Bill Text: TX HB1979 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Engrossed

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Bill Title: Relating to the powers and duties of the Texas Workforce Commission and local workforce development boards regarding the provision of child care.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-2)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2023-05-05 - Referred to Natural Resources & Economic Development [HB1979 Detail]

Download: Texas-2023-HB1979-Engrossed.html

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By: Raney, Plesa, Bumgarner, Lopez of Bexar, H.B. No. 1979
et al.

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the powers and duties of the Texas Workforce Commission
and local workforce development boards regarding the provision of
child care.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 2308.256(a), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) A board is composed as follows:
(1) representatives of the private sector, who:
(A) constitute a majority of the membership of
the board; and
(B) are owners of business concerns, chief
executives or chief operating officers of nongovernmental
employers, or other private sector executives who have substantial
management or policy responsibilities, including owners or
operators of child-care businesses who must constitute not less
than 10 percent of private sector representatives on the board;
(2) representatives of organized labor and
community-based organizations, who constitute not less than 15
percent of the membership of the board; and
(3) representatives of each of the following:
(A) educational agencies, including community
colleges and secondary and postsecondary practitioners
representing vocational education, that are representative of all
educational agencies in the service delivery area;
(B) vocational rehabilitation agencies;
(C) public assistance agencies;
(D) economic development agencies;
(E) the public employment service;
(F) local literacy councils; [and]
(G) adult basic and continuing education
organizations; and
(H) the child-care workforce, including persons
with expertise in child care or early childhood education who are
not included in the representatives described by Subdivision
(1)(B).
SECTION 2. Section 2308.3171, Government Code, is amended
by amending Subsection (c) and adding Subsection (c-1) to read as
follows:
(c) Each board shall post in a prominent place on the
board's Internet website home page and at any physical location
where the board provides services:
(1) a list of local designated vendors that are
child-care providers and have a quality child-care indicator listed
in Subsection (a)(1), (2), (3), or (4); [and]
(2) a list of local parenting classes;
(3) information for parents regarding finding quality
child-care providers;
(4) information regarding the value of quality child
care and the Texas Rising Star Program;
(5) information for parents regarding:
(A) eligibility for child-care assistance,
including subsidized child-care services and other child-care
scholarships;
(B) the application process for child-care
assistance; and
(C) determining the status of a financial
assistance application;
(6) information for child-care providers regarding:
(A) the process for accepting children whose
parents receive child-care assistance; and
(B) the Texas Rising Star Program certification
process; and
(7) contact information, including a telephone number
and an e-mail address, where a child-care provider may receive
assistance with questions or bring a grievance.
(c-1) Each local workforce development board shall make the
following information available to the public on a quarterly basis:
(1) data regarding child-care waitlists, including
the number of children in the board's workforce development area
who are:
(A) on a waitlist, disaggregated by age and zip
code based on the child's home address;
(B) taken off a waitlist and enrolled with a
child-care provider under the subsidized child-care program; and
(C) added to a waitlist during the quarter;
(2) the number of children in the board's workforce
development area receiving subsidized child care, disaggregated by
zip code based on the child's home address;
(3) data regarding child-care providers, including
the number of providers in the board's workforce development area
who during the quarter:
(A) improved the provider's Texas Rising Star
Program rating level;
(B) had the provider's Texas Rising Star Program
rating level decrease; and
(C) received quality dollars from the board; and
(4) data regarding the outcomes related to quality
dollars provided by the board to child-care providers in the
board's workforce development area.
SECTION 3. Subchapter A, Chapter 302, Labor Code, is
amended by adding Section 302.00434 to read as follows:
Sec. 302.00434. SUBSIDIZED CHILD-CARE PROGRAM; RULE CHANGE
POLICY. (a) The commission shall develop appropriate training and
provide the training to local workforce development boards and
persons who contract with a board to provide services related to the
subsidized child-care program.
(b) The commission shall develop a reasonable timeline for
implementing each change the commission makes to:
(1) the rules regarding the subsidized child-care
program; and
(2) the allocation of funds under the subsidized
child-care program.
SECTION 4. Subchapter A, Chapter 302, Labor Code, is
amended by adding Section 302.0063 to read as follows:
Sec. 302.0063. CHILD-CARE PERFORMANCE TARGETS. (a) The
commission shall establish child-care performance targets in a
manner that accounts for cost differentials related to providing
child-care services to various populations. In setting the
performance targets, the commission shall consider:
(1) the total number of children served by child-care
providers in a board's workforce development area;
(2) the number of children served by Texas Rising Star
Program providers in a board's workforce development area with a
two-star, three-star, or four-star rating;
(3) the needs and ages of children served by
child-care providers in a board's workforce development area;
(4) the types of providers commonly selected by
parents in a board's workforce development area; and
(5) any other factors determined necessary by the
commission, including data-driven factors provided to the
commission by a board.
(b) The commission shall, at least once every six months
during the performance period, review the commission's child-care
performance targets and funding based on those targets and make
adjustments based on the cost differentials the commission used at
the time the performance targets were initially set.
SECTION 5. Section 2308.256(g), Government Code, is
repealed.
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.