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Committee approves amendment to allow variance of up to 100 square feet for freestanding child‑care centers; bill laid over
Summary
The committee adopted an amendment clarifying a variance pathway that would allow freestanding child‑care centers to be up to 100 square feet short of statutory per‑child square‑foot requirements and laid the bill over for possible inclusion in an omnibus bill.
The House Committee on Children, Youth and Families adopted an amendment to House File 656 that provides a pathway for freestanding child‑care centers to receive a variance when they fall short of the statutory per‑child square‑foot requirement; the committee then laid the bill over for possible inclusion in a future omnibus bill.
Representative Zalesnikar (bill sponsor) told the committee the measure is designed to add modest flexibility to licensing rules for freestanding centers when the facility is only slightly below the square‑foot threshold. “How big is a hundred? Imagine the most popular rug ordered online is a 10 by 10. That's a hundred square feet,” she said, adding the change is intended to avoid small shortfalls forcing centers to reduce enrollment and thus worsen waiting lists.
Nut graf: Sponsors described the change as a narrow, safety‑conscious tool to expand available slots while maintaining life‑safety compliance; committee members asked DHS licensing and fire‑marshal questions about how variances would be evaluated.
The A2 amendment, adopted by voice vote, rewords the bill to ensure that where licensing requires 35 square feet per child the commissioner may grant the variance (the amendment's language clarifies the pathway). Committee members pressed for operational details: Representative Sensamura asked what evidence DHS uses when considering a variance (photos, site visits, staffing mix); Ari Dennion, legislative director at the DHS Office of Inspector General, said licensing staff could not answer all process details during the hearing and noted some space requirements are tied to the state fire code and therefore cannot be varied without consulting the fire marshal. “There are some things related to space requirements that we can't vary…we work with the state fire marshal to align licensing requirements with the fire code,” Dennion said.
Members also asked whether the state fire marshal had been consulted; the sponsor said she had contacted the fire marshal in her review of the example facility. Nonpartisan staff deferred a tax question about whether centers are exempt from state general property tax and said they would follow up. The committee adopted the amendment and laid House File 656 over for possible inclusion; no roll‑call tally was recorded in the transcript.
The sponsor said she will continue to work with DHS and members as the bill moves forward to ensure any variance pathway preserves safety and life‑safety code compliance.
