RCW 43.330.529 Child care industry assessment. (Expires December 31, 2020.)

(1)(a) The department shall enter into one or more contracts for the development of a regional assessment of the child care industry in Washington in order to better understand issues affecting child care access and affordability for families. The department shall collaborate with the office of innovation, alignment, and accountability within the department of children, youth, and families to ensure efficient use of available data and rigorous research methods and to assist with interpretation of data and report preparation.

(b) The department shall conduct one or more competitive solicitations in accordance with chapter 39.26 RCW to select a third-party entity or entities to conduct the industry assessment in partnership with a statewide organization representing parents. The third-party entity or entities selected by the department through the competitive process must have experience in national industry assessment and expertise in conducting facilities' needs assessments. The statewide organization representing parents must have experience conducting parent listening tours.

(c) The department may use a combination of private and public resources to support activities related to the child care industry assessment conducted under this section.

(2) The industry assessment must be submitted to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the legislature, the governor, and the members of the child care collaborative task force established in chapter 91, Laws of 2018 by July 1, 2020. The assessment may be developed using existing reports, studies, models, and analysis related to child care affordability and access. The assessment must, at a minimum:

(a) Incorporate current data on the number of children age twelve and under who are receiving care from child care and early learning providers. The data must differentiate, to the extent possible: Children served by licensed and certified child care centers and family homes; public schools providing preschool and child care programs; private schools providing child care programs; state agencies and other public municipalities providing child care programs; license-exempt providers who care for children for four hours or less per day; family, friend, and neighbor caregivers; nannies and au pairs; religious organizations providing care; entities providing before-and-after school care; employer-supported child care; and other formal and informal networks of care. The data must, to the extent possible, include a breakdown by provider type of the:

(i) Number of children receiving state subsidized care;

(ii) Number of children receiving exclusively private pay care;

(iii) Number of providers who are accepting state subsidy and, for providers who are not accepting subsidy, reasons why not;

(iv) Demographics of children served, including age, race, rates of developmental delays or disability, family income, home language, and population group trends. Demographic information must include military, homeless, and tribal families; and

(v) Demographics of providers, including age, race, family income, home language, number of years providing care, education levels, utilization rates of state assistance, and the number of times a provider has changed locations;

(b) Define and describe the characteristics of the informal child care market, including estimates of the children served in this market by age group;

(c) Identify family child care choices by family income bracket;

(d) Include a visual representation of child care supply and demand by region that identifies areas with the highest need related to child care accessibility and affordability;

(e) Identify trends in the relationship between private pay rates and subsidy rates for child care providers;

(f) Include, to the extent possible, an analysis of the industry's quantitative or qualitative contribution to the state's economy, including:

(i) Employment and wage information for self-employed licensed child care providers and the employees of licensed child care providers, including information about providers accessing public assistance;

(ii) Workforce pipeline data for early learning professions;

(iii) The estimated costs to the state economy of child care inaccessibility, including lost economic activity and reduced tax revenue; and

(iv) Direct and indirect effects on labor participation, workplace productivity, and household earnings of working parents who use child care. The analysis must include information related to the workplace productivity of workers using employer-supported child care; and

(g) Include a facilities needs assessment to determine the type and number of child care facilities necessary to address unmet capacity needs for high quality child care programs such as the early childhood education and assistance program, headstart, working connections child care, and early head start. The needs assessment must include zip code level analysis to identify geographic areas with concentrated barriers to access.

(3) For the purposes of this section, "employer-supported child care" means:

(a) A licensed child care center operated at or near the workplace by an employer for the benefit of employees; or

(b) Financial assistance provided by an employer for licensed child care expenses incurred by an employee.

(4) This section expires December 31, 2020.

[ 2019 c 368 § 2.]

NOTES:

Findings—Intent—Short title—2019 c 368: See notes following RCW 43.330.525.