By: Paxton S.B. No. 1098
(In the Senate - Filed February 22, 2023; March 9, 2023,
read first time and referred to Committee on Health & Human
Services; April 24, 2023, reported adversely, with favorable
Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 6, Nays 0;
April 24, 2023, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1098 By: Hughes
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the rights of a parent or guardian with a child in
certain child-care facilities.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. This Act may be cited as the Kairo and the Kids'
Law.
SECTION 2. Subchapter C, Chapter 42, Human Resources Code,
is amended by adding Section 42.04271 to read as follows:
Sec. 42.04271. RIGHTS OF PARENT OR GUARDIAN WITH CHILD IN
CERTAIN CHILD-CARE FACILITIES. (a) A parent or guardian of a child
at a nonresidential child-care facility has the right to:
(1) enter and examine the child-care facility during
the facility's hours of operation without advance notice;
(2) file a complaint against the child-care facility;
(3) review the child-care facility's publicly
accessible records;
(4) review the child-care facility's written records
concerning the parent's or guardian's child;
(5) receive from the child-care facility the
commission's inspection reports for the child-care facility and
information about how to access the child-care facility's
compliance history online;
(6) have the child-care facility comply with a court
order preventing another parent or guardian from visiting or
removing the parent's or guardian's child;
(7) be provided the contact information for the
division responsible for regulating the child-care facility,
including the division's name, address, and phone number;
(8) inspect any video recordings of an alleged
incident of abuse or neglect involving the parent's or guardian's
child, provided that:
(A) video recordings of the alleged incident are
available;
(B) the parent or guardian of the child is only
allowed to retain parts of the video recording depicting the
parent's or guardian's child; and
(C) the parent or guardian of any other child
captured in the video recording receives notice from the facility
under Subsection (b);
(9) obtain a copy of the child-care facility's
policies and procedures handbook;
(10) review, on the request of the parent or guardian,
the facility's:
(A) staff training records; and
(B) any in-house staff training curriculum used
by the facility; and
(11) be free from any retaliatory action by the
child-care facility for exercising any of the parent's or
guardian's rights.
(b) Before allowing a parent or guardian to inspect a video
recording under Subsection (a)(8), a nonresidential child-care
facility must provide notice to the parent or guardian of any other
child captured in the video recording.
(c) This section does not affect the ability of a law
enforcement agency or the department to access a video recording as
part of an investigation of an incident depicted in the video
recording.
(d) A nonresidential child-care facility shall provide the
parent or guardian of the child with a written copy of the rights
listed in Subsection (a) not later than the child's first day at the
facility.
SECTION 3. Not later than September 30, 2023, a
nonresidential child-care facility shall provide the information
required by Section 42.04271, Human Resources Code, as added by
this Act, to the parent or guardian of each child enrolled at the
facility on the effective date of this Act.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.
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