WSR 17-15-090 PROPOSED RULES DEPARTMENT OF EARLY LEARNING [Filed July 18, 2017, 9:00 a.m.]
Original Notice.
Preproposal statement of inquiry was filed as WSR 16-22-080.
Title of Rule and Other Identifying Information: WAC 170-290-0190 WCCC authorized and additional payments—Determining units of care.
Hearing Location(s): Department of Early Learning (DEL), State Office, 110 Jefferson Street S.E., Room 113, Olympia, WA, on August 22, 2017, at 10:30 a.m.
Date of Intended Adoption: August 23, 2017.
Submit Written Comments to: Rules Coordinator, P.O. Box 40970, Olympia, WA 98504-0970, email rules@del.wa.gov, fax (360) 725-4925, by August 22, 2017.
Assistance for Persons with Disabilities: Contact DEL rules coordinator by August 18, 2017, (360) 725-4670.
Purpose of the Proposal and Its Anticipated Effects, Including Any Changes in Existing Rules: Establish units of care thresholds for working connections child care that require DSHS supervisor approval. Also, limit family, friends and neighbor child care providers' authorizations under the one hundred ten hour rule where the child needs less than five hours of care per day.
Reasons Supporting Proposal: Ensure that authorizations for full-time care are right-sized to fit families' care needs and prevent provider billing errors.
Statute Being Implemented: Chapter 43.215 RCW.
Name of Proponent: DEL, governmental.
Name of Agency Personnel Responsible for Drafting: Matt Judge, Child Care Administrator and Subsidy Policy Supervisor, DEL State Office, P.O. Box 40970, Olympia, WA 98504, (360) 725-4665; Implementation and Enforcement: DEL and DSHS, statewide.
No small business economic impact statement has been prepared under chapter 19.85 RCW. The proposed rules are not expected to impose new costs on businesses that are required to comply. If the rules result in costs, those costs are not expected to be "more than minor" as defined in chapter 19.85 RCW.
A cost-benefit analysis is not required under RCW 34.05.328. DEL is not among the agencies listed as required to comply with RCW 34.05.328 (5)[(a)](i). Further, DEL does not voluntarily make that section applicable to the adoption of this rule.
July 18, 2017
Ross Hunter
Director
AMENDATORY SECTION (Amending WSR 16-19-107, filed 9/21/16, effective 10/22/16)
WAC 170-290-0190 WCCC authorized and additional payments—Determining units of care.
(1) DSHS ((may)) will authorize ((and pay for)) the following:
(a) Full-day child care to licensed or certified facilities and DEL contracted seasonal day camps when a consumer's children need care between five and ten hours per day;
(b) Half-day child care to licensed or certified facilities and DEL contracted seasonal day camps when a consumer's children need care for less than five hours per day;
(c) Hourly child care for in-home/relative child care;
(d) Full-time care when the consumer participates in one hundred ten hours or more of approved activities per calendar month based on the consumer's approved activity schedule. Full-time care means the following:
(i) For licensed care or certified facilities, twenty-three full-day units if the child needs five or more hours of care per day, or thirty half-day units if the child needs fewer than five hours of care per day; and
(ii) Two hundred thirty hours for in-home/relative child care((;)) if the child needs five or more hours of care per day or one hundred fifteen hours for in-home/relative child care if the child needs fewer than five hours of care per day. Supervisor approval is required for DSHS to authorize more than two hundred thirty hours of in-home/relative child care in a calendar month for a single child.
(e) A registration fee (under WAC 170-290-0245);
(f) A field trip fee (under WAC 170-290-0247);
(g) Special needs care when the child has a documented need for a higher level of care (under WAC 170-290-0220, 170-290-0225, 170-290-0230, and 170-290-0235); and
(h) A nonstandard hours bonus under WAC 170-290-0249.
(2) Beginning September 1, 2016, and applicable to school-age children, DSHS will authorize and pay for child care as follows:
(a) DSHS will automatically increase half-day authorizations to full-day authorizations beginning the month of June when the child needs full-day care; ((and))
(b) DSHS will automatically decrease full-day authorizations to half-day authorizations beginning the month of September unless the child continues to need full-day care during the school year until the following June. If the consumer's schedule has changed and more care is needed, the consumer must request an increase, and DSHS will verify the need for increased care. DSHS will send the consumer notification of the decrease as stated in WAC 170-290-0025; and
(c) Beginning September 1, 2017, DSHS will authorize one hundred fifteen hours of child care for the in-home/relative provider and DSHS will authorize additional contingency hours of care needed for the school-aged child by the in-home/relative provider when the child needs full-time care. Contingency hours will have a variable monthly limit and be available for each month of the calendar year. Supervisor approval is required when a school-aged child needs more than two hundred thirty hours of in-home/relative child care a month.
(3) DSHS may authorize up to the provider's private pay rate if:
(a) The parent is a WorkFirst participant; and
(b) Appropriate child care, at the state rate, is not available within a reasonable distance from the approved activity site.
"Appropriate" means licensed or certified child care under WAC 170-290-0125, or an approved in-home/relative provider under WAC 170-290-0130.
"Reasonable distance" is determined by comparing what other local families must travel to access appropriate child care.
(4) DSHS authorizes overtime care if:
(a) More than ten hours of care is provided per day (up to a maximum of sixteen hours a day); and
(b) The provider's written policy is to charge all families for these hours of care in excess of ten hours per day.
(5) In-home/relative providers who are paid child care subsidies to care for children receiving WCCC benefits cannot receive those benefits for their own children during the hours in which they provide subsidized child care.
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