093_SB0373
LRB093 03762 MKM 03797 b
1 AN ACT concerning child care.
2 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3 represented in the General Assembly:
4 Section 5. The Children and Family Services Act is
5 amended by adding Section 34.13 as follows:
6 (20 ILCS 505/34.13 new)
7 Sec. 34.13. Child Care Partnership Program.
8 (a) Legislative findings. The General Assembly finds
9 that when private employers provide on-site child care or
10 provide other child care benefits, they benefit by improved
11 recruitment and higher retention rates for employees, lower
12 absenteeism, and improved employee morale. The General
13 Assembly also finds that there are many ways in which private
14 employers can provide child care assistance to employees:
15 information and referral, vouchering, employer contribution
16 to child care programs, and on-site care. Private employers
17 can offer child care as part of a menu of employee benefits.
18 The General Assembly recognizes that flexible compensation
19 programs providing a child care option are beneficial to the
20 private employer through increased productivity, to the
21 private employee in knowing that his or her children are
22 being cared for in a safe and nurturing environment, and to
23 the State in more dollars being available for purchasing
24 power and investment.
25 It is the intent of the General Assembly to promote
26 public-private partnerships to ensure that the children of
27 the State be provided safe and enriching child care at any
28 time, but especially while parents work to remain
29 self-sufficient. It is the intent of the General Assembly
30 that private employers be encouraged to participate in the
31 future of this State by providing employee child care
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1 benefits. Further, it is the intent of the General Assembly
2 to encourage private employers to explore innovative ways to
3 assist employees to obtain quality child care.
4 The General Assembly further recognizes that many parents
5 need assistance in paying the full costs of quality child
6 care. The public and private sectors, by working in
7 partnership, can promote and improve access to quality child
8 care and early education for children of working families who
9 need it. Therefore, a more formal mechanism is necessary to
10 stimulate the establishment of public-private partnerships.
11 It is the intent of the General Assembly to expand the
12 availability of scholarship options for working families by
13 providing incentives for employers to contribute to meeting
14 the needs of their employees' families through matching
15 public dollars available for child care.
16 (b) There is created the the Child Care Executive
17 Partnership to establish and govern the Child Care
18 Partnership Program. The purpose of the Child Care
19 Partnership Program is to use State and federal funds as
20 incentives for matching local funds derived from local
21 governments, employers, charitable foundations, and other
22 sources, so that Illinois communities may create local
23 flexible partnerships with employers. The Child Care
24 Partnership Program funds shall be used at the discretion of
25 local communities to meet the needs of local communities in
26 addressing the child care needs of working parents. A child
27 care purchasing pool shall be developed with State, federal,
28 and local funds to provide subsidies to low-income working
29 parents who are eligible for subsidized child care with a
30 dollar-for-dollar match from employers, local government, and
31 other matching contributors. The funds used from the child
32 care purchasing pool must be used to supplement or extend the
33 use of existing public or private funds and may not be used
34 to supplant the maintenance of effort presently exerted by
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1 the employer or other participant in the activity funded.
2 (c) The Child Care Executive Partnership, staffed by the
3 Department of Human Services, consists of:
4 (1) A representative of the Office of the Governor
5 who shall serve at the pleasure of the Governor.
6 (2) Nine members of the corporate or child care
7 community, appointed by the Governor, to be known as the
8 "board". Members of the board shall serve for a period
9 of 4 years.
10 (3) One representative from each of the 10 Child
11 Care Partnership Program pilot purchasing pool counties
12 established by the board, known as the "oversight group".
13 Members of the oversight group shall serve at the
14 pleasure of the Governor.
15 The Child Care Executive Partnership shall be chaired by
16 a member chosen by a majority vote of the board and shall
17 meet at least quarterly and at other times upon the call of
18 the chair.
19 Members shall serve without compensation, but may be
20 reimbursed for per diem and travel expenses.
21 (d) The Child Care Executive Partnership has all the
22 powers and authority, not explicitly prohibited by law,
23 necessary to carry out and effectuate the purposes of this
24 Section, including, but not limited to, the following:
25 (1) Assisting in the formulation and coordination
26 of the State's child care policy.
27 (2) Adopting an official seal.
28 (3) Soliciting, accepting, receiving, investing,
29 and expending funds from public or private sources.
30 (4) Contracting with public or private entities as
31 necessary.
32 (5) Approving an annual budget.
33 (6) Carrying forward any unexpended State
34 appropriations into succeeding fiscal years, subject to
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1 reappropriations by the General Assembly.
2 (7) Providing a report to the Governor, the Speaker
3 of the House of Representatives, and the President of the
4 Senate on or before December 1 of each year.
5 (e) The General Assembly, by appropriation, shall
6 annually determine the amount of State or federal low-income
7 child care moneys that may be used to create Child Care
8 Partnership Program child care purchasing pools in counties
9 chosen by the board of the Child Care Executive Partnership.
10 The General Assembly shall review the effectiveness of the
11 child care purchasing pool program and reevaluate the
12 percentage of additional State or federal funds, if any, that
13 can be used for the program's expansion.
14 To ensure a seamless service delivery and ease of access
15 for families, the community coordinated child care agencies
16 shall administer the child care purchasing pool funds.
17 The Department of Human Services shall issue a request
18 for proposal for the operation of the pilot child care
19 purchasing pools. In order to be considered, the community
20 coordinated child care agency must commit to:
21 (i) matching the state pilot purchasing pool funds
22 on a dollar-for-dollar basis; and
23 (ii) expending only those public funds that are
24 matched by employers, local government, and other
25 matching contributors who contribute to the pilot
26 purchasing pool. Parents shall also pay a fee, based
27 upon the Department's child care fee scale.
28 (f) Each community coordinated child care agency shall
29 be required to establish a community child care task force
30 for each pilot child care purchasing pool. The task force
31 must be composed of employers, parents, private child care
32 providers, and one representative each from the district
33 interagency coordinating council for children's services and
34 the local children's services council, if they exist in the
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1 area of the pilot purchasing pool. The community coordinated
2 child care agency is expected to recruit the task force
3 members from existing child care councils, commissions, or
4 task forces already operating in the area of a pilot
5 purchasing pool. A majority of the task force shall consist
6 of employers. Each task force shall develop a plan for the
7 use of child care purchasing pool funds. The plan must show
8 how many children will be served by the pilot purchasing
9 pool, how many will be new to receiving child care services,
10 and how the community coordinated child care agency intends
11 to attract new employers and their employees to the pilot
12 project.
13 (g) The Department of Human Services shall adopt any
14 rules necessary for the implementation and administration of
15 this Section.