HBA-NMO H.B. 66 76(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 66
By: Greenberg
Human Services
2/8/1999
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Currently, Texas does not provide scholarship assistance for individuals
seeking professional child care training.  Due to high turnover, there is a
shortage of child care providers across the state.  This high turnover rate
may be attributable to lack of training, low wages, and few benefits.  H.B.
66 provides scholarships to eligible child care workers seeking to obtain
Child Development Associate (CDA) national credentials.  The scholarship
covers the cost of obtaining the credentials and exam preparation. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the Opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that rulemaking
authority is expressly delegated to the Texas Department of Protective and
Regulatory Services in SECTION 1 (Sec. 42.025, Human Resources Code) of
this bill. 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1.  Amends Subchapter B, Chapter 42, Human Resources Code, by
adding Section 42.025,  as follows: 

Sec.  42.025.  PROFESSIONAL CHILD-CARE TRAINING SCHOLARSHIPS. (a) Requires
the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services (department) to
develop and administer a program to award scholarships for professional
child-care training to eligible recipients seeking to obtain Child
Development Associate (CDA) national credentials. 
 
(b) Requires each recipient to receive a $1,000 scholarship.  Requires the
recipient to apply $700 toward training expenses and $300 toward obtaining
CDA national credentials.  Authorizes a person to receive only one
scholarship. 
 
(c) Provides that to be eligible to receive a scholarship, a person must be
employed in the child-care field; intend to obtain CDA national
credentials; agree to work in the child-care field for at least three
additional years; and satisfy any other requirements adopted by the
department. 
 
(d) Authorizes the department to provide wage supplementation to a
scholarship recipient who provides care for children less than four years
of age.  Authorizes the department to provide wage supplementation for not
more than 18 months after the date the department awards the scholarship. 
 
(e) Requires the department to fund scholarships and wage supplementation
through federal Child Care Development funds or other funding sources
available to the department.  Prohibits total funding from exceeding $2
million per state biennium. 
 
(f) Requires the department to adopt rules to implement this section.
Provides that the rules must include provisions that address the
computation of the three-year service requirement and ensure the department
may recover scholarship money from any recipient who fails to meet any
requirement set by the department. 

 SECTION 2.  Effective date:  September 1, 1999.

SECTION 3.  Emergency clause.