H-4649.1

SECOND SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 2670


State of Washington	65th Legislature	2018 Regular Session

By House Appropriations (originally sponsored by Representatives Kilduff, Muri, Stonier, Stambaugh, Sawyer, Kagi, Sells, Reeves, Ormsby, Jinkins, Santos, Bergquist, Doglio, McBride, Ortiz-Self, Stanford, and Pollet)

READ FIRST TIME 02/06/18.

AN ACT Relating to providing services and supports to pregnant and parenting minors to improve educational attainment; adding a new section to chapter 43.216 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 28A.160 RCW; creating a new section; and providing an effective date.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that the United States census reported for 2016 that nearly twenty-five percent of people ages twenty-five and older without a high school diploma lived in poverty and that intergenerational poverty can affect the lives of future generations unless the cycle of poverty is interrupted with effective services. Therefore, the legislature intends to improve family unity, student outcomes, and the development of our future workforce by removing programmatic barriers to services for pregnant and parenting minors.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 43.216 RCW to read as follows:

A parent who is under eighteen years of age and is attending high school or is working toward completing a general educational development certificate is eligible to receive working connections child care. When determining consumer eligibility and copayment under this section, the department of social and health services:

(1) Must, within existing resources, authorize full-day subsidized child care during the school year in cases where:

(a) The consumer is participating in one hundred ten hours of approved activities per month;

(b) The household income of the consumer does not exceed eighty-five percent of the state median income; and

(2) May not consider the availability of the other biological parent to provide care; and

(3) May not require a copayment that is greater than the minimum copayment established by the department for the program in rule.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. A new section is added to chapter 28A.160 RCW to read as follows:

(1) By July 1, 2020, at the request of an eligible student, a school district:

(a) May allow the student to transport his or her infant on a school bus or other student transportation vehicle provided by the district. The infant must be transported in a rear-facing child restraint system as defined in the federal motor vehicle safety standards in 49 C.F.R. Sec. 571.213;

(b) Must, in cases where a district denies a student's request to transport his or her infant by school bus, authorize other arrangements for individual transportation in accordance with RCW 28A.160.030.

(2) For the purposes of this section, "eligible student" has the same meaning as set forth in RCW 28A.160.160.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. Section 2 of this act takes effect May 1, 2019.

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