Eligibility under Wisconsin Shares for a child care subsidy, for payment for child care services, and for certification as a family child care provider

What it would have done

Summary by the Legislative Reference Bureau, the Legislature's nonpartisan drafting office. It's their wording, not ours.

The Wisconsin Works (W-2) program under current law, which is administered by Department of Children and Families (DCF), provides work experience and benefits for low-income custodial parents who are at least 18 years old. Also, an individual who is the parent of a child under the age of 13 or, if the child is disabled, under the age of 19, may receive a child care subsidy under the part of the W-2 program known as Wisconsin Shares if the individual needs child care services to participate in various educational or work activities and satisfies other eligibility criteria. Work activities for which an individual may be eligible for a child care subsidy include work in an unsubsidized job, work in a W-2 employment position, which is subsidized, and participation in a work experience component of the food stamp program, which is also subsidized. This bill expands the work activities for which an individual may be eligible for a child care subsidy to include work in a job under the Transitional Jobs Demonstration Project, which is subsidized but not part of W-2 or the food stamp program.

Under Wisconsin Shares, a child care provider licensed to operate a child care center may not receive payment for providing child care services to a child if the child's parent or a person with whom the child resides is employed by the child care provider. This qualification does not apply if at least 60 percent of the children for whom the child care provider provides care do not have a parent or a person with whom the child resides employed by the child care provider. The bill provides that this qualification does not apply if at least 60 percent of the children for whom the child care provider provides care at all locations, in the aggregate, at which the provider is providing care do not have a parent or a person with whom the child resides employed by the child care provider.

Who's behind it

2 senators are its authors⁠. 1 is a Democrat and 1 is a Republican.

7 more lawmakers signed on in support⁠.

What it would cost

State agencies filed a cost estimate. Each opens as a PDF from the Legislature.

• Fiscal Estimate From DCF