PRINTER'S NO. 2580
No. 2076 Session of 1995
INTRODUCED BY GRUPPO, BAKER, KING, E. Z. TAYLOR, BARD, GEIST,
DENT, MARSICO, KREBS, EGOLF, PLATTS, STERN, J. TAYLOR AND
MAJOR, OCTOBER 5, 1995
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON AGING AND YOUTH, OCTOBER 5, 1995
AN ACT
1 Providing for the creation of a Statewide Child Day-Care
2 Resource and Referral System in this Commonwealth; and
3 imposing additional responsibilities upon the State Data
4 Center and the Department of Public Welfare.
5 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
6 hereby enacts as follows:
7 Section 1. Short title.
8 This act shall be known and may be cited as the Child Day-
9 Care Resource and Referral Act.
10 Section 2. Legislative findings.
11 The General Assembly finds and declares as follows:
12 (1) The demand for high quality, affordable, accessible
13 child day care has increased dramatically in the last decade
14 in correlation with a dramatic increase in the labor force
15 participation rate of parents with young children.
16 (2) Approximately 275,000 children are currently in care
17 through a variety of child day-care programs in this
18 Commonwealth.
1 (3) A comprehensive, coordinated effort is needed to
2 ensure that accurate, up-to-date child day-care information
3 is readily available and easy to access.
4 (4) A Statewide child day-care resource and referral
5 system can be extremely beneficial not only to working
6 parents of all economic means by enabling them to make
7 informed choices in selecting and purchasing the child day
8 care that best meets their family's unique needs, it can also
9 be of great value to existing and prospective child day-care
10 providers in their efforts to build and maintain a safe, high
11 quality child day-care service, to the business community by
12 providing a comprehensive resource for them to use in
13 responding to child day-care needs of their employees and to
14 the community-at-large by contributing directly to the
15 health, safety and well-being of this Commonwealth's children
16 and their families.
17 Section 3. Definitions.
18 The following words and phrases when used in this act shall
19 have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
20 context clearly indicates otherwise:
21 "Child day-care resource and referral services." A variety
22 of child day-care services provided in accordance with this act,
23 designed to ensure access to high quality, available, affordable
24 child day care for all Pennsylvanians.
25 "Department." The Department of Public Welfare of the
26 Commonwealth.
27 "Local management agency." A county entity established by
28 the Department of Public Welfare pursuant to the Commonwealth's
29 1991 Child-Care Development Block Grant Plan to manage
30 subsidized child care and all nonentitlement child-care funds
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1 and to coordinate those programs with the local county
2 assistance programs.
3 "State Data Center." The Pennsylvania State Data Center
4 (PSDC) Program, established through executive order of the
5 Governor to improve access to and use of statistical resources
6 available from the United States Bureau of the Census and other
7 resources. Information and services are available through the
8 PSDC office at Penn State Harrisburg, the Pennsylvania State
9 Library and the network of Affiliate Data Centers located across
10 this Commonwealth.
11 Section 4. Provision of child day-care resource and referral
12 services.
13 All county local management agencies shall offer child day-
14 care resource and referral services in accordance with the
15 implementation schedule as required to be established by the
16 department under section 11.
17 Section 5. Establishment of central child day-care data base.
18 The department shall work in cooperation with the State Data
19 Center to establish and maintain a central child day-care data
20 base. The State Data Center shall utilize their capabilities to
21 conduct applied demographic analyses and to create statistical
22 maps and graphics and census geographic reference maps, as well
23 as any other resources they may have available in order to
24 create a comprehensive, accurate and up-to-date reference base
25 on child day care in this Commonwealth. Local management
26 agencies shall be provided on a regular basis with information
27 developed regarding child day care in their specific geographic
28 areas.
29 Section 6. Resource and referral services offered.
30 Local management agencies shall make available, either
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1 directly or through contracts with existing resource and
2 referral agencies, at a minimum, the following services:
3 (1) Identification of all State-approved child day-care
4 providers in their specific geographic area and profile of
5 each provider to indicate the types of services they provide
6 and the costs of such services.
7 (2) Maintenance of a regularly updated resource file
8 that demonstrates supply and demand of services.
9 (3) Maintenance of a resource and referral service for
10 child day-care users and assistance, if requested, in
11 evaluating child day-care needs and appropriateness of types
12 of child day care.
13 (4) Establishment of a public education program to
14 inform consumers and provide referral counseling about child
15 day-care options through such means as printed materials,
16 education sessions or workshops and resource libraries.
17 (5) Provision information and technical assistance to
18 providers and prospective providers, as requested. Types of
19 information to be made available shall include, but not be
20 limited to, information regarding career opportunities in the
21 field, continuing education, training opportunities,
22 accreditation programs, regulatory requirements, food
23 programs and demographic information to determine the
24 existence of markets for services.
25 (6) Provision of technical assistance, information and
26 workshops for employers who are trying to meet the child day-
27 care needs of their employees.
28 (7) Collection and maintenance of data, as may be useful
29 in State and local planning efforts, on the number and usage
30 of different child day-care providers, the type, availability
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1 and cost of child day care in their particular geographic
2 area and demographic information to determine whether or not
3 a market exists for child day-care services in a given area.
4 Section 7. Standard operation procedures.
5 Local management agencies, as providers of child day-care
6 resource and referral services shall:
7 (1) Conduct business during hours convenient to working
8 parents, including some evening and weekend hours, if deemed
9 necessary.
10 (2) Have the authority to establish reasonable fees for
11 services, with the approval of the department.
12 (3) Advertise their services and any fees for such
13 services.
14 (4) Tailor their services to the geographically defined
15 area in which they are located.
16 (5) Seek opportunities to provide educational and
17 consumer awareness programs.
18 (6) Utilize, to the maximum extent, the most cost-
19 effective means of providing child-care resource and referral
20 services in accordance with this act, including, but not
21 limited to, public-private partnerships, where deemed
22 appropriate, and contractual arrangements with existing
23 providers of resource and referral services.
24 (7) Maintain confidentiality of records. Information
25 contained in the records shall not be publicly disclosed in
26 such a manner so as to identify individuals. Certain
27 nonidentifying information may, however, be collected in
28 aggregate form for the purposes of data collection.
29 (8) Report to the department on a regular basis
30 information regarding:
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1 (i) The number of parents and children served.
2 (ii) The extent of assistance given to providers,
3 parents, businesses and others.
4 (iii) Fees charged for resource and referral
5 services given.
6 (iv) The impact of the resource and referral
7 services on quality and availability of child day care in
8 their particular geographically defined area.
9 (v) Any recommendations that may contribute to the
10 improvement of the provision of child day-care resource
11 and referral services.
12 Section 9. Annual report.
13 The department shall submit an annual report to the General
14 Assembly which shall include the information required to be
15 submitted to them by the local management agencies, as outlined
16 under section 7. This report shall also include any
17 recommendations of the department for improvements to the
18 Statewide resource and referral system, as well as the
19 availability of private, corporate and government funding for
20 resource and referral services.
21 Section 10. Regulations.
22 The department shall, in the manner provided by law,
23 promulgate the rules and regulations necessary to establish
24 child day-care resource and referral services to be offered in
25 accordance with this act.
26 Section 11. Resource and referral services implementation.
27 (a) Implementation schedule.--The department shall establish
28 a three-year implementation schedule for the provision of child
29 day-care resource and referral services through local management
30 agencies. Such implementation schedule shall provide for the
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1 establishment of a resource and referral services program in at
2 least 12 local management agencies throughout this Commonwealth
3 no later than January 1, 1997. The department shall, in
4 determining which local management agencies are included in the
5 first phase of implementation, consider such factors as
6 geographic distribution of State-approved child day-care
7 programs and availability of existing resource and referral
8 services to the local management agencies.
9 (b) Local agencies.--All local management agencies in the
10 Commonwealth shall have available resource and referral
11 services, in accordance with this act, not later than January 1,
12 1999.
13 Section 12. Effective date.
14 This act shall take effect as follows:
15 (1) Section 8 shall take effect in six months.
16 (2) The remainder of this act shall take effect
17 immediately.
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