CHAPTER 87
Legislative Research Commission PDF Version
1
CHAPTER 87
( HB 491 )
AN ACT relating to instructional programs for school-age children and declaring an emergency.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky:
Section 1. KRS 199.896 is amended to read as follows:
(1) No person, association, or organization shall conduct, operate, maintain, or advertise any child-care center
without obtaining a license as provided in KRS 199.892 to 199.896.
(2) The cabinet may promulgate administrative regulations pursuant to KRS Chapter 13A relating to license fees
and may, in the administrative regulations, establish standards of care and service for a child-care center,
criteria for the denial of a license if criminal records indicate convictions that may impact the safety and
security of children in care, and procedures for enforcement of penalties which are not in contravention of this
section.
(3) Each initial application for a license shall be made to the cabinet and shall be accompanied by a fee that shall
not exceed administrative costs of the program to the cabinet and shall be renewable annually upon expiration
and reapplication when accompanied by a renewal fee that shall not exceed administrative costs of the
program to the cabinet. Regular licenses and renewals thereof shall expire one (1) year from their effective
date.
(4) No child-care center shall be refused a license or have its license revoked for failure to meet standards set by
the secretary until after the expiration of a period not to exceed six (6) months from the date of the first official
notice that the standards have not been met. If, however, the cabinet has probable cause to believe that an
immediate threat to the public health, safety, or welfare exists, the cabinet may take emergency action pursuant
to KRS 13B.125. All administrative hearings conducted under authority of KRS 199.892 to 199.896 shall be
conducted in accordance with KRS Chapter 13B.
(5) If, upon inspection or investigation, the inspector general finds that a child-care center licensed under this
section has violated the administrative regulations, standards, or requirements of the cabinet, the inspector
general shall issue a statement of deficiency to the center containing:
(a) A statement of fact;
(b) A statement of how an administrative regulation, standard, or requirement of the cabinet was violated;
and
(c) The timeframe, negotiated with the child-care center, within which a violation is to be corrected, except
that a violation that poses an immediate threat to the health, safety, or welfare of children in the center
shall be corrected in no event later than five (5) working days from the date of the statement of
deficiency.
(6) The Cabinet for Health and Family Services, in consultation with the Office of the Inspector General, shall
establish by administrative regulations promulgated in accordance with KRS Chapter 13A an informal dispute
resolution process through which a child-care provider may dispute licensure deficiencies that have an adverse
effect on the child-care provider's license.
(7) A child-care center shall have the right to appeal to the Cabinet for Health and Family Services under KRS
Chapter 13B any action adverse to its license or the assessment of a civil penalty issued by the inspector
general as the result of a violation contained in a statement of deficiency within twenty (20) days of the
issuance of the action or assessment of the civil penalty. An appeal shall not act to stay the correction of a
violation.
(8) In assessing the civil penalty to be levied against a child-care center for a violation contained in a statement of
deficiency issued under this section, the inspector general or the inspector general's designee shall take into
consideration the following factors:
(a) The gravity of the threat to the health, safety, or welfare of children posed by the violation;
(b) The number and type of previous violations of the child-care center; ACTS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2
(c) The reasonable diligence exercised by the child-care center and efforts to correct the violation; and
(d) The amount of assessment necessary to assure immediate and continued compliance.
(9) Upon a child-care center's failure to take action to correct a violation of the administrative regulations,
standards, or requirements of the cabinet contained in a statement of deficiency, or at any time when the
operation of a child-care center poses an immediate threat to the health, safety, or welfare of children in the
center, and the child-care center continues to operate after the cabinet has taken emergency action to deny,
suspend, or revoke its license, the cabinet or the cabinet's designee shall take at least one (1) of the following
actions against the center:
(a) Institute proceedings to obtain an order compelling compliance with the administrative regulations,
standards, and requirements of the cabinet;
(b) Institute injunctive proceedings in Circuit Court to terminate the operation of the center;
(c) Institute action to discontinue payment of child-care subsidies; or
(d) Suspend or revoke the license or impose other penalties provided by law.
(10) Upon request of any person, the cabinet shall provide information regarding the denial, revocation, suspension,
or violation of any type of child-care center license of the operator. Identifying information regarding children
and their families shall remain confidential.
(11) The cabinet shall provide, upon request, public information regarding the inspections of and the plans of
correction for the child-care center within the past year. All information distributed by the cabinet under this
subsection shall include a statement indicating that the reports as provided under this subsection from the past
five (5) years are available from the child-care center upon the parent's, custodian's, guardian's, or other
interested person's request.
(12) All fees collected under the provisions of KRS 199.892 to 199.896 for license and certification applications
shall be paid into the State Treasury and credited to a special fund for the purpose of administering KRS
199.892 to 199.896 including the payment of expenses of and to the participants in child-care workshops. The
funds collected are hereby appropriated for the use of the cabinet. The balance of the special fund shall lapse to
the general fund at the end of each biennium.
(13) Any advertisement for child-care services shall include the address of where the service is being provided.
(14) All inspections of licensed and unlicensed child-care centers by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services
shall be unannounced.
(15) All employees and owners of a child-care center who provide care to children shall demonstrate within the
first three (3) months of employment completion of at least a total of six (6) hours of orientation in the
following areas:
(a) Basic health, safety, and sanitation;
(b) Recognizing and reporting child abuse; and
(c) Developmentally appropriate child-care practice.
(16) All employees and owners of a child-care center who provide care to children shall annually demonstrate to
the department completion of at least six (6) hours of training in child development. These hours shall include
but are not limited to one and one-half (1.5) hours one (1) time every five (5) years of continuing education in
the recognition and prevention of pediatric abusive head trauma, as defined in KRS 620.020. Training in
recognizing pediatric abusive head trauma may be designed in collaboration with organizations and agencies
that specialize in the prevention and recognition of pediatric head trauma approved by the secretary of the
Cabinet for Health and Family Services. The one and one-half (1.5) hours required under this section shall be
included in the current number of required continuing education hours.
(17) The Cabinet for Health and Family Services shall make available either through the development or approval
of a model training curriculum and training materials, including video instructional materials, to cover the
areas specified in subsection (15) of this section. The cabinet shall develop or approve the model training
curriculum and training materials to cover the areas specified in subsection (15) of this section.
(18) Child-care centers licensed pursuant to this section and family child-care homes certified pursuant to KRS
199.8982 shall not use corporal physical discipline, including the use of spanking, shaking, or paddling, as a
means of punishment, discipline, behavior modification, or for any other reason. For the purposes of this CHAPTER 87
Legislative Research Commission PDF Version
3
section, "corporal physical discipline" means the deliberate infliction of physical pain and does not include
spontaneous physical contact that is intended to protect a child from immediate danger.
(19) Child-care centers that provide instructional and educational programs for preschool-aged children that operate
for a maximum of twenty (20) hours per week and that a child attends for no more than fifteen (15) hours per
week shall:
(a) Notify the cabinet in writing that the center is operating;
(b) Meet all child-care center licensure requirements and administrative regulations related to employee
background checks;
(c) Meet all child-care center licensure requirements and administrative regulations related to tuberculosis
screenings; and
(d) Be exempt from all other child-care center licensure requirements and administrative regulations.
(20) Child-care centers that provide instructional and educational programs for preschool-aged children that operate
for a maximum of twenty (20) hours per week and that a child attends for no more than ten (10) hours per
week shall be exempt from all child-care licensure requirements and administrative regulations.
(21) Instructional programs for school-age children that offer, whether free or for a fee, recreational, educational,
sports training, or vacation programs that include but are not limited to martial arts and dance programs to
children under eighteen (18) years of age, that a child attends outside the presence of his or her parent or
legal guardian, shall be exempt from all child-care licensure administrative regulations if the following
criteria are met:
(a) The program provides primary[direct] instruction in a [single ]skill, talent, ability, expertise, or
proficiency;
(b) [The program does not provide services or offerings that are not directly related to the single talent,
ability, expertise, or proficiency;
(c) ]The program operates outside the time period when school is in session, including before or after
school hours, holidays, school breaks, teaching planning days, or summer vacation;
(c)[(d)] The program does not advertise or otherwise represent that the program is a licensed child-care
center or that the program offers child-care services;
(d)[(e)] The program informs the parent or guardian:
1. That the program is not licensed by the cabinet; and
2. About the physical risks a child may face while participating in the program; and
(e)[(f)] The program conducts the following background checks for all program employees and
volunteers who work with children:
1. Check of the child abuse and neglect records maintained by the cabinet; and
2. In-state criminal background information check from the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet or
Administrative Office of the Courts.
(22) Directors and employees of child-care centers in a position that involves supervisory or disciplinary power
over a minor, or direct contact with a minor, shall submit to a criminal record check in accordance with KRS
199.8965.
(23) A director or employee of a child-care center may be employed on a probationary status pending receipt of the
criminal background check. Application for the criminal record of a probationary employee shall be made no
later than the date probationary employment begins.
(24) The cabinet shall promulgate administrative regulations to identify emergency care providers who provide
essential child-care services during an identified state of emergency.
(25) Notwithstanding any state law, administrative regulation, executive order, or executive directive to the
contrary, during the 2020 or 2021 state of emergency declared by the Governor in response to COVID-19,
including but not limited to any mutated strain of the COVID-19 virus, the cabinet shall not establish any ACTS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY 4
restrictions on capacity for class or group size or the ability to combine classes and groups for capacity limits
in the morning or afternoon that is below the number that was in effect on February 1, 2020.
Section 2. Whereas the Commonwealth of Kentucky has a paramount interest in providing for the safety of
children, an emergency is declared to exist, and this Act takes effect upon its passage and approval by the Governor
or upon its otherwise becoming a law.
Signed by Governor April 5, 2024.