This bill mandates the Kansas Department for Children and Families, in collaboration with the Kansas Office of Early Childhood, to develop and implement a modern child care subsidy management and payment system. The system aims to facilitate direct payments to eligible child care providers participating in the Kansas child care subsidy program. Key features of the system will include a provider login portal, integration with existing state systems, secure communication tools, customer assistance functions, and program monitoring capabilities. The department is required to issue a request for information from private vendors by January 1, 2027, to gather insights on system functionality, implementation options, costs, and timelines.

Additionally, the bill stipulates that by June 30, 2027, the department must submit a comprehensive report to various legislative committees. This report will summarize vendor responses, provide estimated costs for procurement and implementation, recommend a timeline for issuing a request for proposal, and identify any necessary statutory changes to support direct payments to providers. Following the report's submission and subject to available funding, the department will then issue a request for proposal to proceed with the system's development and implementation.