| 12 | 13 | | A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1 |
|---|
| 13 | 14 | | AN ACT TO INCREASE CHILD CARE SUBSIDY RATES TO THOSE IN THE 202 3 2 |
|---|
| 14 | 15 | | MARKET RATE STUDY, TO ESTABLISH A FLOOR FOR CHILD CARE SUBSIDY 3 |
|---|
| 15 | 16 | | RATES, AND TO APPROPRIATE FUNDS FOR THOSE PURPOSES . 4 |
|---|
| 16 | 17 | | The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts: 5 |
|---|
| 17 | 18 | | SECTION 1. Beginning October 1, 2025, the Department of Health and Human 6 |
|---|
| 18 | 19 | | Services, Division of Child Development and Early Education, shall increase the child care 7 |
|---|
| 19 | 20 | | subsidy market rates to the seventy-fifth percentile as recommended by the 2023 Child Care 8 |
|---|
| 20 | 21 | | Market Rate Study for children in three-, four-, and five-star-rated child care centers and homes. 9 |
|---|
| 21 | 22 | | SECTION 2. Beginning October 1, 2025, provisions of payment rates for child care 10 |
|---|
| 22 | 23 | | providers in counties that have a county rate below the State rate for center-based and 11 |
|---|
| 23 | 24 | | home-based care are as follows: 12 |
|---|
| 24 | 25 | | (1) Except as applicable in subdivision (2) of this subsection, payment rates shall 13 |
|---|
| 25 | 26 | | be set at the seventy-fifth percentile statewide market rate as recommended 14 |
|---|
| 26 | 27 | | by the 2023 Child Care Market Rate Study for children birth through 5 years 15 |
|---|
| 27 | 28 | | of age for licensed child care centers and homes. 16 |
|---|
| 28 | 29 | | (2) If it can be demonstrated that the application of the statewide rate to a county 17 |
|---|
| 29 | 30 | | with fewer than 50 children in each age group is lower than the county market 18 |
|---|
| 30 | 31 | | rate and would inhibit the ability of the county to purchase child care for 19 |
|---|
| 31 | 32 | | low-income children, then the county market rate may be applied. 20 |
|---|
| 32 | 33 | | SECTION 3. There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of 21 |
|---|
| 33 | 34 | | Health and Human Services, Division of Child Development and Early Education, the sum of 22 |
|---|
| 34 | 35 | | one hundred ten million dollars ($110,000,000) in recurring funds for each year of the 2025-2027 23 |
|---|
| 35 | 36 | | fiscal biennium to implement the market rate increases and to establish a floor for child care 24 |
|---|
| 36 | 37 | | subsidy rates as set forth in Sections 1 and 2 of this act. 25 |
|---|
| 37 | 38 | | SECTION 4. This act becomes effective July 1, 2025. 26 |
|---|