wa-law.org > bill > 2025-26 > HB 1128 > Second Substitute

HB 1128 - Child care workforce board

Source

Section 1

  1. The legislature finds and declares the following:

    1. High quality child care and early learning enable parents to go to work, keeping the economy going at all levels and returning six dollars in value for every one dollar invested. High quality early learning services help prepare children for success in school and in life. A high quality child care and early learning system depends on a thriving, healthy, and competitively compensated workforce. Current conditions for child care workers have resulted in lack of access, unaffordable prices, and poorer outcomes for children and families;

    2. Low compensation and poor working conditions impair the health, efficiency, and well-being of persons employed to provide child care, constitute unfair competition against other employers and their employees, threaten the stability of the child care market, create economic instability for providers, and result in a provider workforce that must rely in public and private assistance to support their own families;

    3. The fissured nature of child care workplaces exacerbates these conditions and create barriers preventing workers from being able to address these problems on their own; and

    4. Employment under these conditions threatens the health and well-being of the people of Washington and injures the overall economy.

  2. Therefore, it is the declared policy of the state that such working conditions for child care workers be eliminated as rapidly as practicable through establishment of a workforce standards board comprised of employer and worker representatives and state agency representatives to recommend minimum compensation and other employment standards.

Section 2

The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.

  1. "Board" means the Washington state child care workforce standards board established pursuant to this chapter.

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    1. "Child care employer" means any employer of child care workers.

    2. "Child care employer" does not include any private school approved under chapter 28A.195 RCW operating a preschool or otherwise providing child care or early learning services requiring a child care provider license or certification from the department of children, youth, and families.

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    1. "Child care worker" means any worker providing child care services, excluding administrative staff, at a child care provider licensed or certified by the department of children, youth, and families. "Child care worker" includes family child care providers as defined in RCW 41.56.030.

    2. "Child care worker" does not include any employee of a provider described under subsection (2)(b) of this section.

  4. "Department" means the department of labor and industries.

  5. "Director" means the director of the department of labor and industries or the director's designee.

  6. "Employer organization" means:

    1. An organization that is exempt from federal income taxation under section 510(c)(6) of the internal revenue code that represents child care employers; or

    2. An entity that employers, who together employ the largest number of child care workers in Washington, have selected as a representative.

Section 3

  1. The Washington state child care workforce standards board is created with the powers and duties established by law. The board is composed of members appointed by the governor as provided in this subsection:

    1. Three members who represent child care workers, subject to the following:

      1. One member must be appointed from a list of at least three names submitted by the largest organization representing family child care providers;

      2. One member must be appointed from a list of at least three names submitted by the largest organization representing child care center workers; and

      3. One member must represent workers in school-age programs.

    2. Three members who represent child care employers or employer organizations, with at least one representing child care family home providers and one representing a small business of 15 or fewer employees;

    3. One representative of a professional development or training program for child care workers;

    4. One representative of an organization representing parents; and

    5. The secretary of the department of children, youth, and families and the director of the department of labor and industries, or their designees.

  2. Board members appointed under subsection (1)(a) or (b) of this section shall serve four-year terms following the initial staggered lot determination in subsection (3) of this section and must not be appointed to more than two full consecutive four-year terms. The governor shall fill vacancies occurring prior to the expiration of a member's term by appointment for the unexpired term. A member serves until a successor is appointed.

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    1. The governor must make initial appointments to the board no later than September 1, 2026. The initial terms for board members appointed under subsection (1)(a) and (b) of this section must be determined by lot as follows:

      1. One member appointed under subsection (1)(a) and (b) of this section shall serve a two-year term;

      2. One member appointed under subsection (1)(a) and (b) of this section shall serve a three-year term; and

      3. One member appointed under subsection (1)(a) and (b) of this section shall serve a four-year term.

    2. The director must convene the first meeting of the board by October 1, 2026. The board must elect a chair at its first meeting.

  4. The board shall elect a member by majority vote to serve as its chairperson and shall determine the term to be served by the chairperson.

  5. Board members must be compensated in accordance with RCW 43.03.220 and must be reimbursed for travel expenses as provided in RCW 43.03.050 and 43.03.060.

  6. The affirmative vote of six board members is required for the board to approve recommendations.

  7. To carry out its duties, the board shall hold public hearings that include public comment on, gather data on, and conduct investigations into, working conditions in the child care industry in accordance with section 4 of this act.

  8. The director may employ personnel to carry out duties of the board under this chapter.

  9. The director shall provide administrative staff support to the board.

  10. The board shall establish operating procedures that meet all state and federal antitrust requirements and may prohibit board member access to data to meet the requirements of this subsection.

  11. The board is subject to the requirements of chapters 34.05 and 42.56 RCW.

Section 4

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    1. The board must meet quarterly and make recommendations to the director that will enhance and improve the employment standards of child care workers. The board must recommend statewide standards and may also recommend standards that apply to specific child care occupations or geographic regions.

    2. The board may not recommend standards regarding licensing of child care facilities. The board may not recommend standards that are less protective of or beneficial to child care workers as any other applicable statute or rule or any standard previously established by the board.

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    1. The board's initial investigations, public hearings, data gathering, and recommendations must prioritize child care worker staffing, recruitment, retention, and staffing ratios.

    2. Additionally, the board may investigate:

      i. The adequacy of wage rates and other compensation policies of child care employers to ensure the provision of quality services and sufficient levels of recruitment and retention of child care employees;

      ii. The sufficiency of levels of recruitment and retention of child care employees;

      1. The adequacy of the role of child care employees in making decisions affecting their wages and working conditions;

      2. The adequacy and enforcement of training requirements for child care employees;

    3. The impact of systemic racism and economic injustice on child care employees and the adequacy of efforts to alleviate such impact through the development of career paths through partnerships between labor and management and other methods; and

    1. The adequacy of payment practices and policies of the state as such practices and policies relate to the reimbursement of child care employers for the provision of services under a child care program.

  3. The board may consider the following types of information when developing recommendations:

    1. Wage rate and benefit data collected by or submitted to the board for child care workers in the relevant geographic area and child care occupations;

    2. Statements showing wage rates and benefits paid to child care workers in the relevant geographic area and child care occupations;

    3. Signed collective bargaining agreements applicable to child care workers in the relevant geographic area and child care occupations;

    4. Testimony and information from current and former child care workers, organizations representing child care workers, child care employers, parents of children currently in child care, and child care organizations;

    5. Local minimum employment standards;

    6. Information submitted by or obtained from state and local government entities, including registries or data regarding employee training, recruitment, and retention;

    7. Information from a federally approved rate-setting tool for child care funding; and

    8. Any other information pertinent to establishing minimum child care employment standards.

  4. Based on the investigations and information gathered pursuant to this section, the board shall prepare a series of reports with findings and recommendations, and shall make those reports publicly available on the department's website.

Section 5

By October 1, 2026, the department and the department of children, youth, and families must jointly enter into a formal agreement that includes data sharing of information necessary to implement the provisions of this chapter.

Section 6

This act may be known and cited as the child care workforce standards board act.

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