By Martinez Fischer                                   H.B. No. 2074
         77R5033 JJT-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to a study of means to increase the supply of child care
 1-3     providers in this state.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1. (a)  The Texas Workforce Commission shall conduct
 1-6     a study of means by which this state may act to increase the supply
 1-7     of child care providers in this state.  In conducting the study,
 1-8     the commission shall give special consideration to the needs for
 1-9     child care services of parents involved with welfare-to-work
1-10     programs or similar services of the commission and other state
1-11     agencies.  The commission shall include in its study an analysis of
1-12     proposed or experimental programs the commission considers to have
1-13     merit and the efforts of other states in this regard, including:
1-14                 (1)  mechanisms such as:
1-15                       (A)  the Connecticut Child Care Facilities
1-16     program under the laws of that state, including Public Acts 97-259
1-17     and 98-167, and other similar programs of that and other states
1-18     that use pooled tax-exempt bond debt for financing grant or loan
1-19     programs;
1-20                       (B)  revolving loan programs;
1-21                       (C)  grant programs; and
1-22                       (D)  contracts with the state for services; and
1-23                 (2)  any other mechanism.
1-24           (b)  The commission shall report its findings from the study
 2-1     to the governor, the lieutenant governor, and the speaker of the
 2-2     house of representatives not later than September 1, 2002.  The
 2-3     report shall include:
 2-4                 (1)  a summary of the different mechanisms used in
 2-5     other states to increase the supply of child care providers;
 2-6                 (2)  a summary of proposed or experimental programs
 2-7     designed to increase the supply of child care providers;
 2-8                 (3)  an analysis of the effects an increased supply of
 2-9     child care providers is likely to have on welfare-to-work programs
2-10     and in the provision of similar services of the commission and
2-11     other state agencies, including cost savings that may be realized
2-12     in those programs and by those service providers; and
2-13                 (4)  specific recommendations of means for this state
2-14     to increase the supply of child care providers available in this
2-15     state, including recommended:
2-16                       (A)  changes in law necessary to implement the
2-17     recommendations;
2-18                       (B)  funding levels, sources, and mechanisms
2-19     necessary to implement the recommendations; and
2-20                       (C)  state agencies or state-created corporations
2-21     to implement the recommendations.
2-22           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
2-23     a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
2-24     provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this
2-25     Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
2-26     Act takes effect September 1, 2001.