HBA-MPA H.B. 2609 76(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2609 By: Greenberg Economic Development 4/4/1999 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Currently, many children attend 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 be 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. This scholarship covers the cost of earning the credential ($300) and provides money for exam preparation ($700). 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 four years old. 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. (a) Requires the Texas Workforce Commission (commission) to develop and administer a program under which it awards scholarships for professional child-care training to eligible recipients seeking Child Development Associate (CDA) nationalcredentials. (b) Requires that each recipient receive a $1,000 scholarship, of which, $700 applies to training expenses and the remaining $300 toward obtaining CDA national credentials. Authorizes a person to receive only one scholarship. (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 CDA national credentials, agree to work in a child-care facility for at least three additional years, and satisfy any other requirements adopted by the commission. (d) Authorizes the commission to provide wage supplementation in an amount and duration it determines to a scholarship recipient who provides care for children younger than four years old. Authorizes the commission to provide wage supplementation for not more than 18 months after the award of the scholarship. (e) 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. (f) 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 threeyear 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.