Tennessee 2025-2026 Regular Session

Tennessee Senate Bill SB0902 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
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2	2	<BillNo> <Sponsor>
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4	4	SENATE BILL 902
5	5	By Oliver
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8	8	SB0902
9	9	003141
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12	12	AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 71,
13	13	Chapter 3, relative to child care.
14	14
15	15	WHEREAS, the provision of child care is an essential service in this State that is relied
16	16	upon by many working Tennessee parents; and
17	17	WHEREAS, the cost of child care services has become burdensome to many families
18	18	due to inflationary and other factors; and
19	19	WHEREAS, child care workers and early childhood educators are often underpaid
20	20	relative to the quality and necessity of the dedicated services they provide; and
21	21	WHEREAS, the high cost of child care is often especially burdensome to child care
22	22	workers, even in the very child care agencies or other settings in which they work; and
23	23	WHEREAS, the Department of Human Services should utilize the Child Care WAGE$
24	24	program as a model to reward early childhood educators for their years of dedicated service and
25	25	promote longevity in the profession; now, therefore,
26	26	BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
27	27	SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 71, Chapter 3, Part 5, is amended by
28	28	adding the following as new sections:
29	29	71-3-522.
30	30	(a) This section is known and may be cited as the "Child Care Workforce
31	31	Improvement Act."
32	32	(b)
33	33	(1) The commissioner shall develop, and, no later than January 1, 2026,
34	34	implement a Child Care WAGE$ Tennessee program to provide supplemental
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39	39	payments to full- and part-time child care workers in this state based upon time in
40	40	service.
41	41	(2) A child care worker is eligible to receive a supplemental payment
42	42	under the program established pursuant to subdivision (b)(1) if the child care
43	43	worker:
44	44	(A) Works at a child care program licensed by the department;
45	45	(B) Earns twenty dollars ($20) per hour or less;
46	46	(C) Has worked at least six (6) months in the same child care
47	47	program, at least ten (10) classroom hours per week, with children from
48	48	birth to five (5) years of age; and
49	49	(D) Is employed at the same child care program at a time when
50	50	funding is available and a final confirmation has been completed.
51	51	(c) Beginning January 1, 2026, and each January 1 thereafter, the commissioner
52	52	shall annually adjust the payments for the program described in subsection (b) by the
53	53	percentage increase in the consumer price index's United States average for all urban
54	54	consumers, as prepared by the United Stated department of labor's bureau of labor
55	55	statistics.
56	56	(d) The commissioner may use funds from the child care improvement fund
57	57	established pursuant to § 71-3-520 to support and supplement the program described in
58	58	subsection (b).
59	59	71-3-523.
60	60	(a) As used in this section, "early childhood educator" means an employee who
61	61	works at least twenty (20) hours per week at a licensed child care center, family child
62	62	care home, or group child care home, regardless of the employee's income.
63	63	(b)
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68	68	(1) The commissioner shall develop, and, no later than January 1, 2026,
69	69	implement a program to provide assistance payments to eligible early childhood
70	70	educators in this state through the child care payment assistance program.
71	71	(2) An early childhood educator is eligible to receive an assistance
72	72	payment under the program established pursuant to subdivision (b)(1) if:
73	73	(A) The early childhood educator is a resident of this state;
74	74	(B) The early childhood educator is the parent of a child that
75	75	attends:
76	76	(i) The licensed child care center, family child care home,
77	77	or group child care home where the early childhood educator is
78	78	employed; or
79	79	(ii) Any licensed child care center, family child care home,
80	80	or group child care home in this state;
81	81	(C) The facility described in subdivision (b)(2)(B)(i) or (ii) is
82	82	approved to accept, and accepts, child care assistance payments; and
83	83	(D) The early childhood educator provides proof of employment to
84	84	the satisfaction of the department.
85	85	(c) The commissioner shall exclude all of an applicant early childhood educator's
86	86	income, earned and unearned, when making an eligibility determination for assistance
87	87	payments under the program developed pursuant to subdivision (b)(1).
88	88	(d)
89	89	(1) Except as provided in subdivision (d)(2), and unless otherwise
90	90	prohibited by federal or state law, a child care agency licensed under this part
91	91	shall not place a dependent child of an early childhood educator who is a
92	92	recipient of assistance payments under the program developed pursuant to
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97	97	subdivision (b)(1) on a wait list behind a child whose parent or guardian is not an
98	98	early childhood educator receiving assistance payments under such program.
99	99	(2) A child care agency shall give first priority on the agency's wait list to
100	100	children described in § 71-3-518, if any.
101	101	(e) Beginning January 1, 2026, and each January 1 thereafter, the commissioner
102	102	shall annually adjust the payments for the program described in subsection (b) by the
103	103	percentage increase in the consumer price index's United States average for all urban
104	104	consumers, as prepared by the United States department of labor's bureau of labor
105	105	statistics.
106	106	(f) The commissioner may use funds from the child care improvement fund
107	107	established pursuant to § 71-3-520 to support and supplement the program described in
108	108	subsection (b).
109	109	(g) The commissioner shall include the eligibility requirements of subdivision
110	110	(b)(2) in the next available application for the federal child care development fund grant.
111	111	SECTION 2. The commissioner of human services is authorized to promulgate rules to
112	112	effectuate this act. The rules must be promulgated in accordance with the Uniform
113	113	Administrative Procedures Act, compiled in Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 4, Chapter 5.
114	114	SECTION 3. This act takes effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it.