BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 4753

By: Lopez

International Relations & Economic Development

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

It has been suggested that the rising cost of child care has made it increasingly difficult for working families to access adequate and affordable child care. This inability to afford child care often results in parents either removing themselves from the workforce or relying on unlicensed and sometimes dangerous child-care facilities to supervise their children. C.S.H.B. 4753 seeks to identify trends in the cost of child care as it relates to family income growth by providing for a study of this topic.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 4753 requires the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) to conduct a study regarding the cost of child care in Texas in comparison to family income. The bill sets out the data the study must examine and requires the study to estimate the number of families eligible to receive subsidized child care.

C.S.H.B. 4753 requires the TWC, not later than December 15, 2020, to report the results of the study to the governor, the lieutenant governor, the speaker of the house of representatives, and each legislative standing committee with jurisdiction over child-care facilities. The bill's provisions expire September 1, 2021.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2019.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 4753 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

The substitute changes the entity responsible for conducting the study and reporting the results from the Health and Human Services Commission with the assistance of the TWC to the TWC. The substitute changes the deadline by which the results of the study must be reported from September 1, 2020, to December 15, 2020.

The substitute with regard to the study:

·         changes the data the study must examine;

·         does not include a requirement for the study to compare the data for single-parent and two-parent households; and

·         includes a requirement for the study to estimate the number of families eligible to receive subsidized child care.