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(5) Administration and Operation: §§ 127-131 (6) Staffing: §§ 132-139 (7) Program Activities for Healthy Development: §§ 140-141 (8) Health Promotion and Protection: §§ 142-161 (9) Additional Requirements for Licensed Centers: §§ 162-166 (10) Additional Requirements for Licensed Child Development Homes: §§ 167-168 (11) Additional Requirements for Licensed Expanded Child Development Homes: §§ 169-171 (12) Additional Requirements for Out-of-School-Time Programs: §§ 172-176

IV. Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

The majority of the current regulations at Chapter 3 of Title 29 DCMR were last revised in 2007. Understanding that any changes to the licensing regulations would have a significant impact on a number of children, families and businesses in the District, OSSE issued an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) on OSSE’s website on December 24, 2015 to provide the early learning community and stakeholders with an opportunity to provide comment prior to an issuance of proposed rulemaking. The comment period for the ANPR was open for forty-five (45) days, closing February 8, 2016. In addition, OSSE held four public hearings during the public comment period in various locations throughout the District to solicit verbal or written comments from the public on the ANPR. Notice of the Public Hearings and the forthcoming ANPR was published in the D.C. Register at 62 DCR 16097 on December 18, 2015. Further, the Notice provided that Amharic, Chinese, French, Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean and Sign Language interpreters would be available if the services were requested prior to the selected hearing date. By the end of the ANPR public comment period, OSSE received comments from over twenty (20) various interested parties, including individual stakeholders, child development facilities, and non-profit organizations throughout the District.

OSSE reviewed and thoroughly considered all comments received on the ANPR and at the public meetings. Overall, stakeholders provided valuable insights and feedback, enabling OSSE to refine and significantly improve its earlier proposed rule and draft revisions.

V. Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

On September 9, 2016, a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking was published in the D.C. Register, which included amendments based on comments received during the ANPR, for a thirty (30) day public comment period at 63 DCR 11279. OSSE also held a meeting for all licensed child development facilities to discuss the proposed rulemaking on September 10, 2016 where over 100 providers attended. The public comment period for the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking closed on October 11, 2016, with the State Superintendent having received comments from seventeen (17) interested parties, including individual stakeholders, child development facilities, and non-profit organizations throughout the District.

During the public comment period, OSSE received a few requests for a non-English translation of the proposed regulations and an extension of the comment period. While OSSE greatly