Legislative Session number- 81

Bill Name: SF0821

Relating to child care assistance; increasing the frequency requirement for
county evaluation of rates for payment of absent spaces and for the
establishment of policies for payment of absent days reflecting current market
practice; expanding the definition of accredited for provider rate bonus
accreditation purposes to the national early childhood program accreditation;
requiring documentation of use for child care for direct parent payments
eligibility purposes, requiring county procedures establishment; requiring the
commissioner of children, families and learning to by a certain date develop and
implement a child care assistance payment system ensuring full payment to child
care providers and maintaining fiscal accountability to county, state and
federal governments, requiring a report to the legislature by a certain earlier
date on the feasibility of establishing a system to provide for prepayment of
child care assistance, to standardize county billing forms and cycles, to
improve and streamline the approval and reauthorization process and to provide
debit cards to parents for child care expenses (ra)