H-0481.1
HOUSE BILL 1141
State of Washington | 66th Legislature | 2019 Regular Session |
ByRepresentatives Reeves, Appleton, and Stanford
Read first time 01/15/19.Referred to Committee on Human Services & Early Learning.
AN ACT Relating to child care supports for military families; and adding a new section to chapter
43.216 RCW.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. A new section is added to chapter
43.216 RCW to read as follows:
(1) Subject to the availability of amounts appropriated for this specific purpose, a service member who is enlisted in any branch of the armed forces of the United States is eligible to receive working connections child care. When determining service member eligibility and copayment for a service member under this section, the department:
(a) Must authorize care in cases where the household income of the service member does not exceed eighty-five percent of the state median income at the time of application and the service member meets all other program eligibility requirements;
(b) Must consider the length of the service member's military service and, in the event of a waitlist, prioritize longer-serving service members when authorizing care; and
(c) May not require a copayment greater than sixty-five dollars per month.
(2) The number of households determined eligible under this section is not considered part of the average monthly caseload limit for program enrollment, if such a limit is identified in the omnibus operating appropriations act.
(3) Funds authorized under this section may not supplant federal child care subsidy funds available to the service member through the department of defense child care assistance fee program authorized by P.L. 115-232 as it existed on January 1, 2019, or substantively similar successor program. Funds appropriated in the omnibus operating appropriations act for this specific purpose may be used to pay the difference, with the exception of any required copayment by the service member, between the federal subsidy and the cost of care if the federal funds available through the department of defense child care assistance fee program are not sufficient to cover the entire cost of care.
(4) For the purposes of this section, "service member" means an enlisted member of any branch of the armed forces of the United States who is not a commissioned officer.
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