GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1993

H	1 

HOUSE BILL 1234

Short Title:  Child Care Resource and Referral Funds.  	(Public)
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Sponsors: Representatives Holt; Baddour, Bowman, and H. Hunter.
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Referred to:  Appropriations.
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May 4, 1993

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO APPROPRIATE FUNDS FOR CHILD CARE RESOURCE AND REFERRAL SERVICES.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  (a)	There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Human Resources the sum of one million eight hundred forty-five thousand dollars ($1,845,000) for the 1993-94 fiscal year and the sum of one million eight hundred forty-five thousand dollars ($1,845,000) for the 1994-95 fiscal year, for the development of community-based child care resource and referral agencies in unserved counties, and for the continuation of existing nonprofit community-based child care resource and referral agencies.
These funds shall be allocated for the following purposes:
(1)	To develop resource and referral services in unserved counties;
(2)	To continue existing resource and referral services; and
(3)	To administer the program.
(b)	All counties will be assigned to one of 18 resource and referral service delivery regions.  Funds allocated to existing nonprofit community-based child care resource and referral agencies shall be awarded, through a request for proposal process, to a lead agency in each of the 18 regions.  If more than one agency exists, requests for proposals shall reflect collaborations among them.  Plans to serve or develop services in currently unserved counties shall be included in any grant proposal from a region with unserved areas.
(c)	For purposes of this section, an eligible lead agency is a public or private nonprofit community-based child care resource and referral agency accredited by the North Carolina Resource and Referral Network.  Resource and referral services include:
(1)	Identification of all existing child care services and regular maintenance of database;
(2)	Telephone referral or face-to-face consultation for families that provides information and quality indicators and promotes parental choice;
(3)	Collection of parent demand statistics, procedures, and policies to handle confidentiality and complaints;
(4)	Recruitment and training of prospective child care providers, coordination of training for existing child care providers, and emphasizing early childhood development research;
(5)	Public awareness efforts and education on quality, affordability, and availability of child care in the local area.
(d)	An agency's eligibility to reserve funds allocated by this act shall depend on that agency's matching these funds with thirty percent (30%) local match.  Of this local match, fifty percent (50%) may be supplied by in-kind donations.
Sec. 2.  This act becomes effective July 1, 1993.