CopyPublished | District Court, M.D. Florida | 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14419, 1989 WL 144335
...Plaintiff, B & D, is a child care facility doing business in Jacksonville, Florida, under license issued by HRS pursuant to Florida Statutes §
402.308. B & D filed this suit seeking declaratory and injunctive relief challenging the constitutionality of Florida Statutes §
402.316....
...These costs must be offset by a commensurate increase in enrollment and other charges passed on to child care facilities' customers. Child care facilities which are an integral part of a church or parochial school do not have to comply with these licensing standards by virtue of an exemption granted them under F.S. § 402.316. That statute provides in relevant part: 402.316....
...B & D's business in fact suffers from the competitive disadvantage it has because of its operation as a secular, licensed facility. However, the complaint contains no allegation that any religiously affiliated child care facility exempt from licensure by virtue of § 402.316 is operated on a for-profit basis. Given these facts, the issues the Court must determine are whether the exemption from licensure granted by § 402.316 violates either the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, or the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment....
...state licensing requirements. The Court held that such an exemption did not violate the Establishment Clause. The Forest Hills case, although not controlling precedent, is highly persuasive. Similarly, here, the Court concludes that Florida Statute § 402.316 passes muster *491 under Lemon, as explained by Amos....
...religion. Thus, the proper focus is whether Florida has chosen a rational classification to further this legitimate end. As the Court concluded with the § 702 exemption in Amos, this Court also concludes that the legislative exemption contained in § 402.316 is "rationally related to the legitimate purpose of alleviating significant governmental interference with the ability of religious organizations to define and carry out their religious missions." Amos, at 2870....
