BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 175

By: González, Mary

Trade, Workforce & Economic Development

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Research from the Administration for Children and Families has shown that children with disabilities and developmental delays in inclusive settings are more likely to practice newly acquired skills, such as speech and language. However, the bill author has informed the committee that many parents still struggle with finding a provider who will enroll their child with a disability because of funding issues. The Texas Rising Star Program provides incentives for providers to reach certain sets of standards, such as increasing reimbursement amounts dependent upon the level of quality provided. The bill author has further informed the committee that there are a variety of criteria providers have to meet for children with disabilities and multilingual learners, and many parents are struggling to find placement in child-care settings where a child with a disability is able to attend. C.S.H.B. 175 seeks to address this issue by requiring the Texas Workforce Commission to create optional certifications that a child-care provider may obtain to enhance the provider's rating under the rising star program and requiring one of the certifications to be for providers who provide for the inclusion of children with disabilities with their typically developing peers. The bill establishes a grant program for those providers who obtain an optional certification to enhance the provider's rating under the program.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the Texas Workforce Commission in SECTION 1 of this bill.

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 175 amends the Government Code to require the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC), as part of the Texas Rising Star Program, to create optional certifications that a child‑care provider may obtain to enhance the provider's rating under the program. The bill requires such optional certifications to include a certification for child-care providers who provide for the inclusion of children with disabilities with their typically developing peers.

C.S.H.B. 175 requires TWC to establish and administer a grant program to provide a child-care provider who receives an optional certification under the bill's provisions with additional funding. The bill requires TWC to award a grant under the grant program to a provider in each year the provider receives or maintains the optional certification. The bill requires a child-care provider who obtains an optional certification under the bill's provisions to apply to TWC on the form and in the manner prescribed by TWC rule to receive a grant under the grant program. The bill requires TWC, in determining the amount of such a grant, to consider the age groups of children served by the provider and the provider's enrollment capacity. The bill authorizes TWC to solicit and accept gifts, grants, and donations from any public or private source for purposes of the bill's provisions and requires TWC, as soon as practicable after the bill's effective date, to adopt rules to administer those provisions.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2025.

COMPARISON OF INTRODUCED AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 175 may differ from the introduced in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

Whereas the introduced required TWC to provide a child-care provider who receives an optional certification under the bill's provisions with an additional reimbursement amount, capped at the reimbursement amount for a Texas Rising Star Program provider with a two-star rating, the substitute requires TWC instead to establish and administer a grant program to provide such a child-care provider with additional funding and sets out provisions providing for that grant program.

The substitute includes the following provisions absent from the introduced:

· an authorization for TWC to solicit and accept gifts, grants, and donations from any public or private source for purposes of the bill's provisions;

· a requirement for TWC to adopt rules to administer the bill's provisions; and

· a requirement for TWC to adopt those rules as soon as practicable after the bill's effective date.