Vermont H 248: An act relating to establishing fetal personhood

Bill Text

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H.248
Introduced by Representatives Gregoire of Fairfield and Noyes of Wolcott
Referred to Committee on
Date:
Subject: Human services; child care; CCFAP; supplement grants; payments to
providers
Statement of purpose of bill as introduced: This bill proposes to expand the
manner in which supplemental child care grants can be used. It further
proposes to make miscellaneous amendments to the Child Care Financial
Assistance Program.
An act relating to supplemental child care grants and the Child Care
Financial Assistance Program
It is hereby enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Vermont:
Sec. 1. 33 V.S.A. § 3505 is amended to read:
§ 3505. SUPPLEMENTALCHILD CARE GRANTS
(a)(1) The Commissioner for Children and Families may reserve up to one-
half of one percent of the child care family assistance program funds for
extraordinary financial relief to assist child care programs that are at risk of
closing due to experiencing financial hardship. The Commissioner may
provide extraordinary financial relief under this subdivision to both licensed
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and registered child care programs and to child care programs that are in the
process of becoming licensed or registered. The Commissioner shall develop
guidelines for providing assistance and shall prioritize extraordinary financial
relief to child care programs in areas of the State with high poverty and low
access to high quality child care. If a child care program has closed or the
Commissioner determines that a child care program is at risk of closure
because its operations are not fiscally sustainable, he or she the Commissioner
may provide assistance to transition children served by the child care operator
program in an orderly fashion and to help secure other child care opportunities
for children served by the program in an effort to minimize the disruption of
services. The Commissioner has the authority to request taxreturns and other
financial documents to verify the financial hardship and ability to sustain
operations.
(2) Annually on or before January 15, the Commissioner shall report to
the Senate Committee on Health and Welfare and to the House Committee on
Human Services regarding any funds distributed pursuant to subdivision (1) of
this subsection. Specifically, the report shall address how funds were
distributed and used. It shall also address results related to any distribution of
funds.
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Sec. 2. 33 V.S.A. § 3512 is amended to read:
§ 3512. CHILD CARE FINANCIALASSISTANCE PROGRAM;
ELIGIBILITY
(a)(1) The Child Care Financial Assistance Program is established to
subsidize the costs of child care for families that need child care services in
order to obtain employment, to retain employment, or to obtain training
leading to employment. Families seeking employment shall be entitled to
participate in the Program for up to three months and the Commissioner may
further extend that period. The Program shall support eligible families by
either:
(A) establishing services with a child care provider with whom the
Division has contracted or issued a grant for child care services; or
(B) providing a subsidy issued pursuant to subdivision (2) of this
section.
(2) The subsidy authorized by this subsection and the corresponding
family contribution shall be established by the Commissioner, by rule, and
shall bear a reasonable relationship to income and family size. The
Commissioner may adjust the subsidy and family contribution by rule to
account for increasing child care costs not to exceed 1.5 times the most recent
annual increase in the NAICS code 611, Educational Services. Families shall
be found eligible using an income eligibility scale based on the current federal
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poverty level and adjusted for the size of the family. Co-payments shall be
assigned to the whole family and shall not increase if more than one eligible
child is enrolled in child care. Families with an annual gross income of less
than or equal to 175 percent of the current federal poverty guidelines shall not
have a family co-payment. Families with an annual gross income up to and
including 575 percent of current federal poverty guidelines, adjusted for
family size, shall be eligible for a subsidy authorized by this subsection. The
scale shall be structured so that it encourages employment. If the federal
poverty guidelines decrease in a given year, the Division shall maintain the
previous year’s federal poverty guidelines for the purpose of determining
eligibility and benefit amount under this subsection.
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Sec. 3. 33 V.S.A. § 3514 is amended to read:
§ 3514. PAYMENT TO PROVIDERS
(a)(1) The Commissioner shall establish a payment schedu