1.1 	A bill for an act
1.2 	relating to child care; authorizing grants to expand access to child care for children 
1.3 	with disabilities; appropriating money.
1.4 	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.5 	Section 1. GRANTS TO EXPAND ACCESS TO CHILD CARE FOR CHILDREN 
1.6 	WITH DISABILITIES.
 1.7 		Subdivision 1.Establishment. The commissioner of human services must establish 
1.8 	competitive grants to expand access to licensed family child care providers or licensed child 
1.9 	care centers for children with disabilities including medical complexities. Grants must be 
1.10 	awarded to counties or tribes and must be used to assist family child care providers or child 
1.11 	care centers to serve children with disabilities in inclusive settings alongside children without 
1.12 	disabilities. Competitive grants must be awarded to at least two applicants beginning no 
1.13 	later than December 1, 2020.
1.14 		Subd. 2.Commissioner's duties. To implement these grants, the commissioner must:
1.15 	(1) develop a request for proposals with stakeholder input;
1.16 	(2) develop procedures for data collection, qualitative and quantitative measurement of 
1.17 	programmatic outcomes, and reporting requirements for grantees;
1.18 	(3) convene a working group of grantees, grantee partners, and participating families to 
1.19 	assess progress on grant activities, share best practices, and collect and review data on grant 
1.20 	activities; and
1.21 	(4) based on information gathered throughout the grant period and at the conclusion of 
1.22 	the grant period, provide a report to the chairs and ranking minorities members of the 
2.1 	legislative committees with jurisdiction over health and human services regarding grant 
2.2 	activities, with legislative recommendations for implementing inclusive child care statewide. 
2.3 	The report must be made available to the public.
2.4 		Subd. 3.Grant activities. Grantees must use grant funds to expand access to inclusive 
2.5 	family child care providers or child care centers to children with disabilities, which may 
2.6 	include:
2.7 	(1) onetime needs to equip a child care setting to serve children with disabilities, such 
2.8 	as:
2.9 	(i) environmental modifications;
2.10 	(ii) accessibility modifications;
2.11 	(iii) sensory adaptation;
2.12 	(iv) training and staff time for training; or
2.13 	(v) equipment purchase;
2.14 	(2) ongoing medical or disability-related services for children with disabilities in inclusive 
2.15 	child care settings, such as:
2.16 	(i) mental health supports;
2.17 	(ii) inclusion specialist services;
2.18 	(iii) home care nursing;
2.19 	(iv) behavioral supports;
2.20 	(v) coaching or training for staff;
2.21 	(vi) substitute teaching time; or
2.22 	(vii) enhanced rate for increased staff-to-child ratio; and
2.23 	(3) other expenses determined by the grantee and family child care provider or child 
2.24 	care center partners to be necessary to serve children with disabilities in inclusive child care 
2.25 	settings.
2.26 		Subd. 4.Requirements for grantees. Upon receipt of grant funds and throughout the 
2.27 	grant period, grant recipients must:
2.28 	(1) partner with at least three family child care providers or child care centers, each of 
2.29 	which must meet one of the following criteria:
3.1 	(i) serve ten or fewer children, including at least one child with a disability who is not 
3.2 	a family member of the family child care provider or of an employee of the child care center;
3.3 	(ii) serve 11 to 30 children, including at least two children with disabilities; or
3.4 	(iii) serve more than 30 children, including at least three children with disabilities;
3.5 	(2) develop and use a process to ensure that grant funding be used to support children 
3.6 	with disabilities who, without the additional supports made available through the grant, 
3.7 	would have difficulty accessing inclusive child care settings;
3.8 	(3) pursue funding for ongoing services needed for children with disabilities in inclusive 
3.9 	child care settings, such as:
3.10 	(i) Medicaid or private health insurance coverage;
3.11 	(ii) additional grant funding; or
3.12 	(iii) other sources of county, state, or federal funds; and
3.13 	(4) explore and seek opportunities to use existing federal funds to provide ongoing 
3.14 	support to family child care providers or child care centers serving children with disabilities. 
3.15 	Grantees must seek to minimize family financial obligations for child care for a child with 
3.16 	disabilities beyond what child care would cost for a child without disabilities.
3.17 		Subd. 5.Reporting. Grantees must report semiannually to the commissioner according 
3.18 	to a manner specified by the commissioner on the following:
3.19 	(1) additional supports needed to serve children with disabilities in inclusive child care 
3.20 	settings;
3.21 	(2) costs for additional supports;
3.22 	(3) billing best practices;
3.23 	(4) available funding sources;
3.24 	(5) processes for identifying families of children with disabilities who could benefit 
3.25 	from grant activities and connecting them with family child care providers or child care 
3.26 	centers interested in serving them; and
3.27 	(6) processes used to determine whether a child is a child with a disability and means 
3.28 	of prioritizing grant funding to serve children with significant support needs associated with 
3.29 	their disability.

4.1 	Sec. 2. APPROPRIATION.
 4.2 	$250,000 is appropriated from the general fund in fiscal year 2021 to the commissioner 
4.3 	of human services for the child care expansion grants in section 1. The commissioner may 
4.4 	use up to seven percent of the appropriation for administration and technical assistance. 
4.5 	The base appropriation is $250,000 for each of fiscal years 2022 and 2023.