PRIOR PRINTER'S NO. 2580 PRINTER'S NO. 2626
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
AS REPORTED FROM COMMITTEE ON AGING AND YOUTH, HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES, AS AMENDED, OCTOBER 17, 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 10. <--
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 TO BE PHYSICALLY LOCATED AT THE STATE DATA CENTER. The <--
21 State Data Center shall COMPILE ALL INFORMATION SUBMITTED TO <--
22 THEM BY LOCAL MANAGEMENT AGENCIES AND SHALL utilize their
23 capabilities to conduct applied demographic analyses and to
24 create statistical maps and graphics and census geographic
25 reference maps, as well as any other resources they may have
26 available in order to create a comprehensive, accurate and up-
27 to-date reference base on child day care in this Commonwealth.
28 THE DEPARTMENT SHALL DETERMINE THE NATURE AND SCOPE OF ALL <--
29 CENTRALIZED CHILD DAY-CARE DATA TO BE MAINTAINED AT THE STATE
30 DATA CENTER PURSUANT TO THIS ACT. Local management agencies
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1 shall be provided on a regular basis AT LEAST ANNUALLY AND AT NO <--
2 CHARGE with information developed regarding child day care in
3 their specific geographic areas. EACH LOCAL MANAGEMENT AGENCY <--
4 SHALL MAINTAIN A COMPREHENSIVE DATA BASE ON CHILD DAY-CARE
5 SUPPLY AND DEMAND IN THE GEOGRAPHIC AREA.
6 Section 6. Resource and referral services offered.
7 Local management agencies shall make available, either
8 directly or through contracts with existing resource and
9 referral agencies, at a minimum, the following services:
10 (1) Identification of all State-approved child day-care
11 providers in their specific geographic area and A profile of <--
12 each provider to indicate the types of services they provide
13 and the costs of such services.
14 (2) Maintenance of a regularly updated resource file
15 that demonstrates supply and demand of services.
16 (3) Maintenance of a resource and referral service for
17 child day-care users and assistance, if requested, in
18 evaluating child day-care needs and appropriateness of types
19 of child day care.
20 (4) Establishment of a public education program to
21 inform consumers and provide referral counseling about child
22 day-care options through such means as printed materials,
23 TELEPHONE CONTACTS, education sessions or workshops and <--
24 resource libraries.
25 (5) Provision OF information and technical assistance to <--
26 providers and prospective providers, as requested. Types of
27 information to be made available shall include, but not be
28 limited to, information regarding career opportunities in the
29 field, continuing education, training opportunities,
30 accreditation programs, regulatory requirements, food
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1 programs and demographic information to determine the
2 existence of markets for services.
3 (6) Provision of technical assistance, information and <--
4 workshops for SERVE AS A RESOURCE TO employers who are trying <--
5 to meet the child day-care needs of their employees.
6 (7) Collection and maintenance of data, as may be useful
7 in State and local planning efforts, on the number and usage
8 of different child day-care providers, the type, availability
9 and cost of child day care in their particular geographic
10 area and demographic information to determine whether or not
11 a market exists for child day-care services in a given area.
12 Section 7. Standard operation OPERATING procedures. <--
13 Local management agencies, as providers of child day-care
14 resource and referral services shall:
15 (1) Conduct business during hours convenient to working
16 parents, including some evening and weekend hours, if deemed
17 necessary.
18 (2) Have the authority to establish reasonable fees A <--
19 REASONABLE RANGE OF FEES for services, with the approval of
20 the department.
21 (3) Advertise their services. and any fees for such <--
22 services. ALL RECIPIENTS OF SERVICES SHALL BE INFORMED OF <--
23 APPLICABLE FEES PRIOR TO THE PROVISION OF SUCH SERVICES, AS
24 DESIGNATED IN THIS ACT.
25 (4) Tailor their services PROVIDED FOR IN THIS ACT to <--
26 the geographically defined area in which they are located.
27 (5) Seek opportunities to provide educational and
28 consumer awareness programs.
29 (6) Utilize, to the maximum extent, the most cost-
30 effective means of providing child-care CHILD DAY-CARE <--
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1 resource and referral services in accordance with this act,
2 including, but not limited to, public-private partnerships,
3 where deemed appropriate, and contractual arrangements with
4 existing providers of resource and referral services.
5 (7) Maintain confidentiality of records. Information
6 contained in the records shall not be publicly disclosed in
7 such a manner so as to identify individuals. Certain
8 nonidentifying information may, however, be collected in
9 aggregate form for the purposes of data collection.
10 (8) Report to the department on a regular basis
11 information regarding:
12 (i) The number of parents and children served.
13 (ii) The extent of assistance given to providers,
14 parents, businesses and others.
15 (iii) Fees charged for resource and referral
16 services given PROVIDED FOR IN THIS ACT. <--
17 (iv) The impact of the resource and referral
18 services on quality and availability of child day care in
19 their particular geographically defined area.
20 (v) Any recommendations that may contribute to the
21 improvement of the provision of child day-care resource
22 and referral services.
23 Section 9 8. Annual report. <--
24 The department shall submit an annual report to the General
25 Assembly which shall include the information required to be
26 submitted to them by the local management agencies, as outlined
27 under section 7. This report shall also include any
28 recommendations of the department for improvements to the
29 Statewide resource and referral system, as well as the
30 availability of private, corporate and government funding for
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1 resource and referral services.
2 Section 10 9. Regulations. <--
3 The department shall, in the manner provided by law,
4 promulgate the rules and regulations necessary to establish
5 child day-care resource and referral services to be offered in
6 accordance with this act.
7 Section 11 10. Resource and referral services implementation. <--
8 (a) Implementation schedule.--The department shall establish
9 a three-year implementation schedule for the provision of child
10 day-care resource and referral services through local management
11 agencies. Such implementation schedule shall provide for the
12 establishment of a resource and referral services program in at
13 least 12 local management agencies throughout this Commonwealth
14 no later than January 1, 1997. The department shall, in
15 determining which local management agencies are included in the
16 first phase of implementation, consider such factors as
17 geographic distribution of State-approved child day-care
18 programs and availability of existing resource and referral
19 services to the local management agencies.
20 (b) Local agencies.--All local management agencies in the
21 Commonwealth shall have available resource and referral
22 services, in accordance with this act, not later than January 1,
23 1999.
24 Section 12 11. Effective date. <--
25 This act shall take effect as follows:
26 (1) Section 8 5 shall take effect in six months. <--
27 (2) The remainder of this act shall take effect
28 immediately.
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