[Vision2020] Latest Push for Day Care Regulations Dies

[Tom Hansen]

This goes beyond lame.

With a recommended 150-dollar increase for vehicle registration Governor 
Otter cares more for Idaho's public roads than he does its children.

Idaho's family values at work, righ Gov?

>From today's (March 4, 2008) Spokesman Review -

----------------------------------------------------

Latest push for day care regulations dies 
Committee leader cites 'unfunded mandate'

BOISE – Legislation to impose at least minimal regulations on all Idaho 
day cares, including those caring for four or more unrelated children, 
died in committee Monday for the fourth straight year.

"It's frustrating, but the issue is not going away," said Rep. George 
Sayler, D-Coeur d'Alene. "People still care about their children's safety. 
We're going to keep working on it."

This year's bill was scheduled for a hearing – but no vote – in the Senate 
Health and Welfare Committee, after committee members and Chairwoman Patti 
Anne Lodge, R-Huston, raised concerns about some provisions of the bill. 
Lodge said the measure failed to adequately account for the cost of 
inspecting smaller Idaho day cares, which now go unregulated if they have 
fewer than seven unrelated children.

"My only promise to my constituents was that I would be mindful of their 
tax dollars," Lodge said, adding, "especially this year." She said the 
bill as written imposed an "unfunded mandate" on public health districts 
to conduct additional inspections.

Last year, the House Health and Welfare Committee rejected the bill after 
members said mothers should stay home with their children. 

Sayler and Sen. Tim Corder, R-Mountain Home, sponsored the bill this year 
along with a dozen legislative co-sponsors. It would have required 
criminal background checks, set a minimum age of 18 for day care operators 
and set basic health and safety requirements, such as banning smoking, 
drinking and loaded guns on the premises during day care operating hours. 
It also would have required that pools or ponds be fenced, set minimum 
child-staff ratios, and required one person on the premises to be CPR 
certified. 

"I honestly think it's a good bill," Sayler said. "It has some 
philosophical opposition, but realistically it will do a much better job 
of protecting children without imposing much of a burden on anyone."

Sen. Jim Hammond, R-Post Falls, said he wanted the bill to include 
adequate enforcement. "I was a single parent with two preschoolers," he 
said. If the state sets standards but doesn't adequately enforce them, he 
said, "How much have we really achieved by that other than that you've 
given me a false sense of security?"

Sen. Denton Darrington, R-Declo, said he wanted proof that there are 
problems in small day care centers. Backers of the bill brought lists of 
complaints, injuries and incidents from around the state, but said there's 
no central source for such data, because there's no licensing.

"This is a chicken and the egg thing," Corder told the committee. "We need 
the data before we can license, but we need licensing before we can get 
the data."

A half-dozen Idaho cities, including Coeur d'Alene, have passed their own 
local day care licensing laws. Corder noted that when the city of Ammon, 
in eastern Idaho, recently enacted a day care licensing law, 19 people 
applied – and four were rejected because they couldn't pass criminal 
background checks.

"They can't pass background checks, and yet we allow them to take care of 
children, we allow that," he told the committee.

----------------------------------------------------

Well, at elast it will keep the pedophiles off the streets, huh?

Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"People who ridicule others while hiding behind anonymous monikers in chat-
room forums are neither brave nor clever." 

- Latah County Sheriff Wayne Rausch (August 21,
2007)

---------------------------------------------
This message was sent by First Step Internet.
           http://www.fsr.com/