Opinion ID: 449079
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Standards for the Exercise of Inspection Authority

Text: 28 Even though we have determined that the warrantless inspection of family day care homes does not necessarily violate the Fourth Amendment, we find that the current statutes authorizing such searches are overbroad--permitting general searches of any home providing care and supervision at any time of the day or night--and thus invalid unless sufficiently limited by the current regulations so as to preclude general searches. See Cal.Health & Safety Code Secs. 1596.71, 1596.852, 1597.55. Section 1596.852, which pursuant to Section 1596.71 applies to family day care homes as well as other child day care facilities, authorizes Department inspectors to enter and inspect any place providing personal care, supervision, and services at any time, with or without advance notice, to secure compliance with, or to prevent a violation of, any applicable statute. Cal.Health & Safety Code Sec. 1596.852 (emphasis added). Section 1597.55 authorizes unannounced visits to family day care homes at any time. Id. Sec. 1597.55(e). 29 The general language of these statutes does not properly reflect the peculiar nature of family day care homes. A family day care home is a business only when children cared for from other families for compensation are present and at all other times is a private residence. Furthermore, even when the children cared for are present, the provider retains expectations of privacy in those areas to which the day care children are denied access. The state's warrantless inspection authority should not extend beyond the closely regulated business in which the provider engages. Warrantless inspections are permissible in those portions of the provider's home where day care activities take place only when the home is being operated as a family day care business. Such inspections, however, cannot be justified in purely private contexts. See G.M. Leasing Corp. v. United States, 429 U.S. 338, 353-54, 97 S.Ct. 619, 629-30, 50 L.Ed.2d 530 (1977). See also See v. City of Seattle, 387 U.S. 541, 545, 87 S.Ct. 1737, 1740, 18 L.Ed.2d 943 (1967). 30 Where the Legislature has  'authorized inspection but made no rules governing the procedures that inspectors must follow, the Fourth Amendment and its various restrictive rules apply.'  Donovan v. Dewey, 452 U.S. at 599, 101 S.Ct. at 2538 (quoting Colonnade Catering Corp. v. United States, 397 U.S. at 77, 90 S.Ct. at 777). In this case, the current statutes, absent limiting regulations, do not provide any standards to guide inspectors or restrict the  'unbridled discretion [of] executive and administrative officers,'  id. (quoting Marshall v. Barlow's, Inc., 436 U.S. 307, 323, 98 S.Ct. 1816, 1826, 56 L.Ed.2d 305 (1978)), and are far broader than necessary to guarantee the effectiveness of the provisions governing family day care. Such statutes do not provide a constitutionally adequate substitute for a warrant. Id., 452 U.S., at 603, 101 S.Ct. at 2540. The searches must be directly connected with the environment the Legislature seeks to regulate--i.e., the areas of the home used by children when the children are present. 31 The state argues that the Department regulations governing family day care home inspections sufficiently limit these statutes so as to preclude general searches of homes providing care to children. The regulation governing inspections, however, explicitly applies only to Section 1597.55 of the Health and Safety Code. 10 22 Cal.Admin.Code Sec. 88030. Section 1597.55 governs the site visitations, unannounced visits and spot checks of family day care homes, permitting such inspections in five circumstances. At oral argument, the state specifically stated that Section 1597.55 did not preclude searches of family day care homes under Section 1596.852. The Department can therefore inspect family day care homes under both section 1596.852, which governs all child day care facilities, and section 1597.55, which is limited to family day care homes. 32 Because the regulations limit the scope of the search and the hours during which the search can be made only with respect to section 1597.55, section 1596.852 is unlimited by the current regulations, permitting general searches at any time of any place providing care and supervision to children. Section 1596.852 is therefore invalid under the Fourth Amendment, and the injunction must be affirmed concerning that section. 33 Section 1597.55, which is also overbroad in its authorization of unannounced inspections at any time, is currently limited by the regulation governing inspections. 22 Cal.Admin.Code Sec. 88030. In determining the sufficiency of this regulation, we note that the regulation restricts the areas to be searched to those where the children have access and limits the hours at which searches may be conducted to those during which family day care takes place. This statute, as limited by this regulation, is thus sufficiently precise and restrictive so as to preclude general searches by state officials. The injunction is therefore reversed as far as it affects warrantless searches under this provision. See Marshall v. Barlow's, Inc., 436 U.S. at 325, 98 S.Ct. at 1827.