Two Care4Kids Bills Pass in the General Assembly

On May 5, the 2010 session of the CT General Assembly ended and several early care and education bills were passed in the process, thanks to hard work by Alliance members and early care advocates, who attended press conferences and hearings and contacted their legislators to help stress the importance of these bills. Two bills that passed were:

S.B. 391 -- An Act Concerning Subsidies for the Unemployed Under the Care 4 Kids Program. This bill does two important things: 1) requires DSS to provide 30-day notice before changing eligibility restrictions or limiting new enrollments; 2) changes parent re-determination from every six months to eight months, resulting in a more streamlined government and less administrative burdens for parents, providers and the Care 4 Kids program. The bill passed in the Senate 35-0 and in the House 147-0.

H.B. 5360– An Act Concerning Children in the Recession. This is Speaker Donovan’s bill. This bill helps protect children from the impact of the recession and includes: establishing a leadership team as a subcommittee of the state’s Child Poverty and Prevention Council; requires DSS to develop a plan for comprehensive state services with client-friend timelines and a streamlined reapplication requirement; requires DSS to provide a 30-day notice to providers and parents about changes in eligibility criteria to the Care4Kids program; and makes attending a two- or four-year degree program an approved activity under the TANF program after the unemployment rate exceeds 8% for the preceding three months. The bill passed in the House 137-7 and in the Senate 32-0

Bills that died:

SB 380 – An Act Concerning Early Childhood Education Credentialing for School Readiness Programs for 2015. In 2015, current law requires that all teachers in early care and education have a bachelor’s degree. S.B. 380 was initiated by the Department of Higher Education after studies showed that current higher education courses could not meet the 2015 deadline. S.B. 380 would have created an expedited and alternate route to reaching the 2015 mandates for school readiness teachers. It also expanded the options for the use of surplus school readiness funds. Due to amendments late in the process, the bill did not come up for a vote in the House. This remains an important issue to the Alliance and will be the subject of on-going conversations through the formation of a workforce development study group. If you would like to join this group, please contact Ann Pratt.

H.B. 5346 - An Act Implementing The Recommendations Of The Program Review And Investigations Committee Concerning The Well-Being Of All Connecticut Children And Requiring An Annual Report Card Evaluating State Policies And Programs Impacting Children. The bill required an annual report card to monitor progress in improving the lives of children. The bill passed in the House 144-0. It died on the Senate Calendar.

IMPORTANT: Governor Rell still needs to sign the passed bills into law.