Resolve, Directing the Department of Health and Human Services To Assess and Improve the Availability of Child Care Services

Sec. 1. Child Care Advisory Council. Resolved: That the Department of Health and Human Services shall restore consistent scheduled meetings of the Child Care Advisory Council in accordance with the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 22, section 3739, subsection 3; and be it further

Sec. 2. Study. Resolved: That the Department of Health and Human Services shall contract with a 3rd party to conduct a study to:

1. Assess the availability of child care in the State and the child care needs for low-income working families. The assessment must determine possible child care grant and contracting approaches to address child care availability shortages;

2. Engage in cost modeling to determine the cost of child care and review the current tiered reimbursements for each level of the quality rating system established by the department pursuant to the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 22, section 3737, subsection 3. The cost modeling must reflect the actual business costs of providers and the actual cost of meeting the quality standards at each level of the State’s quality rating system; and

3. Develop a system to support child care providers and parents, which must include professional development for child care provider staff, assisting child care providers to participate in the State's quality rating system, offering business guidance to child care providers and assisting parents to identify child care, to understand the difference between different services and to access available child care assistance; and be it further

Sec. 3. Report. Resolved: That, no later than February 1, 2018, the Department of Health and Human Services shall submit the findings of the study under section 2, including any suggested legislation, for presentation to the Second Regular Session of the 128th Legislature.

SUMMARY

This resolve directs the Department of Health and Human Services to restore consistent scheduled meetings of the Child Care Advisory Council and directs the department to contract with a 3rd party to conduct a study to assess the availability of child care in the State, to engage in cost modeling to determine the cost of child care and to develop a system to support child care providers and parents. The department is directed to report to the Second Regular Session of the 128th Legislature no later than February 1, 2018.