H-0233.3

HOUSE BILL 1142

ByRepresentatives Reeves, Gregerson, and Stanford

AN ACT Relating to requiring an assessment of Washington's child care industry; adding a new section to chapter 43.330 RCW; and providing an expiration date.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1. A new section is added to chapter 43.330 RCW to read as follows:

(1) The department shall enter into a contract for the development of a regional assessment of the child care industry in Washington in order to better understand issues affecting child care access and affordability for families. The department shall conduct one or more competitive solicitations in accordance with chapter 39.26 RCW to select a third-party entity to conduct the industry assessment. The third-party entity selected by the department through the competitive process must have experience in national industry assessment.

(2) The industry assessment must be submitted to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the legislature, the governor, and the members of the child care collaborative task force established in chapter 91, Laws of 2018 by July 1, 2020. The assessment must, at a minimum:

(a) Incorporate current data on the number of children age twelve and under who are receiving care from child care and early learning providers. The data must differentiate, to the extent possible: Children served by licensed and certified child care centers and family homes; license-exempt providers who care for children for four hours or less per day; family, friend, and neighbor caregivers; nannies and au pairs; religious organizations providing care; entities providing before-and-after school care; employer-supported child care; and other formal and informal networks of care. The data must include a breakdown, by provider type, of the:

(i) Number of children receiving state subsidized care;

(ii) Number of children receiving exclusively private pay care; and

(iii) Average number of years of provider operations and the average number of times a provider has changed locations;

(b) Define and describe the characteristics of the informal child care market, including estimates of the children served in this market by age group;

(c) Identify family child care choices by family income bracket;

(d) Include a visual representation of child care supply and demand by region that identifies areas with the highest need related to child care accessibility and affordability;

(e) Identify trends in the relationship between private pay rates and subsidy rates for child care providers; and

(f) Include an analysis of the industry's measurable contribution to the state's economy, including:

(i) Employment and wage information for self-employed licensed child care providers and the employees of licensed child care providers;

(ii) Workforce pipeline data for early learning professions;

(iii) The estimated costs to the state economy of child care inaccessibility, including lost economic activity and reduced tax revenue; and

(iv) Direct and indirect effects on labor participation, workplace productivity, and household earnings of working parents who use child care. The analysis must include information related to the workplace productivity of workers using employer-supported child care.

(3) For the purposes of this section, "employer-supported child care" means:

(a) A licensed child care center operated at or near the workplace by an employer for the benefit of employees; or

(b) Financial assistance provided by an employer for licensed child care expenses incurred by an employee.

(4) This section expires December 31, 2020.

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