HB76 - Child Care Safety Act Summary

• Establishes the Child Care Safety Act and revises the definition of "day care center" to explicitly include preschools, pre-kindergartens, and nursery schools.

• Removes the blanket exemption from licensure for child care facilities operating as part of church or nonprofit religious schools, but allows exemption only if the facility receives no state/federal funds, operates as a non-profit, and has no children receiving state child care subsidies.

• Requires exempt faith-based child care facilities to maintain fire and health inspections, provide criminal background check information for employees, submit annual documentation to the Department of Human Resources, and post notice that they are not state-regulated.

• Requires new criminal background checks using the Alabama State Law Enforcement Agency (replacing Department of Public Safety) and expands criminal history review requirements to include violent offenses and crimes against children.

• Provides churches and religious nonprofit schools operating preschools without licenses 90 days to comply with licensure requirements, with an exception that they need not meet building design/fixture standards for existing construction; facilities other than exempt ones must be licensed by August 1, 2019.