Section 162-C - Child Care Stabilization Program.(a)Child Care Stabilization Program.--The Child Care Stabilization Program is established within the department for the purpose of making retention and recruitment payments to qualified staff in accordance with this article, which shall be distributed as one-time payments to each child-care provider who applies and qualifies.(b) Use of money.--From money appropriated for COVID Relief - ARPA - Child Care Stabilization to the department, the entire amount shall be used for making payments under the program under this section.(c) Applications.--The department shall develop an application for qualified child-care providers to apply for program funding under this section. At the discretion of the department, but no later than January 1, 2023, the department shall begin accepting applications. The application shall be made available and posted on the department's publicly accessible Internet website. The department shall accept and process applications on a rolling basis until either funding for the program under this section has been exhausted or the Federal deadline for the use of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, whichever occurs first.(d) Department decision.--The department shall approve or deny an application received under subsection (c) no later than 30 days after receipt of the application.(e) Conditions.--The following apply to payments received under this section: (1) Payment received from the department under this section may not supplant existing staff wages and may not otherwise be reimbursed by Federal or State funding.(2) A qualified staff member may only receive one payment for retention or recruitment under this section.(3) Payment to a qualified staff member under this section may not exceed $2,500.(4) A qualified child-care provider receiving a payment from the department under this section must be in operation as of June 30, 2022, and must maintain operations until at least December 31, 2022.(5) A qualified child-care provider receiving a payment from the department under this section shall spend the money by the following deadlines:(i) Staff retention payments under this section shall be made within 90 days of receipt of payment.(ii) Staff recruitment payments under this section shall be made within 180 days of receipt of payment.(6) A qualified child-care provider receiving a payment from the department under this section shall submit a report, in a form and manner as prescribed by the department, as follows: (i) A qualified child-care provider receiving a payment from the department under this section shall submit a report to the department by:(A) June 30, 2023, regarding staff retention payments; or(B) September 30, 2023, regarding staff recruitment payments.(7) The department may recover a payment from a qualified child-care provider that receives payment from the department under this section if the entity does not comply with the provisions of this section or with Federal or State law or guidance. A qualified child-care provider that receives a payment from the department under this section shall provide documents, records and other information related to a payment made under this section in the time, manner and format requested by either the department or by any other Federal or Commonwealth agency that is authorized to audit the payments.(f) Report.--Within 90 days of the reporting deadlines under subsection (e), the department shall issue a report to the chairperson and minority chairperson of the Appropriations Committee of the Senate and the chairperson and minority chairperson of the Appropriations Committee of the House of Representatives regarding the aggregate staff retention and staff recruitment payment information received under subsection (e). The report shall be posted to the department's publicly accessible Internet website. The publicly available report may not include any proprietary recruitment and retention plan information.(g) Definitions.--As used in this section, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings given to them in this subsection unless the context clearly indicates otherwise: "Department." The Department of Human Services of the Commonwealth.
"Qualified child-care provider." Either of the following:
(1) Child-care provider certified under 55 Pa. Code Chs. 3270 (relating to child day care centers), 3280 (relating to group child day care homes) unless those providers are under investigation of fraud, refuse to renew or revocation or 3290 (relating to family child care homes) unless those providers are under investigation of fraud, refuse to renew or revocation.(2) A relative provider unless directly engaged in child care supervision activities exempt from certification under 55 Pa. Code Chs. 3270, 3280 and 3290. "Qualified staff." An employee of a qualified child-care provider who is involved in direct supervision of children or environmental services. The term shall not include executives, contracted staff, administrators and administrative support staff or owners of child-care provider.
Added by P.L. TBD 2022 No. 54, § 8, eff. 7/11/2022.