HF 3530

as introduced - 89th Legislature (2015 - 2016) Posted on 03/23/2016 11:18am

A bill for an act
relating to higher education; expanding the child care grant program; amending
Minnesota Statutes 2015 Supplement, section 136A.125, subdivision 4.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2015 Supplement, section 136A.125, subdivision 4,
is amended to read:

Subd. 4.

Amount and length of grants.

(a) The amount of a child care grant
must be based on:

(1) the income of the applicant and the applicant's spouse;

(2) the number in the applicant's family, as defined by the office; and

(3) the number of eligible children in the applicant's family.

(b) The maximum award to the applicant shall be deleted text begin $2,800 deleted text end new text begin $6,500 new text end for each eligible
child per academic year, except that the campus financial aid officer may apply to the
office for approval to increase grants by up to ten percent to compensate for higher market
charges for infant care in a community. The office shall develop policies to determine
community market costs and review institutional requests for compensatory grant
increases to ensure need and equal treatment. The office shall prepare a chart to show the
amount of a grant that will be awarded per child based on the factors in this subdivision.
The chart shall include a range of income and family size.

(c) Applicants with family incomes at or below a percentage of the federal poverty
level, as determined by the commissioner, will qualify for the maximum award. The
commissioner shall attempt to set the percentage at a level estimated to fully expend the
available appropriation for child care grants. Applicants with family incomes exceeding
that threshold will receive the maximum award minus ten percent of their income
exceeding that threshold. If the result is less than zero, the grant is zero.

(d) The academic year award amount must be disbursed by academic term using the
following formula:

(1) the academic year amount described in paragraph (b);

(2) divided by the number of terms in the academic year;

(3) divided by 15; and

(4) multiplied by the number of credits for which the student is enrolled that
academic term, up to 15 credits.

(e) Payments shall be made each academic term to the student or to the child care
provider, as determined by the institution. Institutions may make payments more than
once within the academic term.

new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end

new text begin This section is effective July 1, 2016.
new text end