HBA-SEP H.B. 1307 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1307
By: Villarreal, Mike
Economic Development
3/2/2001
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

The 76th Legislature funded the creation of a statewide network of child
care resource and referral agencies through the General Appropriations Act.
The bill that would have created the resource and referral networks in
statute, however, did not pass.  Since the 76th legislative session, the
Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) has awarded funds to the Texas Association
of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies to provide child care data to
policy makers, education about early child care and education options to
parents, and assistance to employers who want to provide child care
benefits to their employees. The Legislative Budget Board has recommended
continuing funding to TWC for this purpose during the next biennium.  House
Bill 1307 establishes a statutory requirement that TWC develop and
administer a child-care resource and referral network. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that rulemaking
authority is expressly delegated to the Texas Workforce Commission in
SECTION 1 (Section 310.009, Labor Code) of this bill. 

ANALYSIS

House Bill 1307 amends the Labor Code to require the Texas Workforce
Commission (TWC) to develop and administer a child-care resource and
referral network through funds allocated to TWC as the agency designated to
administer the Child  Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990.  The
bill requires TWC, not later than January 1, 2002, to award contracts to
nonprofit public or private organizations with proven experience in child
care, specifying the area for which a member is required to provide
resource and referral services.  The bill further requires TWC to award the
contracts, to the extent that block grant program funds are available for
the purpose,  in a manner that will allow for the provision of child-care
resource and referral services in each region that demonstrates a need
(Sec. 310.002 and SECTION 2).  

The bill requires a network member to provide and continually update
certain resource information regarding child-care services in each county
in the member's service area.  The bill requires TWC and the Department of
Protective and Regulatory Services (department) to provide assistance to
the member in collecting, aggregating, and updating the required
information (Sec. 310.003).  The bill also requires a network member to
provide the specified referral services to area support services and to
certain persons and employers seeking child care.  The bill also sets forth
specifications for the accessibility and provision of child-care referrals
(Sec. 310.004). 

The bill requires a network member to maintain records of resource and
referral requests and make the records available in an aggregate format to
state and local agencies and private organizations.  The bill sets forth
requirements for information to be contained in the records.  The bill
requires TWC to provide assistance to the member in collecting,
aggregating, and updating the required records, to collect the data from
each network member, and to make the data and statistics available to state
and local agencies and private organizations.  The bill further requires
TWC to compile statistics for each region regarding the supply and demand
for child-care information and services and to update the statistics each
fiscal quarter.  TWC is required to compile the first set of statistics not
later than July 1, 2001 (Secs. 310.005, 310.008, and SECTION 3). 

The bill requires a network member to provide a child-care provider or
person interested in becoming a child-care provider with certain
information and requires TWC and the department to provide assistance to
the member in collecting, aggregating, and updating the information (Sec.
310.006).  The bill requires a network member to inform parents, child-care
consumers and providers, and employers located in the member's service area
of the resource and referral services available from the network and the
methods by which a person may access resource and referral services.  The
bill authorizes the member to provide the information through the media and
certain alternative means (Sec. 310.007). 

The bill authorizes TWC to adopt rules necessary to implement the
child-care resource and referral network, including rules regarding the
minimum qualifications required for an organization to be awarded a
contract (Sec. 310.009).   

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2001.