Enrolled Bill Summary

            House Bill 1307 amends the Labor Code to establish a child-care resource and referral network in this state. The bill requires the Texas Workforce Commission to use funds from the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 to contract with a network to provide resource and referral services not later than January 1, 2002. The bill requires the network to conduct a needs assessment for child-care services and to make recommendations to the commission to address those needs; to maintain and disseminate related resource information; and to provide referral services to persons seeking child-care and early childhood education services, employers seeking child-care assistance, and parents and other consumers seeking information about parenting education and early childhood development. The bill also requires the network to advertise its services, to collect and update certain data regarding the supply of and demand for child care and early childhood education, to report the data to the commission each quarter, and to make the information available statewide.