SRC-CTC H.B. 1307 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Senate Research Center H.B. 1307 77R9918 KLA-DBy: Villarreal, Mike (Moncrief) Health & Human Services 5/3/2001 Engrossed DIGEST AND PURPOSE The 76th Legislature funded the creation of a statewide network of child care resource and referral agencies through the General Appropriations Act. The bill that would have created the resource and referral networks in statute, however, did not pass. Since the 76th legislative session, the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) has awarded funds to the Texas Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies to provide child care data to policy makers, education about early child care and education options to parents, and assistance to employers who want to provide child care benefits to their employees. The Legislative Budget Board has recommended continuing funding to TWC for this purpose during the next biennium. H.B. 1307 establishes a statutory requirement that TWC contract with a child-care resource and referral network to provide child-care resource and referral services in this state. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY Rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the Texas Workforce Commission in SECTION 1 (Section 310.008, Labor Code) of this bill. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Title 4B, Labor Code, by adding Chapter 310, as follows: CHAPTER 310. CHILD-CARE RESOURCE AND REFERRAL NETWORK Sec. 310.001. DEFINITIONS. Defines "member" and "network." Sec. 310.002. CHILD-CARE RESOURCE AND REFERRAL NETWORK. Requires the Texas Workforce Commission (commission), through funds allocated to the commission as the agency designated to administer the grant under the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. Section 9858 et seq.), as amended, and specifically appropriated to the commission for that purpose, to take certain actions. Requires the commission to use a system of competitive procurement to award a contract to a child-care resource and referral network that has proven experience in providing child-care resource and referral services. Requires the commission, to the extent funds from the block grant program are available for that purpose, to award the contract under this section in a manner that will allow for the provision of child-care resource and referral services throughout this state. Sec. 310.003. STATEWIDE CHILD-CARE NEEDS ASSESSMENT. Requires the childcare resource and referral network (network) to conduct a needs assessment to determine the supply of and demand for child-care services in this state and to identify discrepancies between supply and demand. Requires the network, based on the needs assessment, to make recommendations to the commission regarding the collaborative solutions to address the identified child-care supply and demand discrepancies. Requires the recommended solutions to involve collaboration between certain individuals and entities. Sec. 310.004. RESOURCE SERVICES. Requires the network, through its members, to provide and continually update resource information regarding certain services. Sec. 310.005. REFERRAL SERVICES. Requires the network, through its members, to provide referral services to certain individuals. Requires the network, through its members, to provide, in addition to providing referrals to child-care and early childhood education services, certain services. Sec. 310.006. ADVERTISEMENT OF SERVICES. Requires the network, through its members, to inform certain individuals in the member's service area of certain information. Sets forth the means by which a member is authorized to provide the information under this section. Sec. 310.007. COLLECTION OF CHILD-CARE DATA. Requires the network, through its members, to take certain actions. Requires the data required by this section to include a comprehensive compilation of all available child-care and early childhood education services in this state and information concerning unmet needs of consumers with respect to those services. Requires the commission and the Department of Protective and Regulatory Services to provide assistance to the network and members of the network in collecting, aggregating, and updating the data required by this section. Sec. 310.008. RULES. Authorizes the commission to adopt rules necessary to implement this chapter. SECTION 2. Requires the commission to award a contract to establish the child-care resource and referral network required by Chapter 310, Labor Code, as added by this Act, not later than January 1, 2002. SECTION 3. Effective date: September 1, 2001.