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                                ENGROSSED SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL NO. 5026

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State of Washington                               51st Legislature                              1989 Regular Session

By Senate Committee on Children & Family Services (originally sponsored by Senators Kreidler, Smith, Stratton, Rinehart, Wojahn and Sutherland)

Read first time 2/17/89.

AN ACT Relating to child care; creating a new section; and making an appropriation.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.     The office of the child care resources coordinator is established to operate under the authority of the department of social and health services.  The office shall:

          (1) Actively seek public or private moneys and administer funding of available grants to local governments, private industry, and community-based nonprofit corporations for the purpose of creating and coordinating local child care resource and referral organizations.

          (2) Provide information to local child care resource and referral organizations about all licensed child care providers in the state.  The data shall include information about the existence of providers by locality and the status of the providers' licenses, including whether the license has been issued, denied, revoked, or suspended or whether a letter of intent to deny, suspend, or revoke has been issued by the department of social and health services.  Department of social and health services licensors shall work with the child care resource coordinator in making such information readily available to local resource and referral organizations.

          (3) Coordinate the provision of training and technical assistance to child care providers.

          (4) Collect and assemble information regarding the availability of insurance and of federal and other child-care funding to assist the department, industry, and other providers in offering child care related services.

          (5) With the involvement of community child care advocates, work to create county or multicounty child care resource and referral organizations.  These groups may carry out needs assessments, resource development, provider training, technical assistance, resource and referral, and parent information and training.  All groups with an interest in child care, including employers and parents, shall be represented on each local resource and referral organization's board.

          (6) Provide staff support and technical assistance to the local child care resource and referral organizations.

          (7) Organize the local child care resource and referral organizations into a state-wide system.

          (8) Award grants of up to twenty-five thousand dollars to the local child care resource and referral organizations to provide the services outlined in subsection (5) of this section.

          (9) Through local resource and referral organizations compile data about local child care needs and availability for future planning and development.

          (10) Provide appropriate information to and assist the Washington state child care partnership within the business assistance center of the department of trade and economic development in carrying out its duties.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.     There is appropriated from the general fund to the office of the child care resources coordinator of the department of social and health services for the biennium ending June 30, 1991, the sum of forty-five thousand five hundred dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, for start-up operating grants for the local child care resource and referral organizations.