H-2341.1 _______________________________________________
SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1863
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State of Washington 55th Legislature 1997 Regular Session
By House Committee on Children & Family Services (originally sponsored by Representatives Cooke, Dickerson, Boldt, McDonald, Hatfield, Gombosky, Wood, Regala, Blalock, Conway, Costa, Pennington, Anderson, Kessler and Ogden)
Read first time 03/03/97.
AN ACT Relating to child care; and adding new sections to chapter 74.13 RCW.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. A new section is added to chapter 74.13 RCW to read as follows:
(1) The department shall contract for a study of families currently on temporary assistance for needy families and those utilizing transitional child care in order to measure the impact of welfare-to-work programs on child care demand. The components of the study shall include, but not be limited to:
(a) Ages of children needing care;
(b) Geographic location of family residence and work sites of those on transitional child care;
(c) Presence of any disability or special care need of children of families within this population, including older children with developmental disabilities; and
(d) Type of child care accessed.
(2) The department shall contract for a study of child care supply. This study shall include, but not be limited to:
(a) Actual and potential capacity of existing programs by age of child; hours of operation; days of the week; part-time/full-time slots; proximity to schools and public transportation; and
(b) Training and education attained by the child care providers.
(3) Based upon the child care demand and supply studies conducted under this section, the department shall develop a plan for targeted recruitment of new licensed child care providers and expansion of existing child care programs where appropriate.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 74.13 RCW to read as follows:
The department may support ongoing child care consumer education activities so that parents will be better able to make informed choices about appropriate care. The consumer education activities shall include, but not be limited to, outreach to churches, synagogues, nonprofit service providers, businesses, labor organizations, local governments, and other community organizations.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. A new section is added to chapter 74.13 RCW to read as follows:
(1) Existing community-based, nonprofit child care resource and referral programs shall support families moving from welfare to work with appropriate child care assistance.
(2) In order to provide all families in Washington state with equal access to child care information, the department shall within existing funds, support nonprofit child care resource and referral services across the state.
(3) The department may support a program of enhanced child care resource and referral in order to provide more in-depth client-centered assistance to recipients who have children under six years of age and are unable to find appropriate, affordable, available child care through conventional means.
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