Jozwiak’s Bill to Protect Municipal Recreation Programs Earns Committee Approval
HARRISBURG – Rep. Barry Jozwiak’s (R-Berks) bill to protect municipal recreation programs and the vital opportunities they provide to our Commonwealth’s children and their parents has been approved by the House Children and Youth Committee.
House Bill 1155 would exclude municipal recreation programs from the definition of “child day care center” to ensure these season programs may continue to be offered.
“Unfortunately, an unreasonable interpretation of the law by the Department of Human Services is threatening recreation programs for preschool-aged children, many of which have been in existence for years,” said Jozwiak. “The department has been sending letters informing municipalities that they are running ’child day care centers,’ and telling them that they must go through the onerous and expensive process of becoming licensed or terminate their programs. As a result of these ’cease and desist’ letters, municipalities are doing just that, to the detriment of the children and families they strove to serve.”
Often, certification isn’t even an option, as many municipal programs, such as swimming or playground programs, take place beyond the confines of a traditional child day care “facility,” making it prohibitively costly or even impossible to be certified as a day care facility. Municipal recreation programs are already subject to strict oversight, personnel training requirements, parental consent and background checks for employees and volunteers.
The bill permits safe programming for preschoolers by simply amending the Human Services Code to exempt public municipal preschool recreation programs from the definition of “child day care center.”
For more information visit
RepJozwiak.com.
Representative Barry Jozwiak
5th Legislative District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Abby Chiumento
717.260.6617
kpark@pahousegop.com
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