The bill proposes the establishment of a child care workforce fund in New Hampshire, which aims to finance recruitment and retention grants for eligible child care employees in the state. The fund will be nonlapsing and continually appropriated to the Department of Health and Human Services, which is authorized to accept private, state, or federal monies for deposit into the fund. The state treasurer is tasked with investing the fund's monies, and any interest earned will be reinvested into the fund. The Department, in consultation with the advisory council on child care, will designate an entity to administer the grants, and eligible child care employers can apply for these grants to support various employee-related expenses, such as health savings accounts, education, sign-on and retention incentives, insurance plans, and paid time off.

The bill specifies that to be eligible for grant funding, child care employees must be employed in licensed or license-exempt child care programs enrolled in the state's child care scholarship program, including non-profit and privately-owned child care programs. The Department of Health and Human Services is required to adopt rules for the administration of the fund, including grant application and disbursement procedures. The bill also amends RSA 6:12, I(b) to include the child care workforce fund as a dedicated fund. The fiscal note attached to the bill indicates that the financial impact on the state is indeterminable, as the bill does not make an appropriation and the Department's administrative costs are unknown. The bill is set to take effect on January 1, 2025.

Statutes affected:
Introduced: 6:12
As Amended by the House: 6:12