Reasons Why Rules on this Subject may be Needed and What They Might Accomplish: The child care subsidy programs offer child care payment assistance for families who meet an income threshold and participate in program-approved activities. The department determines how many units of full-day or half-day child care a family is eligible to reach each month by considering how many hours are spent performing the approved activities each week and whether the children needing care attend school. Beginning in fiscal year 2022, the department of children, youth, and families intends to authorize monthly rates that are expected to simplify authorizations and reduce over-authorization. Monthly rate authorizations are expected to benefit child care providers by simplifying billing, reducing the risk of overpayments that must be repaid, and allowing for better financial planning, all of which may potentially attract more providers to the subsidy programs.

Interested parties can participate in the decision to adopt the new rule and formulation of the proposed rule before publication by contacting Toni Sebastian, P.O. Box 40970, Olympia, WA 98504-0970, phone 206-200-0824, email toni.sebastian@dcyf.wa.gov, website https://dcyf.wa.gov/.