HBA-DMD, MPA H.B. 2609 76(R)BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2609 By: Greenberg Economic Development 9/15/1999 Enrolled BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Prior to the 76th Legislature, many children attended child care facilities with untrained child care workers. A statewide survey by the Texas Workforce Commission (commission) indicated that from 1993 to 1995, 31 percent of child care workers left their jobs in one year. A trained worker who has made the investment of time and energy to pursue training in the child care profession may have been less likely to take another job simply for higher pay. H.B. 2609 provides scholarships for individuals working on their Child Development Associate credentials, the cost of which is often prohibitive for a child care worker, who may earn wages as low as $6 an hour. To qualify, individuals must be employed full-time in a listed or registered child care center and agree to work in a child care facility for an additional three years. This bill allows the commission to supplement the wages of qualified scholarship recipients for up to 18 months after receiving the scholarship. In order to qualify for the wage supplementation, the recipient must provide care for children under six years old and continue to work in the same child care facility. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that rulemaking authority is expressly delegated to Texas Workforce Commission in SECTION 1 (Section 302.006, Labor Code) of this bill. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Subchapter A, Chapter 302, Labor Code, by adding Section 302.006, as follows: Sec. 302.006. PROFESSIONAL CHILD-CARE TRAINING SCHOLARSHIPS, BONUSES, AND WAGE SUPPLEMENTATION. (a) Requires the Texas Workforce Commission (commission) to develop and administer a program under which it awards scholarships in the amount of $1,000 each for professional child-care training to eligible recipients. (b) Authorizes a recipient awarded a scholarship to pay expenses associated with obtaining Child Development Associate (CDA) national credentials, Certified Child-Care Professional (CCP) credentials, or a level one certificate or associate's degree in the area of child development or early childhood education from a public or private institution of higher education. (c) Provides that a person, to be eligible to receive a scholarship, must be employed in a child-care facility, as defined in Section 42.002 (Definitions), Human Resource Code, intend to obtain a credential, certificate or degree, agree to work in a child-care facility for at least 18 additional months, and satisfy any other requirements adopted by the commission. (d) Prohibits a person from receiving more than one scholarship. (e) Authorizes the commission to provide for payment of a bonus or wage supplementation for 18 months to a recipient who provides care for children younger than six years old. Requires any bonus or wage supplementation provided under this section to be paid in equal shares by the scholarship recipient's employer and the commission. Requires the commission to determine the amount and duration of any wage supplementation. (f) Requires the commission to fund the scholarship and any wage supplementation through federal Child Care Development funds or other funding sources available to the commission. Prohibits state funding from exceeding $2,000,000 per state biennium. (g) Requires the commission to adopt rules as necessary to implement this section. Provides that the rules must include provisions that address the computation of the 18 month service requirement prescribed by this section, and ensure that the commission recovers scholarship money from recipients who fail to comply with the service or other requirements imposed by the commission. SECTION 2. Effective date: September 1, 1999. SECTION 3. Emergency clause.