HB2846 - 551R

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section 1. Section 36-881, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE36-881. Definitions

In this article, unless the context otherwise requires:

1. "Child" means any person through the age of fourteen eighteen years. Child also means a person who is under eighteen twenty-two years of age if the child has a developmental disability as defined in section 36-551 or has at least one of the disabilities listed in section 15-761, paragraph 2 and requires special education as defined in section 15-761.

2. "Child care" means the care, supervision, instruction and guidance of a child or children, unaccompanied by a parent, guardian or custodian, on a regular basis, for periods of less than twenty-four hours per day, in a place other than the child's or the children's own home or homes.

3. "Child care facility" means any facility in which child care is regularly provided for compensation for five or more children who are not related to the proprietor, or where any number of children who are not related to the proprietor receive child care for compensation from public monies, directly or indirectly, as a self-employed worker, independent contractor, employee or owner of a contracted corporation or subcontractor of a person or entity who has received state funding.

4. "Controlling person" means a person who:

(a) Through ownership, has the power to vote at least ten per cent percent of the outstanding voting securities.

(b) If the applicant or licensee is a partnership, is the general partner or a limited partner who holds at least ten per cent percent of the voting rights of the partnership.

(c) If the applicant or licensee is a corporation, an association or a limited liability company, is the president, the chief executive officer, the incorporator, an agent or any person who owns or controls at least ten per cent percent of the voting securities.

(d) Holds a beneficial interest in ten per cent percent or more of the liabilities of the applicant or the licensee.

5. "Department" means the department of health services.

6. "Director" means the director of the department of health services.

7. "Person" means an individual, partnership, corporation, limited liability company, association, day nursery, nursery school, day camp, kindergarten, child care agency, school governing board, charter school, self-employed worker, independent contractor, employee or owner of a contracted corporation, subcontractor of a person or entity who has received state funding or child care center that operates a child care facility.

8. "Substantial compliance" means that the nature or number of violations revealed by any type of inspection or investigation of an applicant for licensure or a licensed child care facility does not pose a direct risk to the life, health or safety of children.END_STATUTE

Sec. 2. Section 36-883.02, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE36-883.02. Child care personnel; fingerprints; exemptions; definition

A. Except as provided in subsection B of this section, child care personnel, including volunteers, shall submit the form prescribed in subsection C of this section to the employer and shall have valid fingerprint clearance cards issued pursuant to section 41-1758.07 before starting employment or volunteer work.

B. Exempt from the fingerprinting requirements of subsection A of this section are parents, including foster parents and guardians, who are not employees of the child care facility and who participate in activities with their children under the supervision of and in the presence of child care personnel.

C. Applicants, licensees and child care personnel shall attest on forms that are provided by the department that:

1. They are not awaiting trial on or have never been convicted of or admitted in open court or pursuant to a plea agreement committing any of the offenses listed in section 41-1758.07, subsection B in this state or similar offenses in another state or jurisdiction.

2. They are not parents or guardians of a child adjudicated to be a dependent child as defined in section 8-201.

3. They have not been denied or had revoked a certificate to operate a child care group home or a license to operate a child care facility in this or any other state or that they have not been denied or had revoked a certification to work in a child care facility or child care group home.

D. Employers of child care personnel shall make documented, good faith efforts to contact previous employers of child care personnel to obtain information or recommendations that may be relevant to an individual's fitness for employment in a child care facility.

E. The forms required by subsection C of this section are confidential.

F. A child care facility shall not allow a person to be employed or volunteer in the facility in any capacity if the person has been denied a fingerprint clearance card pursuant to section 41-1758.07 or has not received an interim approval from the board of fingerprinting pursuant to section 41-619.55, subsection I.

G. The employer shall notify the department of public safety if the employer receives credible evidence that any child care personnel either:

1. Is arrested for or charged with an offense listed in section 41-1758.07, subsection B.

2. Falsified information on the form required by subsection C of this section.

H. For the purposes of this section, "child care personnel" means any employee or volunteer working at a child care facility or anyone whose residence is the same location as the child care facility.END_STATUTE

Sec. 3. Section 36-884, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE36-884. Exemptions

This article does not apply to the care given to children by or in:

1. The homes of parents or blood relatives.

2. A religious institution conducting a nursery in conjunction with its religious services or conducting parent-supervised occasional drop-in care.

3. A unit of the public school system , including that is staffed and operated by full-time or part-time employees of the school district or charter school, and the contracted services of a certificated teacher to provide classroom instruction and specialized professional services provided by school districts for the sole purpose of meeting mandated requirements to address the physical and mental impairments prescribed in section 15-771. If a public school provides child care other than during the school's regular hours or for children who are not regularly enrolled in kindergarten programs or grades one through twelve, that portion of the school that provides child care is subject to standards of care prescribed pursuant to section 36-883.04.

4. A regularly organized private school that is staffed and operated by direct full-time or part-time employees of the regularly organized private school and that is engaged in an educational program that may be attended in substitution for public school pursuant to section 15-802. If the school provides child care beyond regular public school hours or for children who are not regularly enrolled in kindergarten programs or grades one through twelve, that portion of the school providing such care shall be considered a child care facility and is subject to this article.

5. Any facility that provides training only in specific subjects, including dancing, drama, music, self-defense or religion and tutoring provided by public schools solely to improve school performance.

6. Any facility that provides only recreational or instructional activities to school age children who may enter into and depart from the facility at their own volition. The facility may require the children to document their entrance into and departure from the facility. This documentation does not affect the exemption under this paragraph. The facility shall post a notice stating it is not a licensed child care facility under section 36-882.

7. Any of the Arizona state schools for the deaf and the blind.

8. A facility that provides only educational instruction for children who are at least three and not older than six years of age if all the following are true:

(a) The facility instructs only in the core subjects of math, reading and science.

(b) The facility does not accept state-subsidized tuition for the children.

(c) A child is present at the facility for not more than two and one-quarter hours a day and not more than three days a week.

(d) The instruction is not provided in place of care ordinarily provided by a parent or guardian.

(e) The facility posts a notice that the facility is not licensed under this article.

(f) The facility requires fingerprint cards of all personnel pursuant to section 36-883.02.

9. A facility that operates a day camp that provides recreational programs to children if all of the following are true:

(a) The day camp is accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting organization for day camps as approved by the department.

(b) The day camp operates for less than twenty-four hours a day and less than ten weeks each calendar year.

(c) The day camp posts a notice at the facility and on its website that it is not licensed under the laws of this state as a child care facility.

(d) The day camp provides programs only to children who are at least five years of age.

(e) The day camp requires fingerprint cards of all personnel pursuant to section 36-883.02. END_STATUTE