November 14, 2006
1:00 p.m.
U.W. Outreach Building (951 North Poplar)
Senator Charles Scott, Co-Chairman
Representative Elaine Harvey, Co-Chairman
Senator Mike Massie
Senator Tony Ross
Senator Kathryn Sessions
Representative Rosie Berger
Representative Edward Buchanan
Representative Debbie Hammons
Representative Bob Brechtel
Joseph A. Rodriguez, Staff Attorney
Please refer to Appendix 1 to review the
Committee Sign-in Sheet
for a list of other individuals who attended the meeting.
The Committee met on
November 14, 2006 in
Co-Chair
Representative
Harvey, Co-chair indicated that it was necessary to approve the minutes of the 11-1-2006
meeting. Upon motion made by Senator Massie and
seconded by Senator Sessions the minutes
of the 11-1-2006 meeting were approved as presented.
Director Emmons of
the Department of Workforce Services explained the bills to the Committee. The Committee was presented with Appendix 3
and Appendix 4 which were drafts of the bills.
Director Emmons presented the Committee with Appendices 5, 6, 7. Sue Bacon of the Department of Family
Services presented the Committee with Appendix 8, reimbursement rates used by
DFS for child care. The task force
looked at five (5) different options to try to establish the threshold for
eligibility for the quality child care program.
The options range between two hundred percent (200%) of the federal
poverty level and two hundred eighty percent (280%) of the federal poverty
level. The modeling works for every county in
Joyce Hammer a
childcare provider from
Heide Sides a
childcare provider from
Mike Bailey a
childcare provider from
Jan Lawrence a
childcare center director from
Karl Coulson a
childcare provider from
Diana Webb a
childcare provider from
Deanna Frye of the
Wyoming Children's Action Alliance addressed the Committee. Mrs. Frye thinks that there will be a lot of
staff turnover because of competition with school districts especially with
educated staff. The bottom line with
this project according to Mrs. Frye is that kids will win.
Cochairman Scott
took the Committee through the bill. The
Committee discussed 07LSO-0298.W4 first.
Amendment moved by
Senator Massie, page 3, line 24 after
"infrastructure." insert "Cities, towns and counties with low
per capita assessed valuations, upon the filing of an acceptable application, shall
be given the highest priority for child care grants and loans.". After discussion the motion passed.
Senator Ross moved
to delete page 2, lines 2 through 24 and page 3, lines 1 through 21. Representative Buchanon moved to split the
amendment as follows: part one of the
split would be to delete page 2, lines 2 through 24 and page 3 lines 1 through
8. part two of the split amendment would
be to delete page 3, lines 10 through 21.
Cochairman Scott indicated that the motion is divisible. After Committee discussion regarding the
amendment the question was called on part one of the amendment. The amendment failed. After further Committee discussion regarding
part two of the amendment the amendment failed.
The next amendment
was moved by Senator Massie. The
amendment was to page 4, line 7 after "of" delete
"supplementing" and insert "assisting the working families of
the state by encouraging the availability of" and then after "care" delete
"to" and insert "for" .
Page 4, line 8 after "facilities" delete
"consisting:" insert ".
The system consists". After discussion
the amendment passed.
Motion made by
Senator Massie to amend the bill on page 4, line 16. The proposed amendment is to, after
"for" delete "professional" and insert
"educational". After
discussion the amendment passed.
Senator Ross moved
to delete page 4, line 22 entirely.
After discussion on the amendment the amendment failed.
Motion made by
Senator Massie. Motion is to amend page
6, line 15 by deleting "developmentally disabled children" and in its
place insert "children with developmental disabilities". After
a discussion of the amendment by the Committee, the amendment passed.
Motion made by
Senator Massie. Motion is to amend page
10, line 8 by inserting after "evaluating" the phrase " the
level of" and after "quality" deleting the "," and
inserting a "." and deleting the balance of the line. Also page 10, line 9 delete entirely and page
10, line 10 delete "information".
After a discussion of the
amendment by the Committee, the amendment passed.
Motion made by Senator
Massie. The motion is to amend page 11
by reinserting the stricken language in lines 16 through 22 and on page 12
reinserting the stricken language on lines 1 through 15. After
a discussion of the amendment by the Committee, the amendment passed.
Motion made by Senator
Scott. The motion is to amend page14, line
1 by deleting all language after "(i)" and inserting after
"(i)" "The state will pay one hundred percent (100%) of the
early childhood scholarships for families to facilities on behalf of families
at or below two hundred percent (200%) of the federal poverty level and will pay
seventy five percent (75%) of the early childhood scholarships for families to facilities
on behalf of families that are above two hundred percent (200%) and at or below
two hundred fifty percent (250%) of the federal poverty level and will pay
fifty percent (50%) of the early childhood scholarships for families to facilities
on behalf of families that are above two hundred fifty percent (250%) and at or
below two hundred eighty percent (280%) of the federal poverty level; and"
and page 14, line 2 by deleting the line entirely. After
a discussion of the amendment by the Committee, the amendment passed.
Motion made by Senator
Scott. The motion is to amend page 13,
lines 18 delete "The department shall" and insert "The
calculation shall use the quality child care incentive level established
pursuant to subsection (c) of this section and the following factors:" and
delete lines 19 through 23 delete entirely.
After a discussion of the amendment by the Committee the amendment passed.
Motion made by Senator
Massie. The motion is to amend page 14
by deleting lines 10 through 15 and lines 30 and 31 and page 15, lines 1 and
2. After
a discussion of the amendment by the Committee, the amendment passed. The Committee directed staff to develop an
amendment to be considered by the Labor Committee that would be inserted as
(ii). The language of the amendment
would be to state that extra payments would be made to families in counties
whose cost of living is above one hundred percent (100%) of the state average.
Motion made by Senator
Scott. The language of the amendment was
provided by Director Emmons. The motion
is to amend page 16, line 12 after "slot" insert "according to
the biennial rate established in the biennial budget bill" and on line 13
after exceed delete "fifty percent (50%)" and insert
"seventy-five percent (75%)" .
After a discussion of the
amendment by the Committee the amendment passed.
Motion made by Senator
Massie. The motion is to amend page 17,
by deleting lines 26 through 30 and page 18 by deleting lines 1 and 2. After
a discussion of the amendment by the Committee the motion passed.
Motion made by
Senator Sessions. The motion is to amend
page 21 by deleting lines 15 through 20.
After a discussion of the
amendment by the Committee, the amendment passed.
Motion made by Senator
Massie to delete lines 24 and 25 on page 21 and lines 1 through 7 on page
22. After a discussion of the amendment by the
Committee, the amendment passed.
Motion made by Senator
Scott. (see Appendix 11) The motion is to amend the bill by inserting a
new section on page 26, line 6 "14-4-409.
Balanced budget provisions:
(a) The department shall
periodically evaluate the spending for early childhood scholarships for families
and project the spending through the end of the current biennium. If the projected spending exceeds the budget
available the department shall take any combination of the following actions to
bring the spending within the budget available:
(i) Impose a moratorium or a limit on new enrollment in the program;
(ii) Reduce the financial eligibility criteria for new program enrollees; or
(iii) Reduce the amount of the payment levels for quality care. (b) The department shall notify the joint appropriations
committee of any shortfall projected and the actions taken to remedy the
shortfall. After a discussion of the amendment by the
Committee, the motion passed.
Motion made by
Senator Massie and seconded by Senator Sessions that the bill as amended be
forwarded to the Labor Committee with the Quality Child Care Oversight
Committee's recommendation that it be introduced in the session. A roll call vote was taken and the motion
passed. (see Appendix 12
After completing
their work on 07LSO-0298.W4 the Committee began working 07LSO-0306.W2.
Motion made by
Representative Hammons to delete on page 3 lines 1 through 3. After
a discussion of the amendment by the Committee the motion passed.
Motion made by Representative
Harvey to delete on page 3 lines 13 through 23 and page 4 lines 1 through
8. After
a discussion of the amendment by the Committee, the amendment passed.
Motion made by Senator
Scott to insert on page 2, line 22 a new section (vi), renumbering the existing
(vi) as (vii). The new section shall
read "(vi) Early childhood scholarships
for families – three million dollars ($3,000,000.00); The total appropriation should be adjusted
accordingly. After a discussion by the
Committee the motion passed. The
conforming amendment is on page 1, line 11 after "2008," to delete
"two" and insert "five" and line 13 after
"dollars" delete "($2,969,175.00)" and insert
"($5,969,175.00)" and page 2, line 20 delete.
Motion made by Senator Scott to add a section 3 to the bill,
renumbering subsequent sections, which
would read "For the fiscal biennium ending June 30, 2008, three million
three hundred forty thousand dollars ($3,340,000.00) is appropriated from the
general fund to the department of family services to raise the reimbursement
for child care under the Child Care Development Fund to the 85th
percentile starting July 1, 2007. After a discussion of the amendment by the
Committee, the amendment passed.
Motion made by
Representative Harvey and seconded by Representative Hammons that 07LSO-0306.W2 as amended be forwarded to
the Labor Committee with the Quality Child Care Oversight Committee's
recommendation that it be introduced in the session. A roll call vote was taken and the motion
passed. (see Appendix 12)
There being no
further business, Co-Chair Scott adjourned the meeting at 5:41 p.m.
Respectfully
submitted,
Representative
Harvey, Co-Chair