HBA-ATS H.B. 1013 76(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1013 By: Coleman Economic Development 3/4/1999 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Working parents in Texas often have problems finding suitable day care for their children. Families at all income levels and in all areas of the state need current and reliable information on child-care providers. Currently, access to information on child-care providers is limited in Texas because funds are unavailable to support the creation of a child-care resource and referral network (network). This type of network helps parents find child care by providing resource and referral services. These resource and referral services document trends in the child care system, educate parents to be good child care consumers, train local agencies to recruit and prepare men and women for jobs in the field, and assist in maintaining, increasing, and improving the supply of child care. In addition, networks provide statistical data on the availability, cost, and quality of day care to policymakers. Many states help fund networks that combine service delivery at the local level with a central office that delivers technical assistance and training to participants and collects statewide data on child care. H.B. 1013 requires the Texas Workforce Commission to develop a child-care resource and referral network with funds allocated from the Child Care and Development Block Grant (42 U.S.C. Section 9858 et seq.). The network is required to provide and periodically update resource information regarding child-care services in each county of this state, to provide referral services to a person who is seeking child care, and to maintain records of requests for resources and referrals and to make the records available to state and local agencies and private organizations. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Subtitle B, Title 4, Labor Code, by adding Chapter 309, as follows: CHAPTER 309. CHILD-CARE RESOURCE AND REFERRAL NETWORK Sec. 309.001. CHILD-CARE RESOURCE AND REFERRAL NETWORK. Requires the Texas Workforce Commission (commission), through funds allocated to it as the agency designated to administer the Child Care and Development Block Grant (42 U.S.C. Section 9858 et seq.), to develop a child-care resource and referral network (network) and administer it in compliance with the requirements of the block grant program. Sec. 309.002. RESOURCE SERVICES. (a) Requires the network to provide and periodically update resource information regarding child-care services in each county of this state. Resource information includes the name, address, and telephone number of each daycare center, group day-care home, and family home located in the county; and information relating to the services provided by the day-care center, group day-care home, or family home. The information related to the services provided by the above facilities includes the designation of the facility as a day-care center, group day-care home, or family home under Chapter 42 (Regulation of Certain Facilities, Homes, and Agencies that Provide Child-care Services), Human Resources Code; the group size for each age group receiving care; the ages of children accepted for child care; the ages of children accepted for child care; the ability of the facility to accept additional children for child care; the level of training of staff and management of the facility; the hours during which services are available at the facility; and the cost of child care at the facility. (b) Requires the Department of Protective and Regulatory Services (DPRS) to assist the commission in collecting and updating the information required by Subsection (a). Sec. 309.003. REFERRAL SERVICES. Requires the network to provide referral services to a person who is seeking child care. Requires child-care referrals to be available by telephone and be provided only for child-care facilities that are licensed, listed, or registered under Chapter 42, Human Resources Code. Sec. 309.004. COLLECTION OF CHILD-CARE DATA. Requires the network to maintain records of requests for resources and referrals and to make the records available to state and local agencies and private organizations. Those records must include the number of requests made for resources and referrals during a specified period; the age of each child for whom a request for resources and referrals is made; and, for each person requesting resources and referrals, the hours during which the person is seeking child care and the reason the person is seeking child care. Sec. 309.005. ASSISTANCE FOR CHILD-CARE PROVIDERS. Requires the network to provide to a child-care provider or a person interested in becoming a child-care provider information about the general requirements for applying for and maintaining a license, listing, or registration under Chapter 42, Human Resources Code; the availability of financial and educational resources for child-care providers; and current issues affecting the delivery of child-care services. Requires DPRS to assist the commission in collecting and updating the information required by Section 309.005. SECTION 2. Effective date: September 1, 1999. SECTION 3. Requires the commission to establish the network by January 1, 2000. SECTION 4. Emergency clause.