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.
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1348 was passed by the House on April
27, 2001, by the following vote: Yeas 143, Nays 0, 2 present, not
voting.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1348 was passed by the Senate on May
22, 2001, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 0, 1 present, not
voting.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: __________________________
Date
__________________________
Governor