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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 152
February Session, 2024
LCO No. 659
Referred to Committee on EDUCATION
Introduced by:
(ED)
AN ACT IMPLEMENTING THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE OFFICE
OF EARLY CHILDHOOD.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 10-514 of the general statutes is repealed and the 1
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2024): 2
(a) Not later than January 1, 2020, the Office of Early Childhood shall 3
create a one-page document that (1) lists important developmental 4
milestones experienced by children ages birth to five years, and (2) 5
contains notice that any parent or guardian who is concerned that such 6
parent or guardian's child has not met one or more such developmental 7
milestones may access the Office of E arly Childhood Child 8
Development Infoline for information concerning appropriate services. 9
The office shall make such document available on its Internet web site. 10
(b) On and after [February 1, 2020] July 1, 2024, each operator of a 11
child care center, group child care home or family child care home, as 12
described in section 19a-77, other than those centers or homes that serve 13
school-age children exclusively, shall post a copy of the document 14
developed pursuant to subsection (a) of this section in a conspicuous 15
place on the premises of such child care center, group child care home 16 Raised Bill No. 152
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or family child care home. 17
Sec. 2. Subsection (a) of section 17b-749 of the 2024 supplement to the 18
general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu 19
thereof (Effective July 1, 2024): 20
(a) The Commissioner of Early Childhood shall establish and operate 21
a child care subsidy program to increase the availability, affordability 22
and quality of child care services for families with a parent or caretaker 23
who (1) is (A) working or attending high school, or (B) subject to the 24
provisions of subsection (d) of this section, is enrolled or participating 25
in (i) a public or independent institution of higher education, (ii) a 26
private career school authorized pursuant to sections 10a-22a to 10a-22o, 27
inclusive, (iii) a job training or employment program administered by a 28
regional workforce development board, (iv) an apprenticeship program 29
administered by the Labor Department's office of apprenticeship 30
training, (v) an alternate route to certification program approved by the 31
State Board of Education, (vi) an adult education program pursuant to 32
section 10-69 or other high school equivalency program, or (vii) a local 33
Even Start program or other adult education program approved by the 34
Commissioner of Early Childhood; or (2) receives cash assistance under 35
the temporary family assistance program from the Department of Social 36
Services and is participating in an education, training or other job 37
preparation activity approved pursuant to subsection (b) of section 17b-38
688i or subsection (b) of section 17b-689d. Services available under the 39
child care subsidy program shall include the provision of child care 40
subsidies for children under the age of thirteen or children under the 41
age of nineteen with special needs. The Commissioner of Early 42
Childhood may institute a protective service class in which the 43
commissioner may waive eligibility requirements for at -risk 44
populations that meet the guidelines prescribed by the commissioner, 45
and subject to review by the Secretary of the Office of Policy and 46
Management. Such at-risk populations are children placed in a foster 47
home by the Department of Children and Families and for whom the 48
parent or legal guardian receives foster care payments, [adopted] 49
children under the care of a caregiver who is a recipient of subsidies 50 Raised Bill No. 152
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under the subsidized guardianship program pursuant to section 17a-51
126, children adopted through the Department of Children and Families 52
for one year from the date of adoption and homeless children and 53
youths, as defined in 42 USC 11434a, as amended from time to time. The 54
Office of Early Childhood shall open and maintain enrollment for the 55
child care subsidy program and shall administer such program within 56
the existing budgetary resources available. The office shall issue a notice 57
on the office's Internet web site any time the office closes the program to 58
new applications, changes eligibility requirements, changes program 59
benefits or makes any other change to the program's status or terms, 60
except the office shall not be required to issue such notice when the 61
office expands program eligibility. Any change in the office's acceptance 62
of new applications, eligibility requirements, program benefits or any 63
other change to the program's status or terms for which the office is 64
required to give notice pursuant to this subsection, shall not be effective 65
until thirty days after the office issues such notice. 66
Sec. 3. Subsection (h) of section 17b-749 of the 2024 supplement to the 67
general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu 68
thereof (Effective July 1, 2024): 69
(h) [On or after July 1, 2014, the commissioner shall adopt regulations, 70
in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54, to implement the 71
provisions of this section] On and after July 1, 2024, the commissioner 72
shall implement the provisions of 45 CFR 98, as amended from time to 73
time, to administer the child care subsidy program. The commissioner 74
shall develop policies and procedures necessary to implement the 75
provisions of this section. 76
Sec. 4. (Effective July 1, 2024) Notwithstanding the provisions of 77
chapter 54 of the general statutes, sections 17b-749-01 to 17b-749-23, 78
inclusive, of the regulations of Connecticut state agencies are repealed. 79
Sec. 5. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2024) (a) As used in this section: 80
(1) "Early intervention services" has the same meaning as provided in 81
section 17a-248 of the general statutes; and 82 Raised Bill No. 152
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(2) "Individualized family service plan" has the same meaning as 83
provided in section 17a-248 of the general statutes. 84
(b) A licensed child care center, group child care home or family child 85
care home, as such terms are described in section 19a-77 of the general 86
statutes, shall allow a child who has an individualized family service 87
plan and is eligible for the birth-to-three program, established under 88
section 17a-248b of the general statutes, to receive early intervention 89
services at such child care center, group child care home or family child 90
care home from the service provider designated in such individualized 91
family service plan. 92
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2024 10-514
Sec. 2 July 1, 2024 17b-749(a)
Sec. 3 July 1, 2024 17b-749(h)
Sec. 4 July 1, 2024 New section
Sec. 5 July 1, 2024 New section
Statement of Purpose:
To exclude those child care services providers that provide services to
only school-age children from the requirement that they post a copy of
the developmental milestones document; to include children under
subsidized guardianship as part of the protective services category for
the Care 4 Kids program; to replace state Care 4 Kids regulations with
federal regulations and policies and procedures developed by the
Commissioner of Early Childhood based on such federal regulations;
and to require child care services providers to allow birth-to-three
providers to deliver on-site services to certain children.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except
that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not
underlined.]