Idaho Amends Daycare Laws

People had long been complaining about the statedaycare center license to install an adequate fire
of childcare centers in Idaho, one of the lowestand smoke alarms, a functional telephone located
ranked in the nation, where smaller care centerson the daycare premises during the hours of
are not even required to have a workingoperation, and adequate fire extinguishers. There
telephone or smoke detector and where theprovisions were non-existent before the
child-staff ratio is far from being ideal.amendments were incorporated.
In response to the complaints and dissatisfactionProvisions were also included to provide additional
of the population, the Idaho Senate votedprotection to the children who are under the care
unanimously to approve a daycare licensing bill.of a daycare center such as safeguards on
Senate Bill 1112 was extensively amended by thefirearms or other weapons which are stored on
House, causing many senators to pose strongthe premises of the daycare center and provision
objections to the House changes. But because theof safety measures with regards to pools, hot
bill was better than what the state currently has,tubs, ponds, and other bodies of water within the
the Senate approved it despite their regretsdaycare facility premises.
about the House amendments.There are also added provisions on the allowable
The Senate Bill 1112 as amended makes it thechildren to staff ratio that are intended to provide
policy of the state of Idaho to establish abetter care of the children in the facility. Only
minimum statewide system for the protection ofadults providing direct supervision to the children
children in daycare facilities. The Bill changed theshall be counted as staff for purposes of
minimum number of children required for licensingcomputing child-staff ratio.
from four to seven and some of the financialThe amended Senate Bill provides for stringent
burden for obtaining a license had been shiftedhealth standards for daycare facilities in the state
from the provider to the state.ranging from food preparation, diaper changing
Some sectors in the Idaho Senate claimed thatand sleep areas for the children, observation of
the amendments to the Bill changed the focuspersonal hygiene practices, source of water
from the children to the providers. While thesupply, cleaning supplies and storage of hazardous
previous focus was on how to make daycarematerials, and prohibition for smoking or alcohol
safe for children, the focus now is how to makeconsumption in the premises of the daycare
daycare easy for providers. But this is refuted byfacility.
the proponents of the amendments. They claimMembers of the Idaho Senate foresee more
that the amended Bill provides for manychanges to be adopted on laws governing
protections and safeguards for the children thatchildcare in the state but they feel that they need
were non-existent under the previous legislations.to pass the amended version because it is the
For example, amendments to Section 39-1109 ofbest possible law for the state under the present
the Idaho Code now requires applicants forcircumstances.