A Department of Children and Families program to make payments to child care programs, a child care partnership grant program, granting rule-making authority, and making an appropriation. (FE)

What it would have done

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

This bill authorizes the Department of Children and Families to establish a program for making monthly payments and monthly per-child payments to certified child care providers, licensed child care centers, and child care programs established or contracted for by a school board. This new payment program is in addition to the current law system for providing child care payments under Wisconsin Shares. The bill allows DCF to promulgate rules to implement the program, including establishing eligibility requirements and payment amounts and setting requirements for how recipients may use the payments. The bill funds the program through a new appropriation and by allocating federal moneys, including child care development funds and moneys received under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families block grant program. To accomplish this, the bill eliminates a current law allocation of TANF funding for increasing Wisconsin Shares maximum payment rates paid to child care providers on the basis of a provider's quality rating, known as YoungStar.

This bill also authorizes DCF to establish a grant program to award funding to businesses that provide or wish to provide child care services for their employees.

Who's behind it

34 lawmakers are its authors⁠. All 34 are Democrats.

11 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