B or care furnished in a health care facility as defined in
section 135C.1.
e. Care furnished by a juvenile detention home or juvenile
shelter care home approved under section 232.142.
f. Care furnished by a child foster care facility licensed
under chapter 237.
g. Care furnished by an institution listed in section 218.1.
h. Care furnished by a facility licensed under chapter 125.
i. Care furnished by a psychiatric medical institution for
children licensed under chapter 135H.
4. "Department" means the department of human services.
Sec. 2. NEW SECTION. 237C.2 Purpose.
It is the policy of this state to provide appropriate
protection for children who are separated from the direct
personal care of their parents, relatives, or guardians and,
therefore, the purpose of this chapter is to provide for the
development, establishment, and enforcement of standards
relating to the certification of children's residential
facilities.
Sec. 3. NEW SECTION. 237C.3 Certification standards ====
consultation with other agencies.
1. The department of human services shall consult with
the department of education, the department of inspections
and appeals, the department of public health, the state fire
marshal, and other agencies as determined by the department
of human services to establish certification standards for
children's residential facilities in accordance with this
chapter.
2. Standards established by the department under this
chapter shall at a minimum address the basic health and
educational needs of children; protection of children from
mistreatment, abuse, and neglect; background and records checks
of persons providing care to children in facilities certified
under this chapter; the use of seclusion, restraint, or other
restrictive interventions; health; safety; emergency; and the
physical premises on which care is provided by a children's
residential facility. The background check requirements shall
be substantially equivalent to those applied under chapter 237
for a child foster care facility provider.
3. Standards established by the department under this
chapter shall not regulate religious education curricula at
children's residential facilities.
Sec. 4. NEW SECTION. 237C.4 Rules and standards ==
requirements.
1. Except as otherwise provided in this section, the
department shall adopt rules pursuant to chapter 17A to
administer this chapter.
2. Before the administrator issues or reissues a
certificate of approval to a children's residential facility
under section 237C.6, the facility shall comply with standards
adopted by the state fire marshal under chapter 100.
3. Rules governing sanitation, water, and waste disposal
standards for children's residential facilities shall be
adopted by the department of human services in consultation
with the director of public health.
4. Rules governing educational programs and education
services provided by children's residential facilities shall
be adopted by the state board of education pursuant to section
282.34.
5. In the case of a conflict between rules and standards
adopted pursuant to subsections 2 and 3 and local rules and
standards, the more stringent requirement applies.
6. Rules adopted under this section shall not regulate
religious education curricula at children's residential
facilities.
7. Prior to establishing, proposing, adopting, or modifying
a standard or rule under section 237C.3, this section, or
section 282.34, the department of human services or the
department of education, as applicable, shall, at a minimum,
do all of the following:
a. Publish the entire text of the proposed standard, rule,
or modification on its internet site.
b. Make every reasonable effort to notify the children's
residential facilities in this state of the proposed standard,
rule, or modification.
c. Allow and invite any and all persons interested in
the proposed standard, rule, or modification to submit
written data, facts, opinions, comments, and arguments, which
information shall be made publicly available and shall be
filed with and maintained by the applicable department for at
least five years from the date of submission to the applicable
department.
Sec. 5. NEW SECTION. 237C.5 Certificate of approval ====
certification required.
A person shall not operate a children's residential facility
without a certificate of approval to operate issued by the
administrator under this chapter.
Sec. 6. NEW SECTION. 237C.6 Certificate application and
issuance ==== denial, suspension, or revocation.
1. A person shall apply for a certificate to operate a
children's residential facility by completing and submitting to
the administrator an application in a form and format approved
by the administrator. The administrator shall issue or reissue
a certificate of approval if the administrator determines that
the applicant is or upon commencing operation will provide
children's residential facility services in compliance with
this chapter. A certificate of approval is valid for up to one
year from the date of issuance for the period determined by the
administrator in accordance with administrative rules providing
criteria for making the determination.
2. The certificate of approval shall state on its face the
name of the holder of the certificate, the particular premises
for which the certificate is issued, and the number of children
who may be cared for by the children's residential facility on
the premises at one time under the certificate of occupancy
issued by the state fire marshal or the state fire marshal's
designee. The certificate of approval shall be posted in a
conspicuous place in the children's residential facility.
3. The administrator may deny an application for issuance or
reissuance of a certificate of approval or suspend or revoke
a certificate of approval if the applicant or certificate
holder, as applicable, fails to comply with this chapter
or the rules adopted pursuant to this chapter or knowingly
makes a false statement concerning a material fact or
conceals a material fact on the application for the issuance
or reissuance of a certificate of approval or in a report
regarding operation of the children's residential facility
submitted to the administrator. All operations of a children's
residential facility shall cease during a period of suspension
or revocation. The administrator shall suspend or revoke a
certificate of approval of a children's residential facility
that fails to comply with section 282.34.
Sec. 7. NEW SECTION. 237C.7 Restricted use of facility.
A children's residential facility shall operate only in
a building or on premises designated in the certificate of
approval.
Sec. 8. NEW SECTION. 237C.8 Reports and inspections.
The administrator may require submission of reports by a
certificate of approval holder and shall cause at least one
annual unannounced inspection of a children's residential
facility to assess compliance with applicable requirements
and standards. The inspections shall be conducted by the
department of inspections and appeals in addition to initial,
renewal, and other inspections that result from complaints
or self=reported incidents. The department of inspections
and appeals and the department of human services may examine
records of a children's residential facility and may inquire
into matters concerning the children's residential facility
and its employees, volunteers, and subcontractors relating
to requirements and standards for children's residential
facilities under this chapter.
Sec. 9. NEW SECTION. 237C.9 Injunctive relief ==== civil
action.
1. A person who establishes, conducts, manages, or operates
a children's residential facility without a certificate of
approval required pursuant to this chapter, or a children's
residential facility with a certificate of approval that is not
operating in compliance with rules adopted pursuant to this
chapter or section 282.34, may be restrained by temporary or
permanent injunction from providing children's residential
facility services or from other involvement with child care.
The action may be instituted by the state or a county attorney.
2. The parent or legal guardian of a child who is placed in
a children's residential facility, the state, the department
of education, or the school district in which the children's
residential facility is located, may bring a civil action
seeking relief from conduct constituting a violation of this
chapter or section 282.34 or to prevent, restrain, or remedy
such violation. A civil action brought by the department of
education under this subsection shall be limited to seeking
relief from conduct constituting a violation of section 282.34.
Multiple petitioners may join in a single action under this
subsection.
3. If successful in obtaining injunctive relief under this
section, the petitioner shall be awarded reasonable attorney
fees and court costs.
Sec. 10. NEW SECTION. 237C.10 Notice and hearings ====
judicial review.
The procedure governing notice and hearing to deny an
application or suspend or revoke a certificate of approval
shall be in accordance with rules adopted by the department.
Sec. 11. NEW SECTION. 282.34 Educational programs for
children's residential facilities.
1. A children's residential facility operating under a
certificate of approval issued under chapter 237C shall do all
of the following:
a. Provide an educational program and appropriate education
services to children residing in the children's residential
facility by contracting with the school district in which
the children's residential facility is located, contracting
with an accredited nonpublic school, or becoming accredited
as a nonpublic school through the standards and accreditation
process described in section 256.11 and adopted by rule by the
state board of education.
b. Display prominently in all of its major publications
and on its internet site a notice accurately describing the
educational program and educational services provided by the
children's residential facility.
c. Include in any promotional, advertising, or marketing
materials regarding the children's residential facility
available in print, broadcast, or via the internet or by any
other means all fees charged by the children's residential
facility for the services offered or provided by the children's
residential facility and its refund policy for the return of
refundable portions of any fees. This paragraph shall not
apply to sponsorship by a children's residential facility of
public radio or public television broadcasts.
2. The state board of education shall adopt by rule pursuant
to chapter 17A standards for the following:
a. Educational programs and appropriate educational services
provided under this section.
b. Contracts between children's residential facilities and
school districts or accredited nonpublic schools.
c. Notices displayed in accordance with subsection 1,
paragraph "b".
3. The department of education shall comply with the
requirements of section 237C.4, subsection 7, regarding
standards, rules, and modifications, and the responsibilities
set forth for publication, notification, and receipt and
maintenance of information filed with the department.
4. A contract that fails to comply with any of the
requirements of subsection 1, or with standards adopted by the
state board of education under subsection 2, is void.
5. Rules adopted under this section shall not regulate
religious education curricula at children's residential
facilities.
Sec. 12. REPEAL. Chapter 237B, Code 2016, is repealed.
Sec. 13. REPORT REQUIREMENT. By January 1, 2017, the
department of human services and the department of education
shall each submit a report to the general assembly concerning
their progress in adopting rules as appropriate under sections
237C.4 and 282.34, as enacted by this Act.
PAM JOCHUM
President of the Senate
LINDA UPMEYER
Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that this bill originated in the Senate and
is known as Senate File 2304, Eighty=sixth General Assembly.
MICHAEL E. MARSHALL
Secretary of the Senate
Approved , 2016
TERRY E. BRANSTAD
Governor
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