Blake Shuart: Protecting children and small businesses during COVID-19
Kansas citizens and our elected officials have worked diligently to save lives by responding proactively to COVID-19. But our leaders are only fighting half the battle when they focus exclusively on avoiding this virus.
The other, equally important task — protecting our most vulnerable citizens and businesses from devastating physical and financial injury — has been swept aside as they’ve focused on social distancing, school cancellations and stay-at-home directives. Our leaders must begin working aggressively to protect those who stand to lose the most in this entire mess before it is too late, and they should start with two groups: small children and small businesses.
The Kansas Legislature was set to hear Senate Bill 469 in the Senate Judiciary committee the week of March 16, when chaos began to erupt and the hearing was canceled. The measure — imposing a fine for operating a child care facility without a license — is not likely to surface again for at least another year. In the meantime, negligent operators of unlicensed day cares will continue to do business throughout the state, free of the reporting requirements and other important obligations that help protect children. Desperate parents trying to hold down a job with their kids now out of school for the year will look to these places for assistance, not knowing to run a check for the provider’s license.
In other instances, reckless or abusive parents — many of them drug addicts — will not seek out the paid assistance of a day care, and will simply leave their children unattended at home all day. Some will escalate the pattern of abuse. But the Department of Children and Families, tasked with investigating reports of abuse or neglect, has closed its offices to the public as of March 23. In announcing the temporary closure, DCF Secretary Laura Howard stated the department is “committed to receiving and responding to reports of abuse/neglect. We may do some of those investigations virtually when possible, but be assured, we’ll work with our law enforcement partners to ensure children and vulnerable adults are safe.”
We cannot stand for unchecked day cares and web-cam abuse investigations with every child in this state at home all day and parents under high stress. The DCF needs to announce a specific plan for heightened vigilance during this time — not virtual vigilance and a closed office. We need more in-person home visits, heightened suspicion and monitoring, and an investigation of every day care operating in the state — licensed or not. The DCF needs to gather its leaders together and ask a question: This is a particularly dangerous time for children in this state — how are we going to help protect them?
Small businesses are already beginning to drop by the day, leaving countless Kansans unemployed and depriving our citizens of important goods and services. Many such businesses purchased business interruption insurance to protect against a sudden loss of revenue, but the insurers aren’t paying. Around 50% of these policies include language excluding coverage for business interruption caused by a virus or bacteria — an exclusion the insurers began adding to their policies after the spread of the SARS virus in 2003. Other carriers have denied coverage because there was no physical loss or damage to the property — a prerequisite for claims made under commercial property insurance policies containing business interruption coverage.
Businesses can fight these denials in court, and some might eventually win. The problem is that none of them can withstand a multi-year court battle when there are employees and bills that must be paid immediately.
But there is something our state or federal government can do now. At least one state has considered passing emergency legislation to force insurers to waive the exclusion and honor the claim, but there are serious constitutional implications. Instead, the government can subsidize the businesses by stepping in and reimbursing the carriers immediately if they pay the claims — at least for smaller businesses with a relatively limited number of employees. A $2 trillion economic stimulus package passed on March 25 includes $367 billion for a small business loan program, but it is unclear as to how accessible those loans will be or whether businesses can survive with a loan in lieu of direct aid. These businesses cannot wait — they’re worth saving, and the time is now.