Rule-Making Notices
Notice of Hearing
Children and Families
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to section
49.155 (3m) (d) 4., Stats., the Department of Children and Families proposes to hold a public hearing to consider emergency rules and proposed permanent rules to create section
DCF 201.04 (2j), relating to circumstances for a waiver to allow child care subsidy payments for a parent who is a child care provider and affecting small businesses.
Hearing Information
Date: Monday, January 14, 2012
Time: 1:30 p.m.
Location: GEF 1 Building, Room H206
201 East Washington Avenue
Madison, WI 53703
Appearances at the Hearing
Interested persons are invited to appear at the hearing and will be afforded the opportunity to make an oral presentation of their positions. Persons making oral presentations are requested to submit their facts, views, and suggested rewording in writing.
If you have special needs or circumstances regarding communication or accessibility at a hearing, please call (608) 267-9403 at least 10 days prior to the hearing date. Accommodations such as ASL interpreters, English translators, or materials in audio format will be made available on request to the fullest extent possible.
Copies and Place Where Comments Are to be Submitted and Deadline for Submission
A copy of the emergency and proposed permanent rules is available at
http://adminrules.wisconsin.gov. This site allows you to view documents associated with this rule's promulgation, register to receive email notification whenever the department posts new information about this rulemaking order, and submit comments and view comments by others during the public comment period. You may receive a paper copy of the rules or fiscal estimate by contacting:
Elaine Pridgen
Department of Children and Families
201 E. Washington Avenue
Madison, WI 53707
(608) 267-9403
Written comments on the rules received at the above address, email, or through the
http://adminrules.wisconsin.
gov website no later than
January 15, 2013, will be given the same consideration as testimony presented at the hearing.
Analysis Prepared by the Department of Children and Families
Statutory authority
Statutes interpreted
Related statute or rule
NA.
Explanation of agency authority
Section
49.155 (3m) (d), Stats., as affected by
2011 Wisconsin Act 32, provides that no child care subsidy funds may be used for child care services that are provided for a child by a child care provider who is the parent of the child or who resides with the child. In addition, no child care subsidy funds may be used for child care services that are provided by another child care provider if the child's parent is a child care provider.
These prohibitions do not apply if the child's parent has applied for, and been granted, a waiver by the county department, agency, or by the department. Section
49.155 (3m) (d) 4., Stats., directs the department to promulgate rules that specify the circumstances, or standards for determining the circumstances, under which the local agency or the department will grant a waiver.
Summary of the emergency and proposed permanent rules
A parent who is a child care provider may apply to the child care administrative agency for a waiver requesting assistance for child care services provided for the provider's child by another child care provider. Both the emergency rule and proposed permanent rule provide that the department or agency may grant a waiver if any of the following apply:
•
The department or agency determines that assistance is appropriate because the child has a special need.
•
The parent is the child's foster parent.
•
The parent is the child's guardian or interim caretaker and is receiving subsidized guardianship payments for the care and maintenance of the child.
•
The parent is the child's kinship care relative, the child has been placed with the relative under a court order, and the relative is receiving kinship care payments for the care and maintenance of the child.
•
Both of the following apply:
○ The child's biological parent is a dependent minor child under the age of 18 who attends high school or participates in a course of study meeting the standards established by the state superintendent of public instruction for the granting of a declaration of equivalency of high school graduation.
○ The dependent minor parent and the child reside with a person who is considered the parent for purposes of the child care subsidy program and who may be the dependent minor parent's custodial parent, kinship care relative, foster parent, or guardian or interim caretaker receiving subsidized guardianship payments for the care and maintenance of the dependent minor parent.
In addition, the proposed permanent rule will allow for a waiver if the parent is requesting child care assistance to do an activity in s.
49.155 (1m) (a), Stats., other than an activity related to child care.
No waiver of the prohibition on using subsidy funds for child care services that are provided for a child by a child care provider who is the parent of the child or who resides with the child is permitted.
Summary of factual data and analytical methodologies
The analytical methodologies for the rules include the following:
•
Not discouraging child care providers from becoming out-of-home care providers for children in the child welfare system.
•
Supporting the efforts of teen parents to graduate from high school.
•
Not creating a situation in which a child care provider caring for his or her own child with special needs is not able to provide appropriate care for the children attending the provider's child care center.
No data was used.
Summary of related federal requirements
None.
Comparison to rules in adjacent states
The department is not aware of any statutes or rules in adjacent states that prohibit low-income parents who are child care providers from receiving assistance to send their own children to another child care provider.
Analysis used to determine effect on small business or in preparation of economic impact analysis
The implementation of s.
49.155 (3m) (d), Stats., affects parents who are child care providers and who have been previously eligible for Wisconsin Shares assistance to send their own children to another child provider. Under the rules, parents who are child care providers are not be affected by the statutory prohibition on assistance if they are granted a waiver. The rules will have a positive economic impact on the providers who receive a waiver.
Effect on Small Business
The rules will have a positive effect on small businesses. Most child care providers are small businesses. Exempting small businesses would be contrary to the statutory objective. There are no compliance or reporting requirements or design or operational standards in the proposed rule. The Department's Small Business Regulatory Coordinator is Elaine Pridgen, (608) 267-9403, elaine.pridgen@wisconsin.
gov.
