This bill establishes a child care workforce fund to provide grants to eligible child care employers for child care workforce recruitment and retention bonuses and benefits. The fund will be non-lapsing and continually appropriated to the Department of Health and Human Services, and will be funded by state appropriations and any available federal funds received by the department. The department will determine the grants to be awarded, which include sign-on bonuses for new child care workers and early childhood educators, as well as retention bonuses for employees who continue with their employment. To receive a grant from the fund, the recipient must be a child care center licensed by the department. The bill also establishes a dedicated fund for the child care workforce fund, which will be funded by moneys deposited in the fund.

The fiscal impact of this bill includes the establishment of a child care workforce fund and the provision of recruitment and retention bonuses to child care workers and early childhood educators. The Department of Health and Human Services will administer the fund and distribute grants to licensed child care providers. The department estimates that it will need to hire a full-time Business Administrator II and make systems changes to the New Hampshire Connections Information Systems, which will cost approximately $1,200,000. The bill provides specific amounts for sign-on and retention bonuses, and the department estimates that the total cost of the recruitment and retention grants will be $2.92 million in FY 2024, $0.91 million in FY 2025, and $3.94 million in FY 2026. The funding for the child care workforce fund will come from state appropriations and any available federal funds received by the department.

Statutes affected:
Introduced: 6:12