Senate Bill 14-003 Summary

• Establishes a pilot program to mitigate the "cliff effect" for low-income working families receiving child care assistance, allowing counties to extend benefits for up to two years as income increases with gradual fee adjustments.

• Creates the Colorado Child Care Assistance Cliff Effect Pilot Program Fund in the state treasury and authorizes up to $1,200,000 appropriation for fiscal year 2014 to support participating counties through grants.

• Permits up to ten counties selected by the state department to participate, with flexibility to design programs addressing community-specific needs and limit participation to reasonable caseload percentages or families with children 36 months or younger.

• Requires counties to work with participating families to provide a gradual transition off child care assistance over two years, with each county establishing its own parental fee schedule based on a state-approved formula.

• Extends the pilot program through June 30, 2019, with the state department required to collect data and report findings to the General Assembly by October 1, 2019, including participation numbers, duration of enrollment, and reasons for program exits.