1. The department shall have the following powers and duties: (1) After inspection, to grant licenses to persons to operate prescribed pediatric extended care facilities if satisfied as to the good character and intent of the applicant and that such applicant is qualified and equipped to render care or service conducive to the welfare of children;(2) To inspect the conditions of the places in which the applicant operates a prescribed pediatric extended care facility; inspect their books and records, premises, and numbers of children to be served, provided that the department shall not interview a child without the consent of the child's parents or guardian; examine their officers and agents; and deny, immediately suspend, place on probation, or revoke the license of such persons as fail to obey the provisions of sections 192.2550 to 192.2560. The director may revoke or suspend a license when the licensee surrenders the license; and(3) To promulgate rules and regulations the department deems necessary or proper in order to establish standards of service and care to be rendered by such licensees to children. Such rules and regulations shall include, at a minimum, requirements related to the following: (c) Sanitation, including infection control;2.(1) The department shall have the right to enter the premises of any prescribed pediatric extended care facility or potential facility pursuant to an announced inspection at any time during the hours of operation of a facility to determine compliance with sections 192.2550 to 192.2560 and applicable rules promulgated pursuant thereto. Entry shall also be granted for investigative purposes involving complaints regarding the operations of a prescribed pediatric extended care facility. The department may make inspections, announced to the applicant for or holder of a license twenty-four hours in advance of the inspection, as it deems necessary to carry out the provisions of sections 192.2550 to 192.2560.(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision (1) of this subsection, the department may make unannounced inspections as necessary to investigate allegations of abuse or neglect of a child served by the facility.3. The applicant for or holder of a license shall cooperate with the investigation and inspection.4. Failure to comply with any lawful request of the department in connection with the investigation and inspection is a ground for refusal to issue a license or for the revocation of a license.5. Any prescribed pediatric extended care facility may request a variance from a rule or regulation promulgated pursuant to sections 192.2550 to 192.2560. The request for a variance shall be made in writing to the department and shall include the reasons the facility is requesting the variance. The department shall not approve any variance request that endangers the health or safety of the children served by the facility.6. Any rule or portion of a rule, as that term is defined in section 536.010, that is created under the authority delegated in sections 192.2550 to 192.2560 shall become effective only if it complies with and is subject to all of the provisions of chapter 536 and, if applicable, section 536.028. This section and chapter 536 are nonseverable and if any of the powers vested with the general assembly pursuant to chapter 536 to review, to delay the effective date, or to disapprove and annul a rule are subsequently held unconstitutional, then the grant of rulemaking authority and any rule proposed or adopted after August 28, 2024, shall be invalid and void.Added by 2024 Mo. Laws, SB 1111,s A, eff. 8/28/2024.