HBA-SEP C.S.H.B. 3486 77(R)BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 3486 By: Tillery Economic Development 4/22/2001 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Child care management services vendors often place children in larger facilities that can bear the lower reimbursement rates even though these facilities may not necessarily be convenient for the parents or best for children. Studies show that smaller, home-like environments are both more conducive to learning and provide better continuity of care. C.S.H.B. 3486 creates a pilot program under which child care is provided by operators of eligible family homes to children under four years of age. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS C.S.H.B. 3486 amends the Government Code to require the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) to select one or more vendors to operate pilot programs in three different areas of the state under which child care is provided by operators of eligible family homes to children under four years of age. Each pilot program must include at least 10 operators of eligible family homes. At least one pilot program must be located in a rural area. After selection of the vendors, each local workforce development board (board) in an affected area of the state is required to administer and fund the pilot program operating within that area, subject to guidelines established by TWC. TWC is required to select vendors based on a competitive procurement process. A vendor must have at least seven years of relevant experience to be eligible to participate in a pilot program. The bill requires a vendor selected to participate in a pilot program to recruit eligible operators of family homes to participate in the program and provide those eligible operators with training, mentoring, and other support. The bill sets forth eligibility requirements for a participating family home. TWC is prohibited from implementing the pilot programs in a manner that in any way has the effect of limiting parental choice regarding state-subsidized child care. Not later than December 1 of each evennumbered year, TWC is required to submit to the governor, lieutenant governor, and speaker of the house of representatives a report on the pilot programs. The bill sets forth provisions regarding the report's content. The pilot program provisions expire September 1, 2005. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE C.S.H.B. 3486 modifies the original by removing provisions regarding minimum reimbursement rates for child care. The substitute decreases, from 25 to 10, the minimum number of operators of eligible family homes that each pilot program must have. The substitute also decreases, from five to three, the number of areas in which the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) is required to operate pilot programs and provides that at least one pilot program must be located in a rural area. The substitute prohibits TWC from implementing the pilot programs in a manner that in any way has the effect of limiting parental choice regarding state-subsidized child care.