HB 24-1237

House Bill 24-1237, which has been signed into law and will take effect on August 7, 2024, aims to create three new programs in Colorado to help develop child care facilities. These programs include providing technical assistance for planning and building child care centers, offering grants to local governments to update their regulations to support child care development, and giving financial grants to entities like public schools and local governments to construct or renovate child care facilities. The bill will benefit families by increasing access to quality child care in areas with high needs. It requires the division of housing to develop policies for these programs by November 1, 2024, and submit annual reports on their progress.

Official Summary

The act creates 3 new programs to be implemented and administered by the division of housing in the department of local affairs (division). The division is required to adopt policies, procedures, and guidelines for each program on or before November 1, 2024; except that, if there is insufficient funding before July 1, 2025 to implement and administer the child care facility development capital grant program, then the division is required to adopt policies, procedures, and guidelines for this program on or before November 1, 2025. For each program, consultation between the division and the department of early childhood is required for the policies the division develops and adopts to implement the programs. Additionally, the division is required to publish on its website and submit an annual report regarding the programs to specified legislative committees and to the department of early childhood. The child care facility development toolkit and technical assistance program is created to provide technical assistance from consultants and related professionals to enable interested child care providers, developers, employers, public schools, institutions of higher education, and local governments to understand the technical aspects of planning, developing, building, and co-locating child care facilities. The division must prioritize applications for projects that will meet a demonstrable need for child care in the areas of greatest need across the state and that satisfy one or more purposes of the program. The division's annual report must contain information regarding the assistance provided under this program and the uses of such assistance by program recipients. This program is available until July 1, 2028. The child care facility development planning grant program is created to incentivize and support local governments in identifying and making regulatory updates or improvements to community planning, development, building, zoning, and other regulatory processes to support the development of child care facilities. The division must develop a menu of recommended policy or regulatory tools, and eligible recipients for the grant must intend to implement one or more of such tools off the menu or identify other local policies or programs to implement to streamline the eligible recipient's regulatory environment for the development of child care facilities. The division's annual report must contain information regarding the amount of grants distributed and a description of recipients' use of the grants. This program is available until July 1, 2028. The child care facility development capital grant program is created to provide eligible entities, which are local governments, public schools, institutions of higher education, or public-private partnerships, with money to support the development of licensed child care and to construct, remodel, renovate, or retrofit a child care facility to meet a demonstrated need for child care in an eligible entity's community. The division shall utilize the state housing board within the division to review and make recommendations on grant applications. Grant recipients are required to provide a financial match. The financial match required from a grant recipient is 50% for a center-based facility and 25% for a home-based facility. More weight is given to applications that represent geographic diversity, will serve a high percentage of families below the area's median income, commit to providing a well-compensated staff, co-locate with or repurpose facilities with other uses, plan to serve children in regions with low child care capacity, or plan to serve infants and toddlers. The division's annual report must contain information regarding the amount of grants distributed and a description of recipients' use of the grants. The act also creates the child care facility development cash fund (fund) for use by the division to administer and implement the 3 programs and to make grants under the child care facility development planning grant program and the child care facility development capital grant program. On August 15, 2024, the state treasurer shall transfer $250,000 from the general fund to the fund. The money from the transfer must be used before June 30, 2025, to implement the child care facility development toolkit and technical assistance program and the child care facility development planning grant program, and the division must prioritize money first for the toolkit and technical assistance program. Then, after June 30, 2025 but before June 30, 2028, money from the transfer can be used for all 3 programs, and after July 1, 2028, but before June 30, 2029, money from the transfer may be used for the child care facility development capital grant program. Additionally, the division may receive gifts, grants, or donations to implement and administer and make grants under the child care facility development capital grant program. The division may also use $70,000 from the general fund transfer for administrative costs. For the 2024-25 state fiscal year, the act appropriates $250,000 from the child care facility development cash fund to the department of local affairs for child care facility development. APPROVED by Governor May 29, 2024 EFFECTIVE August 7, 2024(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

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