Kansas Health Institute | Information For Policy Makers. Health for Kansans.

TOPEKA — There remain conflicting signals about whether the House will vote on a bill to tighten the regulation of day care homes in Kansas.

The Senate on Saturday approved 29-9 a compromise version of Substitute for House Bill 2536, but House leaders say they’re not sure when or if they will call for a vote.

The cloudy prospects for the bill concern the parents of two toddlers who died in day care settings who have closely monitored the legislative debate.

“We’re frustrated,” said Alecia Patrick, standing beside her husband, Steve. “We’re trying to keep our faith in the process. And we’re hoping for the best.”

House Speaker Mike O’Neal, R-Hutchinson, said he had sympathy for the parents but said several of his members had concerns about the bill, which calls for the inspection and licensure of all day care homes in the state.

“There are many aspects of that bill that are troubling,” O’Neal said, declining to be more specific. “We want to get this right. We don’t want it to be read that we aren’t sympathetic because we are.”

Now, about 2,500 of the state’s 6,700 day care homes are not routinely inspected. The measure also directs the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to develop and enforce regulations that spell out how day care providers should supervise active and napping children under age 5. And it requires KDHE to develop an online registry for parents to use in researching and selecting day care providers.

Supporters said that if KDHE and the organizations it contracts with to perform inspections − typically cities and counties − raised their fees to the maximum amount allowed under existing regulations enough money would be generated to cover the cost of annually inspecting all day care homes in the state.

“We are not giving up,” said Shannon Cotsoradis, of Kansas Action for Children, the nonprofit organization heading up the lobbying effort for the bill. “An agreement was reached. A conference committee report was signed. What remains to be seen is whether the House leadership acts in good faith.”

The National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies recently ranked Kansas 47th for the strength of its child care center oversight and regulation. In the past three years, according to KAC, 30 Kansas children have died in child care settings and 72 have sustained serious injuries.

House Health and Human Services Committee Chair Brenda Landwehr, R-Wichita, who convened several days of hearings on the bill before the start of the wrap-up session, said she remains optimistic that the House will vote on the measure.

“It will run,” she said. “I think we’ve got a good bill.”

Sen. Laura Kelly, D-Topeka, a bill supporter, said she was prepared to urge leaders of a coalition of Democrats and moderate Republicans who appear to control the fate of budget and tax bills to hold off acting on them until a commitment can be secured to consider the day care measure in the House.

Before they take final votes on the budget and tax bills, coalition leaders also want to approve measures that would:

• Enact a primary seat belt law and make the state eligible to retain $11.2 million in federal funds.

• Authorize an $8.2 billion transportation plan.

• Establish a "rainy day" fund to lessen the need for budget cuts during future economic downturns.