SENATE BILL No. 232

 

 

March 14, 2017, Introduced by Senators ANANICH, HOPGOOD, HERTEL, JOHNSON and BIEDA and referred to the Committee on Appropriations.

 

 

     A bill to amend 1973 PA 116, entitled

 

"An act to provide for the protection of children through the

licensing and regulation of child care organizations; to provide

for the establishment of standards of care for child care

organizations; to prescribe powers and duties of certain

departments of this state and adoption facilitators; to provide

penalties; and to repeal acts and parts of acts,"

 

(MCL 722.111 to 722.128) by adding section 16a.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 

     Sec. 16a. (1) There is created a body corporate and politic

 

known as the child care executive partnership that shall establish

 

and govern the child care executive partnership program. The child

 

care executive partnership program is created to use state and

 

federal funds as incentives for matching local funds derived from

 

local governments, employers, charitable foundations, and other

 

sources so that communities of this state may create local flexible

 

partnerships with employers. The child care executive partnership

 

program funds shall be used at the discretion of local communities

 

to meet the needs of working parents. A child care purchasing pool

 

shall be developed with the state, federal, and local funds to

 

provide subsidies to low-income working parents whose family income

 

does not exceed the allowable income for any federally subsidized

 

child care program with a dollar-for-dollar match from employers,

 

local government, and other matching contributions. The funds used

 

from the child care purchasing pool must be used to supplement or

 

extend the use of existing public or private funds for direct

 

services.

 

     (2) The child care executive partnership, staffed by the

 

department of education, shall consist of a representative of the

 

governor and 9 members of the corporate or child care community,

 

appointed by the governor. Members shall serve for a period of 4

 

years, except that the representative of the governor shall serve

 

at the pleasure of the governor.

 

     (3) The child care executive partnership shall be chaired by a

 

member chosen by a majority vote and shall meet at least quarterly

 

and at other times upon the call of the chair. The child care

 

executive partnership may use any method of telecommunications to

 

conduct meetings, including establishing a quorum through

 

telecommunications, only if the public is given proper notice of a

 

telecommunications meeting and reasonable access to observe and,

 

when appropriate, participate.

 

     (4) Members shall serve without compensation but may be

 

reimbursed for per diem and travel expenses in accordance with

state law.

 

     (5) The child care executive partnership shall have all the

 

powers and authority, not explicitly prohibited by law, necessary

 

to carry out and effectuate the purposes of this section, as well

 

as the functions, duties, and responsibilities of the partnership,

 

including, but not limited to, the following:

 

     (a) Making recommendations concerning the implementation and

 

coordination of the school readiness program.

 

     (b) Soliciting, accepting, receiving, investing, and expending

 

funds from public or private sources.

 

     (c) Contracting with public or private entities as necessary.

 

     (d) Approving an annual budget.

 

     (e) Providing a report to the governor, the speaker of the

 

house of representatives, and the senate majority leader on or

 

before December 1 of each year.

 

     (6) Notwithstanding any other provision of this subsection,

 

the body corporate and politic previously established by prior law

 

is the body corporate and politic for purposes of this section and

 

shall continue in existence. All member terms of the existing body

 

corporate and politic expire as of September 30, 2020, and new

 

members shall be appointed beginning October 1, 2020, in accordance

 

with this subsection.

 

     (7) The legislature shall annually determine the amount of

 

state or federal low-income child care money that shall be used to

 

create child care executive partnership program child care

 

purchasing pools in counties chosen by the child care executive

 

partnership provided that at least 2 of the counties have

populations of no more than 300,000. The legislature shall annually

 

review the effectiveness of the child care purchasing pool program

 

and reevaluate the percentage of additional state or federal funds,

 

if any, that can be used for the child care purchasing pool

 

program's expansion. To ensure a seamless service delivery and ease

 

of access for families, the department of education shall

 

administer the child care purchasing pool funds.

 

     (8) The department of education, in conjunction with the child

 

care executive partnership, shall develop procedures for

 

disbursement of funds through the child care purchasing pools. In

 

order to be considered for funding, an early learning coalition or

 

the department of education must commit to all of the following:

 

     (a) Matching the state purchasing pool funds on a dollar-for-

 

dollar basis.

 

     (b) Expending only public funds that are matched by employers,

 

local government, and other matching contributors who contribute to

 

the child care purchasing pool. Parents shall also pay a fee that

 

may not be less than the amount identified in the early learning

 

coalition's school readiness program sliding fee scale.

 

     (9) Each early learning coalition shall establish a community

 

child care task force for each child care purchasing pool. The

 

community child care task force must be composed of employers,

 

parents, private child care providers, and 1 representative from

 

the local children's services council, if a children's services

 

council exists in the area of the child care purchasing pool. The

 

early learning coalition is expected to recruit the child care task

 

force members from existing child care councils, commissions, or

task forces already operating in the area of a child care

 

purchasing pool. A majority of the child care task force shall

 

consist of employers.

 

     (10) Each participating early learning coalition shall develop

 

a plan for the use of child care purchasing pool funds. The plan

 

must show how many children will be served by the child care

 

purchasing pool, how many will be new to receiving child care

 

services, and how the early learning coalition intends to attract

 

new employers and their employees to the child care executive

 

partnership program.

 

     Enacting section 1. This amendatory act takes effect 90 days

 

after the date it is enacted into law.