237A.29 - PUBLIC FUNDING OF CHILD CARE -- SANCTIONS.
237A.29 PUBLIC FUNDING OF CHILD CARE -- SANCTIONS.
1. State funds and federal funds provided to the state in
accordance with federal requirements shall not be used to pay for the
care, supervision, and guidance of a child for periods of less than
twenty-four hours per day on a regular basis unless the care,
supervision, and guidance is defined as child care as used in this
chapter.
2. a. For the purposes of this subsection, "fraudulent
means" means knowingly making or causing to be made a false
statement or a misrepresentation of a material fact, knowingly
failing to disclose a material fact, or committing a fraudulent
practice.
b. A child care provider that has been found by the
department of inspections and appeals in an administrative proceeding
or in a judicial proceeding to have obtained, or has agreed to entry
of a civil judgment or judgment by confession that includes a
conclusion of law that the child care provider has obtained, by
fraudulent means, public funding for provision of child care in an
amount equal to or in excess of the minimum amount for a fraudulent
practice in the second degree under section 714.10, subsection 1,
shall be subject to sanction in accordance with this subsection.
Such child care provider shall be subject to a period during which
receipt of public funding for provision of child care is conditioned
upon no further violations and to one or more of the following
sanctions as determined by the department of human services:
(1) Ineligibility to receive public funding for provision of
child care.
(2) Suspension from receipt of public funding for provision of
child care.
(3) Special review of the child care provider's claims for
providing publicly funded child care.
c. The following factors shall be considered in determining
the sanction or sanctions to be imposed under paragraph "b",
subparagraphs (1) through (3):
(1) Seriousness of the violation.
(2) Extent of the violation.
(3) History of prior violations.
(4) Prior imposition of sanctions.
(5) Prior provision of provider education.
(6) Provider willingness to obey program rules.
(7) Whether a lesser sanction will be sufficient to remedy the
problem.
d. In determining the value of the public funding obtained by
fraudulent means, if the public funding is obtained by two or more
acts of fraudulent means by the same person or in the same location,
or is obtained by different persons by two or more acts which occur
in approximately the same location or time period so that the acts of
fraudulent means used to obtain the public funding are attributable
to a single scheme, plan, or conspiracy, these acts may be considered
as a single instance of the use of fraudulent means and the value may
be the total value of all moneys involved.
3. a. If a child care provider is subject to sanctions under
subsection 2, within five business days of the date the sanctions are
imposed, the provider shall submit to the department the names and
addresses of children receiving child care from the provider. The
department shall send information to the parents of the children
regarding the provider's actions leading to the imposition of the
sanctions and the nature of the sanctions imposed.
b. If the child care provider fails to submit the names and
addresses within the time period required by paragraph "a", the
department shall request that the attorney general file a petition
with the district court of the county in which the provider is
located for issuance of a temporary injunction enjoining the provider
from providing child care until the names and addresses are submitted
to the department. The attorney general may file the petition upon
receiving the request from the department. Any temporary injunction
may be granted without a bond being required from the department.
c. If the sanctions imposed under subsection 2 involve the
provider's suspension or ineligibility for receiving public funding
for provision of child care, the department shall not impose those
sanctions before the parents of the affected children are informed,
and upon request, shall provide assistance to the parents in locating
replacement child care. Section History: Recent Form
93 Acts, ch 76, §13; 99 Acts, ch 192, §25; 2002 Acts, ch 1104, §1;
2003 Acts, ch 44, §55; 2003 Acts, ch 81, §11, 12; 2004 Acts, ch 1086,
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