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200.703 Duties of Early Childhood Development Authority -- Implementation of programs -- Disbanding or suspension of councils -- Expiration of authority, councils, and initiatives -- Healthy Babies Wo

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Page 1 of 3 200.703 Duties of Early Childhood Development Authority -- Implementation of programs -- Disbanding or suspension of councils -- Expiration of authority, <br>councils, and initiatives -- Healthy Babies Work Group -- Vision examinations <br>-- Requests for proposals. (1) The authority shall establish priorities for programs and the expenditure of funds that include but are not limited to the following: <br>(a) Implementation of public health initiatives identified by the General Assembly; (b) Provision of preconceptional and prenatal vitamins, with priority for folic acid for the prevention of neural tube defects; (c) Voluntary immunization for children not covered by public or private health insurance; (d) Availability of high-quality, affordable early child-care and education options; and (e) Increased public awareness of the importance of the early childhood years for the well-being of all Kentucky's citizens. (2) The authority shall develop a state plan on a biennial basis that identifies early childhood development funding priorities. Every two (2) years the authority shall <br>review its priorities and make necessary adjustments to its state plan. The state plan <br>shall incorporate priorities included in &quot;KIDS NOW: Kentucky Invests in <br>Developing Success, a Report from the Governor's Early Childhood Task Force, <br>November 1999,&quot; and recommendations identified by the community early <br>childhood councils. The authority shall file a report on the state plan with the <br>Governor and the Legislative Research Commission by July 15 of odd-numbered <br>years. (3) Programs funded by the authority shall be implemented by the appropriate agencies within the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, the Education and Workforce <br>Development Cabinet, the Finance and Administration Cabinet, or other appropriate <br>administrative agency. (4) The authority shall assure that a public hearing is held on the expenditure of funds. Advertisement of the public hearing shall be published at least once but may be <br>published two (2) more times, if one (1) publication occurs not less than seven (7) <br>days nor more than twenty-one (21) days before the scheduled date of the public <br>hearing. (5) The authority shall promulgate administrative regulations in accordance with KRS Chapter 13A to: <br>(a) Coordinate and improve early childhood development services, outcomes, and policies; (b) Establish procedures that relate to its governance; <br>(c) Designate service areas of the Commonwealth where the community early childhood councils may be established to identify and address the early Page 2 of 3 childhood development needs of young children and their families for the <br>communities that they serve; (d) Establish procedures that relate to the monitoring of grants, services, and activities of the community early childhood councils and their governance; (e) Establish procedures for accountability and measurement of the success of programs that receive funds from the authority; and (f) Establish standards for the payment of funds to a designated service provider and grantee of a community early childhood council. These standards shall <br>include requirements relating to: <br>1. The financial management of funds paid to grantees; 2. The maintenance of records; and 3. An independent audit of the use of grant funds. (6) The authority may disband or suspend a council, and may remove one (1) or more members for nonperformance or malfeasance. The authority may also recover funds <br>that have been determined by the authority to have been misappropriated or <br>misspent in relation to a grant award. (7) An appeal to the authority may be made by a council as to a decision made by the authority on the disbanding or suspension of a council, service provider, or grantee <br>on a determination that funds have been misappropriated or misspent and are <br>subject to recovery. The appeal shall be conducted in accordance with KRS Chapter <br>13B. (8) The authority, councils established by the authority, and initiatives funded by the authority with expenditures from the early childhood development fund shall expire <br>when: <br>(a) Funds are no longer designated to the Commonwealth from the master settlement agreement signed on November 22, 1998, between the participating <br>tobacco manufacturers and the forty (40) settling states or related federal <br>legislation; or (b) Funds are no longer designated to the early childhood development fund from gifts, grants, or federal funds to fund the authority, the councils established by <br>the authority, or any programs that had been funded by the authority with <br>expenditures from the early childhood development fund. (9) (a) The authority shall establish a Healthy Babies Work Group, consisting of representatives from the Cabinet for Health and Family Services; public <br>schools; local libraries; the Kentucky March of Dimes; family resource <br>centers; agencies that provide benefits under the Special Supplementation <br>Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children; the Folic Acid Awareness <br>Campaign; physicians; secondary health education and consumer sciences <br>teachers; the Spina Bifida Association of Kentucky; and other persons as <br>appropriate. Representatives shall reflect the geographic, racial, and gender <br>diversity of the Commonwealth. (b) The Healthy Babies Work Group shall collaborate on development and implementation of a public awareness campaign to inform the citizens of the Page 3 of 3 Commonwealth about the benefits of good nutrition, folic acid, smoking <br>cessation, and healthy lifestyle choices that lead to healthy babies, the effects <br>of alcohol and substance abuse on fetal and early childhood development, and <br>the need for a vision examination of children at age three (3). The work group <br>shall work with local health departments for the vision examination outreach <br>program. (10) The authority shall work with local entities, including but not limited to health departments and service providers, to establish to the extent of available funding a <br>vision examination program for children who are not eligible for the Kentucky <br>Children's Health Insurance Program or Medicaid, and who do not have insurance <br>coverage for a vision examination. The authority shall provide that primary <br>students, regardless of age, who are having difficulty with reading may be referred <br>and receive a second vision examination as described in KRS 156.160 at no cost to <br>the parent. (11) The authority shall develop a request for proposal process by which local early childhood councils may request any funding appropriated to the authority for use by <br>the councils. Effective: June 25, 2009 <br>History: Amended 2009 Ky. Acts ch. 11, sec. 62, effective June 25, 2009. -- Amended 2006 Ky. Acts ch. 211, sec. 120, effective July 12, 2006. -- Amended 2005 Ky. Acts <br>ch. 99, sec. 50, effective June 20, 2005; ch. 127, sec. 7, effective March 18, 2005. -- <br>Created 2000 Ky. Acts ch. 308, sec. 2, effective July 14, 2000. Legislative Research Commission Note (6/20/2005) 2005 Ky. Acts ch. 127, which included an amendment to this section, KRS 200.703, provides that the Act shall be <br>cited as the &quot;Read to Achieve Act of 2005.&quot;