Senate Bill No. 625 Summary

• Adds section 208.046 to Missouri law requiring the children's division to promulgate rules effective no later than July 1, 2011, modifying income eligibility criteria for state-funded child care assistance provided through vouchers or direct reimbursement to providers.

• Establishes a sliding fee scale based on adjusted gross income and family size unit for child care recipients, with fees subject to annual appropriations.

• Allows persons whose income surpasses the annual appropriation level to continue receiving reduced subsidy benefits on a division-established scale until they assume full cost of the maximum base child care subsidy rate, at which point they become ineligible.

• Permits the children's division to waive the sliding scale fee for children with special needs.

• Sets maximum division payment as the applicable rate minus the applicable fee, and establishes that "annual appropriation level" means the maximum income level eligible for full child care benefits as determined through the annual appropriations process.