By Villarreal                                         H.B. No. 1348
         77R11552 JMM-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to a grant program for local workforce development boards
 1-3     to design and implement child-care demonstration projects.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 302, Labor Code, is amended
 1-6     by adding Section 302.0041 to read as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 302.0041.  CHILD-CARE DEMONSTRATION PROJECT GRANTS. (a)
 1-8     The commission may make grants available on a one-time basis to
 1-9     local workforce development boards to enable the boards to design
1-10     and implement child-care demonstration projects.
1-11           (b)  A local workforce development board that receives a
1-12     grant under this section shall use the grant to design and
1-13     implement a demonstration project that:
1-14                 (1)  expands child-care services in underserved rural
1-15     local workforce development areas, including:
1-16                       (A)  home-based child-care services;
1-17                       (B)  child-care services at nontraditional times,
1-18     including services that accommodate the child-care needs of parents
1-19     who work shift-schedules, evenings, and weekends; or
1-20                       (C)  services to link child-care programs,
1-21     prekindergarten programs under Subchapter E, Chapter 29, Education
1-22     Code,  and the federal Head Start program;
1-23                 (2)  creates or expands existing pilot programs, based
1-24     on demonstration models from other states, that provide strategies
 2-1     for successfully recruiting and retaining child-care providers;
 2-2                 (3)  creates pilot programs designed to assist
 2-3     low-income, at-risk parents receiving child-care services provided
 2-4     by the commission for extended periods who may benefit from career
 2-5     counseling and employment location services that promote the
 2-6     potential for career advancement; or
 2-7                 (4)  develops initiatives that foster school readiness
 2-8     in young children and encourage pre-reading and problem-solving
 2-9     skills in those children.
2-10           (c)  To be eligible for a grant under this section, a local
2-11     workforce development board must:
2-12                 (1)  conduct the demonstration project for which the
2-13     grant is made in a manner that allows replication of the project in
2-14     whole or part by other local workforce development boards to
2-15     address similar child-care service needs in underserved local
2-16     workforce development areas; and
2-17                 (2)  use the grant to develop direct child-care
2-18     services that, at the conclusion of the demonstration project, may
2-19     be funded.
2-20           (d)  Child-care services that may continue to be funded under
2-21     Subsection (c)(2) at the conclusion of the demonstration project
2-22     may be funded through existing local workforce development board
2-23     resources for child-care services or other local resources.
2-24           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
2-25     a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
2-26     provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this
2-27     Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
 3-1     Act takes effect September 1, 2001.