S.B. No. 708
AN ACT
relating to collection and use of child safety data for licensed
day-care centers.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter C, Chapter 42, Human Resources Code,
is amended by adding Section 42.0412 to read as follows:
Sec. 42.0412. COLLECTION OF LICENSED DAY-CARE CENTER DATA.
(a) In this section, "group of children" and "specified age" are
determined by the formula provided in the commission's minimum
standards for child-care centers.
(b) The commission, in collaboration with the department
and using existing resources, shall collect, compile, and publish
on the commission's Internet website the following data aggregated
by child age on reported incidents in licensed day-care centers
that threaten or impair the basic health, safety, or welfare of a
child:
(1) the number of incidents investigated by the
commission or department and assigned the commission's highest
priority;
(2) the number of incidents investigated by the
commission or department and assigned the commission's
second-highest priority;
(3) the number of violations;
(4) the number of confirmed serious injuries to
children; and
(5) the number of child fatalities.
(c) During each monitoring inspection of a licensed
day-care center the commission conducts, the commission, using
existing resources, shall collect the following data for each group
of children four years of age and younger in the day-care center:
(1) the specified age of the children in the group;
(2) the number of children in the group; and
(3) the number of caregivers supervising the children
in the group.
(c-1) The commission, using existing resources, shall
collect and publish on the commission's Internet website data on
the total number of employees who left employment with each
licensed day-care center during the preceding calendar year.
(d) The commission shall make the data collected under this
section available to persons researching the factors related to
child injury, maltreatment, and death in licensed day-care centers
on request.
(e) The commission, using existing resources, shall provide
an annual report to the legislature that includes:
(1) the number of confirmed serious injuries and
fatalities for children four years of age and younger, aggregated
by the age of the injured or deceased child, including information
collected by the department, that occurred:
(A) at each licensed day-care center; and
(B) at a location other than a licensed day-care
center;
(2) the priority assigned to the investigation
conducted by the commission or department in response to an
incident that resulted in a serious injury or child fatality;
(3) the number of investigations conducted by the
commission or department at each licensed day-care center involving
a child four years of age or younger that were assigned the highest
priority or second-highest priority, aggregated by the age of the
youngest affected child;
(4) the number of violations the commission found at
each licensed day-care center during investigations described by
Subdivision (3); and
(5) a comparison on whether children under the
supervision of a licensed day-care center are more likely than
children outside the supervision of a licensed day-care center to
suffer a serious injury or death.
(f) The commission, in collaboration with the department
and using existing resources, shall research, collect, compile, and
publish on the commission's Internet website, in a way that allows
meaningful comparison on a pro-rata basis of the relative frequency
of each event included in the information required under Subsection
(b)(4) and (5), the following data aggregated by child age
regarding incidents at a location other than a licensed day-care
center that threaten or impair the basic health, safety, or welfare
of a child:
(1) the number of confirmed serious injuries to
children; and
(2) the number of child fatalities.
(g) The commission may collaborate with one or more state
agencies to perform a duty under Subsections (e) and (f).
SECTION 2. Section 42.042, Human Resources Code, is amended
by adding Subsection (m-1) to read as follows:
(m-1) Not later than January 1, 2021, the executive
commissioner shall review the data collected under Section 42.0412
and prepare and submit to the legislature a report that includes
legislative and regulatory recommendations by age group to enhance
child safety. This subsection expires September 1, 2023.
SECTION 3. Notwithstanding Section 42.0412(d), Human
Resources Code, as added by this Act, the Health and Human Services
Commission is not required to comply with that subsection until
January 31, 2020.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2019.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 708 passed the Senate on
May 1, 2019, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 1; and that the
Senate concurred in House amendments on May 23, 2019, by the
following vote: Yeas 28, Nays 3.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 708 passed the House, with
amendments, on May 17, 2019, by the following vote: Yeas 137,
Nays 9, one present not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
______________________________
Date
______________________________
Governor