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City Council aligns small childcare permitting with state law, flags insurance questions
Summary
The Los Angeles City Council voted to adopt changes aligning the city's permitting rules for small childcare providers with state standards and referred related insurance concerns to committees for further review.
The Los Angeles City Council on Feb. 1 voted to approve items that align the city's permitting rules for small childcare providers with state law, while directing follow-up review on liability and insurance requirements.
Council members voted 13 ayes to approve the items covering city permits for small day care providers. The action makes the city's permitting threshold consistent with the state: facilities serving eight or fewer children will be able to take out city permits under the changed approach discussed in items 1 and 7.
Council member Wax summarized the change as bringing the city “into concurrence with the state ordinance,” saying the city's previous rule required a permit threshold different from state law and limited permitting opportunities. Council member Cindy Misakowski noted that the measure also supports state legislation that would mandate insurance for some providers but emphasized the council wanted to avoid creating requirements that would be prohibitive for small providers.
Council members and staff acknowledged an outstanding question about whether adding an insurance requirement would make permitting “prohibitive” for smaller providers. The council directed that parts of the related report (item 5 of the report on item 1) be sent back to the Planning and Land Use Management (PLUM) Committee and to the Commission on Children, Youth and their Families for further review on implementation and on means to help smaller-scale providers comply.
The ordinance and committee referral are intended to increase the number of providers able to obtain city permits while staff and committee members study liability questions and possible ways to mitigate costs for small providers. No change to the city's authority to set insurance rules was stated beyond the referral; council members repeatedly cautioned against imposing an insurance mandate that would effectively block small operators.
The council recorded the roll call for items 1 and 7 as 13 ayes. Members did not finalize an insurance requirement at the Feb. 1 session; the council asked staff and the PLUM committee to report back with options and clarifications about implementation and referrals to the Commission on Children, Youth and their Families.
The council's action leaves the substantive permitting change in place while directing committees and staff to resolve outstanding questions about insurance and program supports for small providers.
