Arkansas Day Care Ass'n, Inc. v. Clinton, LR C 83 192.
| Decision Date | 22 November 1983 |
| Docket Number | No. LR C 83 192.,LR C 83 192. |
| Citation | 577 F. Supp. 388 |
| Parties | ARKANSAS DAY CARE ASSOCIATION, INC., et al., Plaintiffs, v. Bill CLINTON, Governor, State of Arkansas et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Arkansas |
Phil Kaplan, Kaplan, Hollingsworth & Brewer, Robert M. Cearley, Cearley, Mitchell & Rochell, Little Rock, Ark., Horace Fikes, Pine Bluff, Ark., for plaintiffs.
Robert Shults, Shults & Ray, Little Rock, Ark., for defendants.
Bob Frazier, Malvern, Ark., for intervenor.
On February 23, 1983, the Governor of Arkansas signed into law Act 245 of 1983, entitled, "An Act to Provide for Religious Exemptions for Religious Child Care Facilities that are now required to be Licensed Under the Child Care Facility Licensing Act; to Provide Procedures by which Religious Child Care Facilities May be Exempt From the Child Care Facility Licensing and for Other Purposes." The complaint, filed March 4, 1983, under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, challenges the constitutional validity of Act 245 and its predecessors, Act 518 of 1981 and Act 123 of 1973 on three grounds.
First, plaintiffs contend the Acts constitute an establishment of religion prohibited by the First Amendment to the Constitution which is made applicable to the states by the Fourteenth Amendment. Second, they argue the Acts are impermissibly vague and violate the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Third, they allege the Acts discriminate against nonexempt child care facilities in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
The plaintiffs include Arkansas Day Care Association, Inc., a nonprofit corporation of proprietary day care providers; Betty Caldwell, president of the National Association for the Education of Young People; and Mike and Karen Welch and Timothy and Vicki Martin, parents and next friends of minor children who attended unlicensed day care centers.
The defendants include Governor Bill Clinton, the Arkansas Child Care Facility Review Board and its members.
The Texarkana Baptist Orphanage, a religious child care facility exempt under Act 518 of 1981, was allowed to intervene on August 1, 1983.
All parties moved for summary judgment. An evidentiary hearing was scheduled for August 11, 1983, but the parties elected to stand on the record. The case is ripe for adjudication.
In 1969, the Arkansas Legislature enacted the Child Care Facility Licensing Act, codified as Ark.Stat.Ann. § 83-901 et seq. (Repl.1981), which established a system for licensing and regulating "child care facilities" as that term is defined in § 83-902(D). Although the Act initially authorized the Welfare Department to promulgate "rules and regulations setting minimum standards governing the granting, revocation, refusal, and suspension of licenses for a child care facility and the operation of a child care facility," the Act was amended in 1973 to transfer this rule making authority to the Child Care Facility Review Board the "Board". Ark.Stat.Ann. § 83-911 (Repl. 1981). The Social Services Division of the Department of Human Services the "Social Services Division" continued to be the agency charged with responsibility for administering the law. Id.
The 1969 Act explicitly provided that the Board shall adopt such rules and regulations as will:
"... promote the health, safety and welfare of children attending a Child Care Facility, promote safe, comfortable and healthy physical facilities for the children who attend the Child Care Facility; insure adequate supervision of the children by capable, qualified and healthy individuals; insure appropriate educational programs and activities within each Child Care Facility; and insure adequate and healthy food services where food service is offered by the Child Care Facility."
Ark.Stat.Ann. § 83-904(B) (Repl.1981). Consistent with this broad policy objective, the Board promulgated and published rules and regulations governing the "minimum licensing requirements" for four separate categories of child care facilities: Day Care Centers; Infants and Toddlers in Day Care Centers; Residential Child Care Facilities; and Day Care Family Homes.
The 1969 Act did not contain an exemption for religious child care facilities. Rather, any "person, partnership, corporation, group or association desiring to operate a child care facility" was required to apply for a license from the State. Ark. Stat.Ann. § 83-905 (Repl.1981). Following a review of the application by the Social Services Division or other appropriate State agency to insure that the applying facility met the legal requirements, the applicant was issued a license. Ark.Stat.Ann. § 83-908 (Repl.1981).
In 1973, the legislature adopted Act 123, codified as Ark.Stat.Ann. § 83-918 (Repl. 1981), which amended the 1969 Act to include an exemption from the licensing requirement for religious child care facilities organized and operating as of July 1, 1969. The express legislative purpose for creating this exemption was to accommodate religious child care facilities in the free exercise of religious beliefs by allowing exemption from licensing where "conformity with said licensing standards violates basic religious tenament tenets of the church as it relates to separation of church and state ..." Ark.Stat.Ann. § 83-918 (Repl.1981). Under this statute, a religious child care facility could apply for an exemption by having the "governing body" of the religious child care facility submit a letter to the Board which:
The statute also provided that within one year after the receipt of a properly executed request for exemption, the Social Services Division was authorized to inspect each exempt facility to determine: (1) "whether the premises and care being received by the children therein, and other matters affecting the safety and health of such children, are being provided in accordance with the recognized health and safety standards within the community;" and (2) "whether the institution is in fact in substantial compliance with the rules promulgated for similar nonexempt institutions." If this inspection revealed any evidence of a violation of these standards, including any evidence of child abuse, the Social Services Division, with the consent of the Board, was authorized to bring an action for injunctive relief. Ark.Stat.Ann. § 83-918 (Repl.1981).
In order to discharge its administrative responsibilities under the statutes, the Social Services Division adopted various rules published as part of its "Services Programs Policy Manual" the "Manual". Section 9140 of the Manual set forth the role of the Division in monitoring exempt facilities:
In 1981 the legislature passed Act 518, revising the 1973 religious child care facility exemption. Ark.Stat.Ann. § 83-918 (Supp.1983). The compiler's notes indicate that this statute repealed by substitution the earlier religious child care facility exemption created by Act 123 of 1973.1
Act 518 set forth the same general legislative purpose expressed in the original exemption—to accommodate religious child care facilities. The preamble stated:
"It is hereby found and determined by the General Assembly that the principle of separation of church and state is fundamental to the constitutional rights of the people of this Country, and that religious organizations should be encouraged to operate religious child care facilities without undue harassment or interference in the operation of such facilities, provided that, local health, fire and safety officials have inspected the facility with respect to safety and health safeguards and have found the same to be substantially in compliance with the standards promulgated for similar institutions within the community, and that the immediate passage of this Act is essential to guarantee and to preserve the rights of such facilities under the religious freedom safeguards of this Country."
Under the terms of Act 518, the procedure for obtaining a religious exemption was modified:
The most significant change, however, prohibited State inspection of the exempt religious facilities except in cases of alleged or suspected child abuse.
The 1983 General Assembly again considered exemptions for religious child care facilities. House Bill 54 (HB 54), the first legislative proposal, sought to exempt religious child care facilities from...
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State, Department of Human Services v. Priest Lake Community Baptist Church, No. M2006-00302-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. App. 6/25/2007)
...entities, and these exemptions have been upheld despite challenges under the Establishment Clause.6 See Arkansas Day Care Ass'n, Inc. v. Clinton, 577 F.Supp. 388, 397 (D.C. Ark. 1983); Forte v. Coler, 725 F.Supp. 488, 491 (M.D. Fla. 1989); Pre-School Owners Ass'n of Illinois, Inc. v. Dep't ......