1-1     By:  Villarreal (Senate Sponsor - Shapleigh)          H.B. No. 1348
 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House April 30, 2001;
 1-3     May 1, 2001, read first time and referred to Committee on Business
 1-4     and Commerce; May 10, 2001, reported favorably by the following
 1-5     vote:  Yeas 6, Nays 0; May 10, 2001, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to a grant program for local workforce development boards
 1-9     to design and implement child-care demonstration projects.
1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11           SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 302, Labor Code, is amended
1-12     by adding Section 302.0041 to read as follows:
1-13           Sec. 302.0041.  CHILD-CARE DEMONSTRATION PROJECT GRANTS. (a)
1-14     The commission may make grants available on a one-time basis to
1-15     local workforce development boards to enable the boards to design
1-16     and implement child-care demonstration projects.
1-17           (b)  A local workforce development board that receives a
1-18     grant under this section shall use the grant to design and
1-19     implement a demonstration project that:
1-20                 (1)  expands child-care services in underserved rural
1-21     local workforce development areas, including:
1-22                       (A)  home-based child-care services;
1-23                       (B)  child-care services at nontraditional times,
1-24     including services that accommodate the child-care needs of parents
1-25     who work shift-schedules, evenings, and weekends; or
1-26                       (C)  services to link child-care programs,
1-27     prekindergarten programs under Subchapter E, Chapter 29, Education
1-28     Code,  and the federal Head Start program;
1-29                 (2)  creates or expands existing pilot programs, based
1-30     on demonstration models from other states, that provide strategies
1-31     for successfully recruiting and retaining child-care providers;
1-32                 (3)  creates pilot programs designed to assist
1-33     low-income, at-risk parents receiving child-care services provided
1-34     by the commission for extended periods who may benefit from career
1-35     counseling and employment location services that promote the
1-36     potential for career advancement; or
1-37                 (4)  develops initiatives that foster school readiness
1-38     in young children and encourage pre-reading and problem-solving
1-39     skills in those children.
1-40           (c)  To be eligible for a grant under this section, a local
1-41     workforce development board must:
1-42                 (1)  conduct the demonstration project for which the
1-43     grant is made in a manner that allows replication of the project in
1-44     whole or part by other local workforce development boards to
1-45     address similar child-care service needs in underserved local
1-46     workforce development areas; and
1-47                 (2)  use the grant to develop direct child-care
1-48     services that, at the conclusion of the demonstration project, may
1-49     be funded.
1-50           (d)  Child-care services that may continue to be funded under
1-51     Subsection (c)(2) at the conclusion of the demonstration project
1-52     may be funded through existing local workforce development board
1-53     resources for child-care services or other local resources.
1-54           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
1-55     a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
1-56     provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this
1-57     Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
1-58     Act takes effect September 1, 2001.
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