Read first time 01/19/11.   Referred to Committee on Health & Human Services Appropriations & Oversight.

     AN ACT Relating to child care center subsidies; and adding a new section to chapter 43.215 RCW.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   A new section is added to chapter 43.215 RCW to read as follows:
     The department shall review the subsidy rates currently paid to child care centers whose average daily population includes more than fifty percent of children for whom the center receives a state subsidized rate. No later than December 1, 2011, the department shall make a recommendation to the appropriate legislative committees whether the subsidy rates to these child care centers should be increased, and if so, by how much and for what reasons. In developing its recommendation, the department must consider the results of the state's voluntary quality improvement rating system pilot communities and potential impacts a tiered reimbursement subsidy rate structure linked to quality indicators would have on the quality of child care in the state. If the department recommends that subsidy rates for these centers should not be raised, then it shall detail the reasons for its conclusion.