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1996 SESSION


CHAPTER 492
An Act to amend and reenact §§ 2.1-1.7, 2.1-20.4, 2.1-51.15, 9-6.25:2, 9-268, 9-271, 9-291.1, 63.1-196.5, 63.1-211.2, and 63.1-314.8 of the Code of Virginia and to repeal Chapter 32 (§§ 9-281 through 9-291) of Title 9 of the Code of Virginia, abolishing the Council on Child Day Care and Early Childhood Programs.
[H 569]
Approved April 1, 1996

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§ 2.1-1.7, 2.1-20.4, 2.1-51.15, 9-6.25:2, 9-268, 9-271, 9-291.1, 63.1-196.5, 63.1-211.2, and 63.1-314.8 of the Code of Virginia are amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 2.1-1.7. State councils.

A. There shall be, in addition to such others as may be established by law, the following permanent collegial bodies either affiliated with more than one agency or independent of an agency within the executive branch:

Adult Education and Literacy, Virginia Advisory Council for

Agricultural Council, Virginia

Alcohol and Drug Abuse Problems, Governor's Council on

Apprenticeship Council

Blue Ridge Regional Education and Training Council

Child Day Care and Early Childhood Programs, Virginia Council on

Child Day-Care Council

Citizens' Advisory Council on Furnishing and Interpreting the Executive Mansion

Commonwealth Competition Council

Commonwealth's Attorneys' Services Council

Developmental Disabilities Planning Council, Virginia

Disability Services Council

Equal Employment Opportunity Council, Virginia

Health Services Cost Review Council, Virginia

Housing for the Disabled, Interagency Coordinating Council on

Human Rights, Council on

Human Services Information and Referral Advisory Council

Indians, Council on

Interagency Coordinating Council, Virginia

Job Training Coordinating Council, Governor's

Land Evaluation Advisory Council

Local Debt, State Council on

Maternal and Child Health Council

Military Advisory Council, Virginia

Needs of Handicapped Persons, Overall Advisory Council on the

Prevention, Virginia Council on Coordinating

Public Records Advisory Council, State

Rate-setting for Children's Facilities, Interdepartmental Council on

Revenue Estimates, Advisory Council on

Southside Virginia Marketing Council

Specialized Transportation Council

State Health Benefits Advisory Council

Status of Women, Council on the

Technology Council, Virginia

Virginia Business-Education Partnership Program, Advisory Council on the

Virginia Recycling Markets Development Council.

B. Notwithstanding the definition for "council" as provided in § 2.1-1.2, the following entities shall be referred to as councils:

Council on Information Management

Higher Education, State Council of

Independent Living Council, Statewide

Rehabilitation Advisory Council, Statewide

Rehabilitation Advisory Council for the Blind, Statewide

World Trade Council, Virginia.

§ 2.1-20.4. Bodies receiving compensation.

A. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the following commissions, boards, etc., shall be those which receive compensation from state funds pursuant to § 2.1-20.3:

Accountancy, Board for

Agriculture and Consumer Services, Board of

Air Pollution Control Board, State

Airports Authority, Virginia

Apprenticeship Council

Architects, Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors and Landscape Architects, State Board for

Athletic Board, Virginia

Auctioneers Board

Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology, Board of

Aviation Board, Virginia

Barbers, Board for

Branch Pilots, Board for

Building Code Technical Review Board, State

Charitable Gaming Commission

Chesapeake Bay Local Assistance Board

Child Day Care and Early Childhood Programs, Virginia Council on

Coal Mining Examiners, Board of

College Building Authority

Commonwealth Competition Council

Commonwealth Transportation Board

Conservation and Development of Public Beaches, Board on

Conservation and Recreation, Board of

Contractors, Board for

Correctional Education, Board of

Corrections, Board of

Cosmetology, Board for

Criminal Justice Services Board

Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing, Advisory Board for the

Dentistry, Board of

Education, State Board of

Education Loan Authority, Virginia - Board of Directors

Elections, State Board of

Environment, Council on the

Fire Services Board, Virginia

Funeral Directors and Embalmers, Board of

Game and Inland Fisheries, Board of

Geology, Board for

Health, State Board of

Health Professions, Board of

Hearing Aid Specialists, Board for

Higher Education, State Council of

Historic Resources, Board of

Housing and Community Development, Board of

Information Management, Council on

Marine Resources Commission

Medical Assistance Services, Board of

Medical Complaint Investigation Committee

Medicine, Board of

Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services Board, State

Milk Commission

Mineral Mining Examiners, Board of

Motor Vehicle Dealer Board

Nursing, Board of

Nursing Home Administrators, Board of

Occupational Therapy, Advisory Board on

Oil and Gas Conservation Board, Virginia

Opticians, Board for

Optometry, Board of

Pesticide Control Board

Pharmacy, Board of

Physical Therapy, Advisory Board on

Port Authority, Board of Commissioners of the Virginia

Professional and Occupational Regulation, Board for

Professional Counselors, Board of

Professional Soil Scientists, Board for

Psychology, Board of

Public Defender Commission

Public School Authority, Virginia

Purchases and Supply Appeals Board

Real Estate Appraiser Board

Real Estate Board

Recreation Specialists, Board of

Rehabilitative Services, Board of

Respiratory Therapy, Advisory Board on

Safety and Health Codes Board

Seed Potato Board

Social Services, Board of

Social Work, Board of

State Health Department Sewage Handling and Disposal Appeal Review Board

Substance Abuse Certification Board

Surface Mining Review, Board of

Treasury Board

Veterans' Affairs, Board on

Veterinary Medicine, Board of

Virginia Board for Asbestos Licensing

Virginia Health Planning Board

Virginia Manufactured Housing Board

Virginia Veterans Care Center Board of Trustees

Virginia Waste Management Board

Visually Handicapped, Virginia Board for the

(Contingently repealed) Waste Management Facility Operators, Board for

Water Control Board, State

Waterworks and Wastewater Works Operators, Board for

Well Review Board, Virginia

Youth and Family Services, State Board of.

B. Individual members of boards, commissions, committees, councils, and other similar bodies appointed at the state level and receiving compensation for their services on January 1, 1980, but who will not receive compensation under the provisions of this article, shall continue to receive compensation at the January 1, 1980, rate until such member's current term expires.

§ 2.1-51.15. Agencies for which responsible.

The Secretary of Health and Human Resources shall be responsible to the Governor for the following agencies: Department of Health, Department for the Visually Handicapped, Department of Health Professions, Department for the Aging, Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services, Department of Rehabilitative Services, Department of Social Services, Virginia Health Services Cost Review Council, Department for Rights of Virginians With Disabilities, Department of Medical Assistance Services, the Council on Indians, Governor's Employment and Training Department, Child Day-Care Council, Virginia Department for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing, and the Virginia Council on Coordinating Prevention and the Virginia Council on Child Day Care and Early Childhood Programs. The Governor may, by executive order, assign any other state executive agency to the Secretary of Health and Human Resources, or reassign any agency listed above to another secretary.

§ 9-6.25:2. Policy boards, commissions and councils.

There shall be, in addition to such others as may be designated in accordance with § 9-6.25, the following policy boards, commissions and councils:

Apprenticeship Council

Athletic Board

Auctioneers Board

Blue Ridge Regional Education and Training Council

Board for Accountancy

Board for Architects, Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors and Landscape Architects

Board for Barbers

Board for Contractors

Board for Cosmetology

Board for Geology

Board for Hearing Aid Specialists

Board for Opticians

Board for Professional and Occupational Regulation

Board for Professional Soil Scientists

Board for Waterworks and Wastewater Works Operators

Board of Agriculture and Consumer Services

Board of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology

Board of Coal Mining Examiners

Board of Conservation and Recreation

Board of Correctional Education

Board of Dentistry

Board of Directors, Virginia Student Assistance Authorities

Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers

Board of Health Professions

Board of Historic Resources

Board of Housing and Community Development

Board of Medical Assistance Services

Board of Medicine

Board of Mineral Mining Examiners

Board of Nursing

Board of Nursing Home Administrators

Board of Optometry

Board of Pharmacy

Board of Professional Counselors

Board of Psychology

Board of Recreation Specialists

Board of Social Services

Board of Social Work

Board of Surface Mining Review

Board of Veterinary Medicine

Board on Conservation and Development of Public Beaches

Chesapeake Bay Local Assistance Board

Child Day Care and Early Childhood Programs, Virginia Council on

Child Day-Care Council

Commission on Local Government

Commonwealth Transportation Board

Council on Human Rights

Council on Information Management

Criminal Justice Services Board

Disability Services Council

Farmers Market Board, Virginia

Immigrant and Refugee Policy Council

Interdepartmental Council on Rate-setting for Children's Facilities

Library Board, The Library of Virginia

Marine Resources Commission

Milk Commission

Pesticide Control Board

Real Estate Appraiser Board

Real Estate Board

Reciprocity Board, Department of Motor Vehicles

Safety and Health Codes Board

Seed Potato Board

Southside Virginia Marketing Council

Specialized Transportation Council

State Air Pollution Control Board

State Board of Corrections

State Board of Elections

State Board of Health

State Board of Youth and Family Services

State Health Department, Sewage Handling and Disposal Appeal Review Board

State Library Board

State Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services Board

State Water Control Board

Substance Abuse Certification Board

Treasury Board, The, Department of the Treasury

Virginia Aviation Board

Virginia Board for Asbestos Licensing

Virginia Fire Services Board

Virginia Gas and Oil Board

Virginia Health Planning Board

Virginia Health Services Cost Review Council

Virginia Manufactured Housing Board

Virginia Parole Board

Virginia Public Telecommunications Board

Virginia Soil and Water Conservation Board

Virginia Voluntary Formulary Board

Virginia Waste Management Board

Virginia World Trade Council.

(Contingently repealed) Waste Management Facility Operators, Board for.

§ 9-268. Virginia Council on Coordinating Prevention; members; terms.

The Virginia Council on Coordinating Prevention is hereby established. There shall be one member each from the Advisory Board for the Aging, Council on Child Day Care and Early Childhood Programs, Board of Correctional Education, State Board of Corrections, State Board of Youth and Family Services, Criminal Justice Services Board, State Board of Education, State Board of Health, Board of Medical Assistance Services, State Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services Board, Virginia Board for People with Disabilities, and Board of Social Services, to be appointed by the chairman of the respective board or council. Persons appointed to the Council by virtue of their membership on a board or council listed above may serve on the Council only while a member of the respective board or council and may not serve on the Council for more than two consecutive terms.

Five members shall be representatives of the private sector who are interested in prevention, to be appointed by the Governor. Representatives of the private sector shall serve for terms of four years, except that two of the five members initially appointed shall be appointed for three-year terms. Members appointed to the Council by the Governor shall not be eligible to serve more than two consecutive full terms.

The Secretary of Health and Human Resources shall be an ex officio member of the Council. The Governor shall appoint a chairman from the membership of the Council.

§ 9-271. Comprehensive Prevention Plan.

A Comprehensive Prevention Plan shall be jointly developed biennially by the following agencies:

Department for the Aging, Council on Child Day Care and Early Childhood Programs, Department of Correctional Education, Department of Corrections, Department of Youth and Family Services, Department of Criminal Justice Services, Department of Education, Department of Health, Department of Medical Assistance Services, Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services, Department for Rights of Virginians With Disabilities, and Department of Social Services. The Secretary of Health and Human Resources shall designate an agency to coordinate development of the Plan. The Comprehensive Prevention Plan shall coordinate and integrate the planning efforts of the state agencies listed above and the private sector in order to provide a broad prevention agenda for the Commonwealth, enable communities to design and implement prevention programs that meet the identified needs of the community and facilitate the development of interagency and broad-based community involvement in the development of prevention programs. The Comprehensive Prevention Plan shall identify priority prevention issues and challenges, prevention goals and objectives and public and private strategies to achieve goals and objectives. For the purposes of the Plan, prevention activities, issues and programs shall be those activities which promote the objective identified in subsection B of § 9-270. The Plan with a cost analysis of the proposed strategies shall be submitted to the House Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions and the Senate Committees on Rehabilitation and Social Services and Education and Health for the purpose of analysis, review and comment prior to implementation.

§ 9-291.1. (Effective until July 1, 1996) Commission created; powers and duties; appointment and terms of members; vacancies, etc.

A. There is hereby created the Commission on Early Childhood and Child Day Care Programs, hereinafter referred to as the Commission. The purpose of the Commission shall be, through its powers and performance of duties set forth in this chapter, to study and provide recommendations addressing the need for quality developmental early childhood and child day care programs and services. In so doing, it shall encourage the development of uniform policies and services to ensure the availability of quality, affordable and accessible early childhood and child day care programs and provide a forum for continuing the review and study of such programs and services. In addition to its own proposals, the Commission shall coordinate the proposals and recommendations of all commissions and agencies as to legislation affecting such programs and services.

B. The Commission shall be composed of twenty nineteen members. The first members of the Commission so to serve shall be the members of the Joint Commission on Health Care Studying Early Childhood and Day Care Programs who served from January 1, 1990, to December 31, 1990. Thereafter, Appointments shall be made as follows: seven members from the House of Delegates to be appointed by the Speaker of the House; four members from the Senate to be appointed by the Senate Committee on Privileges and Elections; and three citizens to be appointed by the Governor, one of whom shall be a representative of the business community, and one of whom shall be a representative of local government. In addition, the Commissioner of Social Services, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Director of the State Council of Higher Education, the Chancellor of the Virginia Community College System, the Executive Director of the Virginia Council on Child Day Care and Early Childhood Programs, and the Chairman of the Child Day Care Council shall serve as ex officio members with full voting privileges. The members of the Commission shall elect a chairman and a vice-chairman annually.

All such members of the Commission shall serve until the expiration of their terms of office or until their successors shall qualify. However, the appointments of citizen members shall be for a term of five years. Subsequent appointments shall be made for similar terms, and vacancies shall be filled for the unexpired terms by the persons authorized to make the original appointments.

Commission members shall be compensated as specified in § 14.1-18, and shall be reimbursed for expenses incurred in the performance of their duties.

C. The Commission shall have the power and duty to:

1. Determine the number of at-risk four-year-olds in the Commonwealth and the number of such children who are not enrolled in developmental early childhood or child day care programs;

2. Determine the number of school age children in the Commonwealth and the extent of the need for public school day care programs;

3. Develop a mechanism for the phased integration of and funding for quality developmental early childhood and child day care programs;

4. Assess the need for additional child day care services, and the types of program options desired by families, including the need for employer-sponsored child day care services for state employees;

5. Recommend ways to promote significant parental, state and local, public-private sector, and corporate involvement in and support of early childhood and child day care programs;

6. Monitor and evaluate the implementation of programs to provide appropriate education and training for early childhood professionals and child day care providers;

7. Recommend eligibility criteria for participation in and appropriate ways by which early childhood and day care programs may be provided which minimize the potentiality for competition between the Commonwealth and private day care providers;

8. Review the status of agency efforts to promote the coordination and dissemination of child care information and day care services;

9. Develop incentives to promote the recruitment and retention of qualified early childhood professionals and child day care providers;

10. Review the provisions of and monitor the implementation of the Family Support Act of 1988, the Child Care Act, P.L. 101-508, the Head Start Authorization Increase, P.L. 101-120, and such other federal legislation and regulations concerning early childhood and child day care programs as may be enacted, and recommend such amendments to relevant state statutes as may be necessary to ensure consistency between state and federal law and regulations;

11. Analyze the several policy and legal issues related to early childhood and day care programs, e.g., establishment of entitlement programs, effect on the compulsory school attendance laws, modifications in licensing requirements, and program content, and determine the need for the development of appropriate policy or changes in current state policy and laws pertaining to such issues;

12. Determine the appropriate mechanism for and level of funding necessary to assist low income families and the working poor in obtaining quality, affordable child day care services, including the impact of any state, local, or federal fiscal exigency on early childhood and child day care programs and services;

13. Coordinate the revision and implementation of child day care licensing laws and review such related matters as may be referred to it;

14. Monitor and coordinate health and early intervention programs for young children and such children with special needs to ensure the delivery of appropriate services; and

15. Recommend any statutory, regulatory, or policy changes as it deems necessary to ensure the viability of quality, affordable and accessible early childhood and child day care programs.

D. The Division of Legislative Services shall provide such staff support, both administrative and professional, as the Commission may require. The Commission may request and shall receive from every department, division, board, bureau, commission, authority or other agency created by this Commonwealth, or to which the Commonwealth is party, or from any political subdivision of the Commonwealth, cooperation and assistance as it may deem necessary in the performance of its duties.

E. The Commission shall report its findings and recommendations regarding early childhood and child day care programs and services to the 1992 Session of the General Assembly, and thereafter, report annually on the status and needs concerning such programs and services in the Commonwealth to the Governor and the General Assembly.

F. This section shall expire on July 1, 1996.

§ 63.1-196.5. Application fees; regulations and schedules; use of fees; certain facilities exempt.

The State Board is authorized to establish regulations and schedules for fees to be charged for processing applications for licenses to operate child welfare agencies. Such schedules shall specify minimum and maximum fees and, where appropriate, gradations based on the capacity for children of the facility making application. Such fees shall be used for development and delivery of training for operators and staffs of child welfare agencies. These fees shall not be applicable to facilities operated by federal entities.

The State Board, in consultation with the Child Day Care Council and the Council on Child Day Care and Early Childhood Programs, shall develop training programs for operators and staffs of child care agencies. Such programs shall include formal and informal training offered by institutions of higher education, state and national associations representing child care professionals, local and regional early childhood educational organizations and licensed child care providers. To the maximum extent possible, the State Board shall ensure that all provider interests are represented and that no single approach to training will be given preference.

§ 63.1-211.2. Public funds to be withheld for serious or persistent violations.

The State Board of Social Services, and the State Board of Education, and the Virginia Council on Child Day Care and Early Childhood Programs may adopt policies, as permitted by state and federal law, to restrict the eligibility of a licensed child welfare agency to receive or continue to receive funds when such agency is found to be in serious or persistent violation of regulations.

§ 63.1-314.8. Technical Assistance Committee created; duties; membership.

A. There is hereby created a Technical Assistance Committee, which shall provide technical and support services on the operations of the information and referral system as the Council may deem appropriate and shall advise the Council in performing its powers and duties.

B. The membership of the Technical Assistance Committee shall include but not be limited to:

1. Two directors of local departments of public welfare or social services, one serving a rural and one an urban locality, to be appointed by the Commissioner of Social Services; and

2. The Commissioners or Directors, or their designees, of the Department of Medical Assistance Services; Department of Health; Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services; Department of Rehabilitative Services; Department for the Aging; Department for the Visually Handicapped; Department for Rights of Virginians With Disabilities; Department of Information Technology; Department for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing; Department of Health Professions; Department of Corrections; Department of Education; Department of Youth and Family Services; and the Virginia Employment Commission; and

3. The Director of the Virginia Council on Child Day Care and Early Childhood Programs.

2. That Chapter 32 (§§ 9-281 through 9-291) of Title 9 of the Code of Virginia is repealed.