Amendment #758 to H3800

Department of Early Education and Care Background Checks

Representatives Khan of Newton, Ehrlich of Marblehead, Lewis of Framingham, McKenna of Webster, Robinson of Framingham and Keefe of Worcester move to amend the bill by inserting after section 58 the following section:- “SECTION XX. (a) There shall be an advisory committee to determine the impact of the department of early education and care’s background record check system and processes, hereinafter referred to as the advisory committee. The Secretary of the executive office of education shall serve as chair for the purpose of reviewing the impact of Chapter 202 of the Acts of 2018 and the promulgated and proposed amendments to 606 CMR 14.00.

(b) The advisory committee shall consist of: the secretary of executive office of health and human services or designee, the secretary of the executive office of education or designee, the commissioner of the department of early education and care or a designee, the executive director of the Children’s League of Massachusetts or designee, the executive director of the Providers’ Council or designee, the executive director of the Association for Behavioral Healthcare or a designee, the executive director of the Massachusetts Association of 766 Approved Private Schools or designee and the executive director of the Massachusetts Association of Early Education and Care or designee.

(c) The department of early education and care shall track the following indicators disaggregated

by race, gender and age, when appropriate:

(i) the number of applications received;

(ii) the number of applications referred for a discretionary review;

(iii) the number of applications approved after a discretionary review;

(iv) the number of applications denied as a result of the background record check;

(v) the average number of days between the submission of an application for a background record check and the completion of the entire background record check process ending in the suitability status of the candidate;

(vi) the amount of temporary staff that were hired by organizations during the background

record check waiting period;

(vii) the costs incurred by organizations as they wait for the application to be completed, including the cost of temporary hires and overtime pay; and

(viii) the number of beds/room nights vacant as a result of waiting for background record check completion.

(d) The department of early education and care shall develop a data collection system and report the data described herein to the advisory committee on a quarterly basis, with the first data report due 90 days after the creation of the advisory committee The advisory committee shall also recommend reforms or modifications to the department of early education and care’s background record check system.

(e) The advisory committee shall file a report on the indicators listed in subsection (c) and its recommendations to the joint committee on the judiciary, the joint committee on ways and means, the joint committee on labor and workforce development and the joint committee on children, families and persons with disabilities no later than December 31st annually.

(f) The advisory committee shall meet 90 days after its inception and thereafter no less than quarterly in 2019, 2020 and 2021.”

Additional co-sponsor(s) added to Amendment #758 to H3800

Department of Early Education and Care Background Checks