Text: SF02296                           Text: SF02298
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Senate File 2297

Partial Bill History

Bill Text

PAG LIN
  1  1    Section 1.  NEW SECTION.  237A.13  STATE CHILD CARE
  1  2 ASSISTANCE PROGRAM.
  1  3    1.  For purposes of this section, unless the context
  1  4 otherwise requires, "federal poverty level" means the most
  1  5 recently revised poverty income guidelines published by the
  1  6 United States department of health and human services.
  1  7    2.  A state child care assistance program is established to
  1  8 provide uniform access and eligibility standards for publicly
  1  9 funded child day care.  The program requirements shall be
  1 10 established in rules adopted by the department in accordance
  1 11 with this section pursuant to the recommendations of the child
  1 12 day care advisory council.
  1 13    3.  a.  Eligibility for state child care assistance shall
  1 14 require an annual family income equal to or less than one
  1 15 hundred-fifty percent of the federal poverty level.
  1 16    b.  The program shall not apply a copayment, sliding fee
  1 17 scale, or other cost sharing requirement to participating
  1 18 families with an annual income equal to or less than one
  1 19 hundred percent of the federal poverty level.
  1 20    4.  The administrator shall contract for or implement by
  1 21 other means a single point of access for eligibility
  1 22 determination which provides for parental choice, consumer
  1 23 education, and referral counseling.
  1 24    5.  Provider reimbursement shall utilize a voucher payment
  1 25 system.  The smallest unit of reimbursement shall be a half-
  1 26 day rate.  Reimbursement rates and the system for
  1 27 administering reimbursement shall be uniform statewide.
  1 28    Sec. 2.  Section 239B.7, subsection 3, Code Supplement
  1 29 1997, is amended to read as follows:
  1 30    3.  CHILD DAY CARE DEDUCTION ASSISTANCE.  A family shall be
  1 31 allowed family's eligibility for a state child day care
  1 32 deduction as specified in rules assistance subsidy shall be
  1 33 determined in accordance with section 237A.13.  A family with
  1 34 a stepparent shall be allowed a eligible for state child day
  1 35 care deduction assistance for any children of the stepparent
  2  1 or the parent, subject to the limits provided in applicable
  2  2 rules.
  2  3    Sec. 3.  Section 239B.8, subsection 2, unnumbered paragraph
  2  4 1, Code Supplement 1997, is amended to read as follows:
  2  5    A family investment agreement shall require an individual
  2  6 to participate in one or more of the options enumerated in
  2  7 this subsection.  An individual's level of participation in
  2  8 one or more of the options shall be equivalent to the level of
  2  9 commitment required for full-time employment or shall be
  2 10 significant so as to move the individual's level of
  2 11 participation toward that level.  The department shall adopt
  2 12 rules for each option defining requirements and establishing
  2 13 assistance provisions for child day care, transportation, and
  2 14 other support services.  Child day care assistance shall be
  2 15 provided under the state child care assistance program created
  2 16 in section 237A.13.  The options shall include but are not
  2 17 limited to all of the following:
  2 18    Sec. 4.  Section 239B.23, Code Supplement 1997, is amended
  2 19 to read as follows:
  2 20    239B.23  CHILD DAY CARE PROVISIONS.
  2 21    The following provisions involving child day care benefits
  2 22 shall apply to individuals who no longer receive family
  2 23 investment program assistance due to employment:
  2 24    1.  Eligibility for transitional child care benefits for a
  2 25 period of twenty-four months.
  2 26    2.  The department shall automatically determine an
  2 27 individual's eligibility for other child day care benefits if
  2 28 the individual is not eligible for transitional child care or
  2 29 eligibility for transitional child care benefits is exhausted.
  2 30    Applicants and participants shall be eligible for state
  2 31 child care assistance as provided in section 237A.13.
  2 32    Sec. 5.  TRANSITIONAL CHILD CARE ASSISTANCE.
  2 33 Notwithstanding the amendment to section 239B.23 in this Act,
  2 34 an individual receiving transitional child care assistance
  2 35 under section 239B.23 on June 30, 1998, shall remain eligible
  3  1 for the assistance until the period of eligibility applicable
  3  2 to that individual as of June 30, 1998, has expired.  
  3  3                           EXPLANATION
  3  4    This bill establishes a unified publicly funded child day
  3  5 care assistance program administered by the department of
  3  6 human services.
  3  7    New Code section 237A.13 creates the state child care
  3  8 assistance program in the Code chapter relating to child
  3  9 daycare facilities under the authority of the department.  The
  3 10 department is directed to adopt rules for the program as
  3 11 recommended by the child day care advisory council.
  3 12 Eligibility is limited to families with an annual income at or
  3 13 below 150 percent of the federal poverty level.  Cost sharing
  3 14 requirements are not to be applied to participants with a
  3 15 family income at or below 100 percent of the federal poverty
  3 16 level.  Child day care provider reimbursement is to be
  3 17 provided with vouchers and the smallest reimbursement unit is
  3 18 to be one half-day.
  3 19    Code section 239B.7, relating to exemptions, deductions,
  3 20 and disregards for determining income and resources for family
  3 21 investment program assistance, is amended.  The amendment
  3 22 replaces a deduction for child day care costs with a reference
  3 23 to determining eligibility for a subsidy under the state child
  3 24 care assistance program created in the bill.
  3 25    Code section 239B.8, relating to family investment program
  3 26 agreement options and provisions for child day care and other
  3 27 support, is amended to provide that child day care assistance
  3 28 is to be provided in accordance with the state child care
  3 29 assistance program created in the bill.
  3 30    Code section 239B.23, providing for 24 months of
  3 31 transitional child care assistance for persons who leave the
  3 32 family investment program due to earned income, is amended to
  3 33 remove the entitlement to 24 months of child care.  Instead,
  3 34 child care assistance is to be provided in accordance with the
  3 35 state child care assistance program created in the bill.
  4  1    The bill includes a transition provision allowing persons
  4  2 who are receiving transitional child care assistance as of
  4  3 June 30, 1998, to continue receiving that assistance until
  4  4 their eligibility under the law in effect as of June 30, 1998,
  4  5 would expire.  
  4  6 LSB 3816XS 77
  4  7 jp/jw/5
     

Text: SF02296                           Text: SF02298
Text: SF02200 - SF02299                 Text: SF Index
Bills and Amendments: General Index     Bill History: General Index

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