§38-7A-3. Responsibilities.

The commission shall have the following responsibilities:

(a) Develop a proposal for a statewide child day care plan for development and planning for the industry for professional growth and to keep pace with the growing need for affordable and available child care for working families in the state.

(b) Develop a proposal to identify projected needs of the subsidized child care program and to identify all federal and state revenue sources available for child day care in the State of Alabama.

(c) Review and recommend improvements and strengthening of the Child Care Act of 1971 and Alabama's Minimum Standards for Child Care as prescribed by the Department of Human Resources, and be represented on any committee assigned the responsibility of revising the act or minimum standards.

(d) Develop and assimilate information on employer, company, and corporate support for child day care which includes options, costs, and benefits of that support.

(e) Review and recommend financial incentives to encourage employer, company, and corporate support of child day care.

(f) Review the availability of public or private no or low interest loans for capital investment in child day care.

(g) Review the feasibility and affordability of liability insurance for child day care providers.

(h) Recommend to the Department of Human Resources the procedures to be used in notifying licensees, approved operators, and registrants regarding regulatory changes.

(i) Appoint a resource person as liaison with the Department of Public Health, the Department of Education, the State Fire Marshal's Office, and other departments and agencies of government to receive suggestions and information, recommend solutions to avoid duplicate or conflicting requirements, or both, upon operators subject to regulations by the State of Alabama, achieve collaboration among these agencies, and help ensure that federal and state funds are being used in the most efficient manner to help protect the health and safety of children being cared for in child day care programs.

(j) Recommend methods for improving the quality of nonresidential child care and increasing the safety of children in child day care programs.

(Acts 1993, No. 93-263, p. 398.)