Section 10-NEW - [Newly enacted section not yet numbered] Tri-Share Child Care Matching Program(a) The Office of Early Childhood shall, within available appropriations, establish a Tri-Share Child Care Matching Program serving New London County. Under such program, costs for child care provided by duly licensed child care facilities in the state shall be shared equally among participating employers, employees and the state.(b)(1) The program shall be established for a minimum of two years and the office shall select a regional or state-wide organization as the administrator of the program. Such administrator shall (A) determine employers' and employees' eligibility for participation in the program, (B) ensure that child care facilities to which payments will be made under the program are licensed by the state, (C) collect and ensure timely payment from participating employers, participating employees and the state, (D) disburse funds to the appropriate child care provider, (E) recruit employers to participate in the program, (F) coordinate adequate communication between all parties, and (G) collect and submit to the Office of Early Childhood data concerning participating employees, including, but not limited to, the annual household income of such employees, provided any such submitted data shall be deidentified.(2) To be eligible to participate in the program: (A) An employer shall have a physical facility located in New London County that is the principal workplace of its employees; and(B) An employee shall (i) be employed by a participating employer, (ii) reside in the state, (iii) have as such employee's principal workplace a location in New London County, and (iv) not be receiving other public assistance for child care costs.(c) The Commissioner of Early Childhood shall enter into an agreement with such administrator to perform the duties described under subdivision (1) of subsection (b) of this section. Such agreement shall include, but need not be limited to, (1) a provision that the administrator shall receive, for administrative costs of the program, up to ten per cent of the funds allocated by the state for the program, (2) a requirement that the administrator not commingle funds received for purposes of the program, other than funds for administrative costs allowed pursuant to subdivision (1) of this subsection, with other funds held or controlled by the administrator, (3) any restrictions or prohibitions on the disclosure of data received or collected by the administrator in the performance of its duties under subdivision (1) of subsection (b) of this section, and (4) penalties for violation of a provision of the agreement or of this section.(d) Commencing with the fiscal year immediately following the first year of the program and annually thereafter, the commissioner shall submit to the joint standing committees of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to appropriations and the budgets of state agencies, finance, revenue and bonding, education and children, a report on the program. Such report shall include, but need not be limited to, (1) for the fiscal year immediately preceding, (A) the number of participating employers and participating employees, (B) the percentage of participating employees whose household incomes are below the asset limited, income constrained, employed population threshold, as calculated in the most recent ALICE report by the United Way of Connecticut, and (C) the amounts disbursed by the administrator for child care costs and the amounts retained by the administrator for administrative costs, and (2) any programmatic or legislative changes the commissioner recommends to improve the program or further its purposes.Conn. Gen. Stat. § 10-NEW
Added by P.A. 24-0091,S. 3 of the Connecticut Acts of the 2024 Regular Session, eff. 7/1/2024.