By Villarreal                                         H.B. No. 2781
         77R6262 KLA-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 D, Chapter 301, Labor Code, is amended
 1-6     by adding Section 301.069 to read as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 301.069.  CHILD-CARE DEMONSTRATION PROJECT GRANTS. (a)
 1-8     The commission shall 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.  The commission
1-11     shall make at least 12 but not more than 16 grants available and
1-12     shall award the grants through a competitive bidding process.
1-13           (b)  A local workforce development board that receives a
1-14     grant under this section shall use the grant to design and
1-15     implement a demonstration project that:
1-16                 (1)  expands child-care services in underserved rural
1-17     local workforce development areas, including:
1-18                       (A)  home-based child-care services;
1-19                       (B)  child-care services at nontraditional times,
1-20     including services that accommodate the child-care needs of parents
1-21     who work shift-schedules, evenings, and weekends; and
1-22                       (C)  services to link child-care programs,
1-23     prekindergarten programs under Subchapter E, Chapter 29, Education
1-24     Code,  and the federal Head Start program;
 2-1                 (2)  creates or expands existing pilot programs based
 2-2     on demonstrated models, including the North Carolina T.E.A.C.H.
 2-3     project, that provide strategies for successfully recruiting and
 2-4     retaining child-care providers;
 2-5                 (3)  creates pilot programs designed to assist
 2-6     low-income, at-risk parents receiving child-care services provided
 2-7     by the commission with career counseling and locating employment
 2-8     with the potential for career advancement; and
 2-9                 (4)  develops initiatives that foster school readiness
2-10     in young children and encourage pre-reading and problem-solving
2-11     skills in those children.
2-12           (c)  To be eligible for a grant under this section, a local
2-13     workforce development board must:
2-14                 (1)  conduct the demonstration project for which the
2-15     grant is made:
2-16                       (A)  for a period of at least 12 but not more
2-17     than 24 months on an annual budget of not more than $400,000; and
2-18                       (B)  in a manner that allows replication of the
2-19     project in whole or part by other local workforce development
2-20     boards to address similar child-care service needs in underserved
2-21     local workforce development areas; and
2-22                 (2)  use the grant to directly provide child-care
2-23     services that, at the conclusion of the demonstration project, will
2-24     be funded through existing local workforce development board
2-25     resources for child-care services or other local resources.
2-26           SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2001.