PRINTER'S NO. 802
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No. 781
Session of
2025
INTRODUCED BY SHUSTERMAN, HARKINS, CEPEDA-FREYTIZ, PROBST, HILL-
EVANS, CERRATO, HANBIDGE, BOROWSKI, KHAN, SANCHEZ, DONAHUE,
SCHLOSSBERG, D. WILLIAMS, CIRESI, GREEN, DEASY, MAYES,
HOHENSTEIN, KENYATTA, GIRAL, RIVERA, MADDEN, GUENST AND
ISAACSON, MARCH 3, 2025
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, MARCH 3, 2025
AN ACT
1 Amending the act of June 13, 1967 (P.L.31, No.21), entitled "An
2 act to consolidate, editorially revise, and codify the public
3 welfare laws of the Commonwealth," in general powers and
4 duties of the Department of Public Welfare, providing for
5 infant and toddler care professionals salary supplement; and
6 promulgating regulations.
7 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
8 hereby enacts as follows:
9 Section 1. The act of June 13, 1967 (P.L.31, No.21), known
10 as the Human Services Code, is amended by adding a section to
11 read:
12 Section 217. Infant and Toddler Care Professionals Salary
13 Supplement.--(a) The department shall establish, implement and
14 administer a pilot salary supplement program to provide salary
15 supplements to child-care center employes assigned to work
16 directly with children under four years of age, to which the
17 following shall apply:
18 (1) The purpose of the program shall be to create parity in
 1 pay across assigned age groups to prevent losing employes who
2 work with infants and toddlers due to changes in pre-
3 kindergarten employment salaries.
4 (2) The department shall establish standards for providing
5 salary supplements under the program, which may:
6 (i) include determining parity on a county level; and
7 (ii) be scaled by education and certification.
8 (3) The department shall issue salary supplements under the
9 program no later than September 30, 2026, for the 2026-2027
10 fiscal year and no later than September 30 for each subsequent
11 fiscal year.
12 (b) A child-care center that receives money under the
13 program shall only use the money to supplement wages and
14 salaries. Money received under the program may not supplant the
15 child-care center's money in a manner designed to intentionally
16 lower wages or payroll costs.
17 (c) To verify a child-care center's eligibility to
18 participate in the program, the department shall:
19 (1) Subject to subsection (d), review the personnel records
20 of each child-care center to confirm current salaries for each
21 pilot year.
22 (2) Monitor salary supplements, employe retention rates and
23 advancement of employe education or certification. The
24 department shall provide the information gathered under this
25 paragraph and recommendations on how the program may be
26 continued beyond the program's expiration under subsection (g),
27 to the General Assembly within one year of expiration of the
28 pilot program.
29 (d) The department may only review personnel records of a
30 child-care center to the extent necessary to fulfill the duties
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 1 of this section, unless otherwise specified under this section.
2 (e) Prior to the first pilot year, and for each subsequent
3 year, the department shall provide the General Assembly with an
4 appropriation estimate necessary to cover the cost of all
5 reported salary supplements.
6 (f) No later than August 31, 2026, and each August 31
7 thereafter, an amount equal to or less than the estimate
8 provided to the General Assembly under subsection (e) shall be
9 appropriated on a continuing basis to the department for the
10 payment of salary supplements under the program.
11 (g) The program shall expire upon the expiration of the
12 third fiscal year for which the department provides salary
13 supplements under this section.
14 (h) The department shall adopt rules and promulgate
15 regulations necessary to implement this section.
16 (i) As used in this section, the following words and phrases
17 shall have the meanings given to them in this subsection unless
18 the context clearly indicates otherwise:
19 "Child-care center" means any premises that operates for
20 profit in which child care is provided simultaneously for seven
21 or more children who are not relatives of the operator. The term
22 does not include a center operating under social service
23 auspices or a center that is an approved provider under the
24 Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts Program established under section
25 1512-D of the act of March 10, 1949 (P.L.30, No.14), known as
26 the Public School Code of 1949.
27 "Program" means the pilot salary supplement program
28 established under subsection (a).
29 Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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Statutes/Laws affected:
Printer's No. 0802: P.L.31, No.21