Section 26-6-907 - Fees - when original applications, reapplications, and renewals for licensure are required - creation of child welfare licensing cash fund(1)(a) The state department is authorized to establish, pursuant to rules promulgated by the state board, permanent, time-limited, and provisional license fees and fees for continuation or renewal, whichever is applicable, of a license for the following types of child care arrangements: (I) Secure residential treatment centers;(II) Residential child care facilities, including any special type of residential child care facility designated by rule of the state board;(III) Child placement agencies, including any special type of foster care home the child placement agency is authorized to certify by rule of the state board;(IV) Homeless youth shelters;(V) Day treatment centers;(VI) Specialized group facilities; and(VII) Respite child care centers.(b) The state department may also establish fees pursuant to rules promulgated by the state board for the following situations:(I) Issuance of a duplicate license;(II) Change of license due to an increase in licensing capacity or a change in the age of children served;(III) Obtaining the criminal record of an applicant and any person living with or employed by the applicant, which may include costs associated with the taking of fingerprints;(IV) Checking the records and reports of child abuse or neglect maintained by the state department for an owner, employee, or resident of a facility or agency or an applicant for a license to operate a facility or agency;(VI) Duplication of licensing records for the public;(VII) Duplication of licensing records in electronic format for the public;(VIII) Accrediting a child placement agency for purposes of providing adoption services for convention adoptions pursuant to the "Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000", 42 U.S.C. sec. 14901 et seq.;(IX) Insufficient funds payment and collection of overdue fees and fines; and(X) Collection of fees for scanning of adoption records pursuant to section 19-5-307.(c) The fees established pursuant to this subsection (1) must not exceed the direct and indirect costs incurred by the department. The division responsible for licensing facilities and agencies shall develop and implement an objective and systematic approach for setting, monitoring, and revising licensing fees by developing and using an ongoing method to track all direct and indirect costs associated with facility and agency licensing, inspection, and monitoring; developing a methodology to assess the relationship between licensing costs and fees; and annually reassessing costs and fees and reporting the results to the state board. In developing a fee schedule, the department should consider the licensed capacity of facilities and the time needed to license facilities.(2)(a) An applicant shall pay the fees specified in subsection (1) of this section when applying for issuance, continuance, or renewal of a license. Fees are not subject to refund. An application for a license is required in the situations that are set forth in subsection (2)(b) of this section and must be made on forms prescribed by the state department. Each completed application must set forth the information required by the state department. All licenses continue in force until revoked, surrendered, or expired.(b)(I) An original application and fee are required:(A) When an individual, partnership, corporation, or association plans to open a foster care home or a residential or day treatment child care facility or child placement agency;(B) When a facility or foster care home plans to move to a different building at a different location;(C) When the management or governing body of a facility or agency is acquired by a different individual, association, partnership, or corporation; and(D) When a change occurs in the operating entity of a facility or agency resulting in a new federal employee identification number; except that, if the reason for the issuance of a new federal employee identification number is solely due to a change in the corporate structure of the operating facility or agency and either the management or governing body of the facility or agency remains the same as originally licensed and the facility or agency is operating in the same building or buildings as originally licensed, the state department shall treat the facility's or agency's status as a renewal and assess the applicable renewal fee. Only newly hired employees are required to undergo criminal background checks as required in section 26-6-912.(II) A reapplication and fee are required and must be received by the state department in the manner specified in rules promulgated by the state board. An individual, partnership, corporation, or association seeking to renew a facility or agency license must submit a reapplication and fee to the state department as specified in rules promulgated by the state board.(3) This section does not prevent a city or city and county from imposing fees in addition to those fees specified in this section.(4)(a) The department shall transmit all fees collected pursuant to this section to the state treasurer, who shall credit the same to the child welfare licensing cash fund created in subsection (4)(b) of this section. The general assembly shall make annual appropriations from the child welfare licensing cash fund for expenditures incurred by the department in the performance of its duties pursuant to this part 9.(b) The balance as of July 1, 2022, in the child care licensing cash fund, created pursuant to section 26-6-105 (4), as it existed prior to July 1, 2022, that is attributable to licensing fees collected by the division in the department that is responsible for child welfare is hereby transferred to the child welfare licensing cash fund, which fund is hereby created in the state treasury. The state treasurer shall credit all interest derived from the deposit and investment of money in the fund to the fund. At the end of a fiscal year, all unexpended and unencumbered money in the fund remains in the fund and is not to be credited or transferred to the general fund or any other fund.Added by 2022 Ch. 123, § 17, eff. 7/1/2022.