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

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
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-Comm_Sub.html
  88R22561 MM-F
 
  By: Raney, Plesa, Bumgarner H.B. No. 1979
 
  Substitute the following for H.B. No. 1979:
 
  By:  Button C.S.H.B. No. 1979
 
 
 
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 rules regarding
  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.
feedback