BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 3807

By: Harris Davila

Trade, Workforce & Economic Development

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The bill author has informed the committee that although child-care workers are the backbone of our communities, nurturing and educating our youngest Texans, many of these dedicated professionals face a significant challenge in securing affordable child-care for their own children. Further, this irony not only places financial and emotional strain on child-care workers but also contributes to high turnover rates within the industry, exacerbating the state's child-care crisis. C.S.H.B. 3807 seeks to address this issue and ensure a stable and effective child-care workforce by providing for the children of eligible child-care workers to receive priority positions on the waiting list for certain child-care services.

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 this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 3807 amends the Labor Code to require the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) to require that any waiting list for child-care services must establish a priority position for the delivery of those services to children of child-care workers who are eligible for the services. The bill subjects a child-care worker whose child receives a priority position on a waitlist in that manner to redetermination of the individual's eligibility for services in accordance with TWC rule each year. The bill defines "child-care worker" for these purposes as an individual employed by and working in a child-care facility licensed under Human Resources Code provisions relating to the regulation of certain facilities, homes, and agencies that provide child-care services, for a minimum of 25 hours per week. The term does not include the owner or director of a child-care facility unless the owner's or director's child is served in a program other than a program directly supervised by the owner or director.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2025.

COMPARISON OF INTRODUCED AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 3807 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.

Both the introduced and substitute provide for children of child-care workers to receive priority positions on certain child-care waiting lists, but differ as follows:

·       whereas the introduced required a local workforce development board that maintains a waiting list for child-care services to give a priority on the list to children of child-care workers who are eligible for those services, the substitute requires TWC to require that any waiting list for child-care services must establish a priority position for the delivery of those services to children of such eligible child-care workers;

·       whereas the introduced required a child-care worker whose child receives a priority position to continue to work as a child-care worker in Texas until the first anniversary of the date the worker's child is placed in child-care services for which there was a waiting list, the substitute subjects such a child-care worker to annual redetermination of eligibility for services in accordance with TWC rule;

·       the substitute omits the provisions of the introduced that required TWC to review the employment circumstances of a child-care worker whose child received a waiting list priority and who leaves the child-care workforce before the first anniversary of the date the worker's child is placed in child-care services and authorized TWC to terminate child-care services for the worker's child; and

·       the substitute includes a definition for "child-care worker," which was not included in the introduced.