HB 781 — An Act amending the act of June 13, 1967 (P.L.31, No.21), known as the Human Services Code, in general powers and duties of the Department of Public Welfare, providing for infant and toddler care professionals salary supplement; and promulgating regulations.

PRINTER'S NO.    802

                     THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA



                         HOUSE BILL
                         No. 781
                                               Session of
                                                 2025

     INTRODUCED BY SHUSTERMAN, HARKINS, CEPEDA-FREYTIZ, PROBST, HILL-
        EVANS, CERRATO, HANBIDGE, BOROWSKI, KHAN, SANCHEZ, DONAHUE,
        SCHLOSSBERG, D. WILLIAMS, CIRESI, GREEN, DEASY, MAYES,
        HOHENSTEIN, KENYATTA, GIRAL, RIVERA, MADDEN, GUENST AND
        ISAACSON, MARCH 3, 2025

     REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, MARCH 3, 2025


                                    AN ACT
 1   Amending the act of June 13, 1967 (P.L.31, No.21), entitled "An
 2      act to consolidate, editorially revise, and codify the public
 3      welfare laws of the Commonwealth," in general powers and
 4      duties of the Department of Public Welfare, providing for
 5      infant and toddler care professionals salary supplement; and
 6      promulgating regulations.
 7      The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
 8   hereby enacts as follows:
 9      Section 1.    The act of June 13, 1967 (P.L.31, No.21), known
10   as the Human Services Code, is amended by adding a section to
11   read:
12      Section 217.    Infant and Toddler Care Professionals Salary
13   Supplement.--(a)    The department shall establish, implement and
14   administer a pilot salary supplement program to provide salary
15   supplements to child-care center employes assigned to work
16   directly with children under four years of age, to which the
17   following shall apply:
18      (1)   The purpose of the program shall be to create parity in
 1   pay across assigned age groups to prevent losing employes who
 2   work with infants and toddlers due to changes in pre-
 3   kindergarten employment salaries.
 4      (2)    The department shall establish standards for providing
 5   salary supplements under the program, which may:
 6      (i)    include determining parity on a county level; and
 7      (ii)    be scaled by education and certification.
 8      (3)    The department shall issue salary supplements under the
 9   program no later than September 30, 2026, for the 2026-2027
10   fiscal year and no later than September 30 for each subsequent
11   fiscal year.
12      (b)    A child-care center that receives money under the
13   program shall only use the money to supplement wages and
14   salaries. Money received under the program may not supplant the
15   child-care center's money in a manner designed to intentionally
16   lower wages or payroll costs.
17      (c)    To verify a child-care center's eligibility to
18   participate in the program, the department shall:
19      (1)    Subject to subsection (d), review the personnel records
20   of each child-care center to confirm current salaries for each
21   pilot year.
22      (2)    Monitor salary supplements, employe retention rates and
23   advancement of employe education or certification. The
24   department shall provide the information gathered under this
25   paragraph and recommendations on how the program may be
26   continued beyond the program's expiration under subsection (g),
27   to the General Assembly within one year of expiration of the
28   pilot program.
29      (d)    The department may only review personnel records of a
30   child-care center to the extent necessary to fulfill the duties

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 1   of this section, unless otherwise specified under this section.
 2      (e)   Prior to the first pilot year, and for each subsequent
 3   year, the department shall provide the General Assembly with an
 4   appropriation estimate necessary to cover the cost of all
 5   reported salary supplements.
 6      (f)   No later than August 31, 2026, and each August 31
 7   thereafter, an amount equal to or less than the estimate
 8   provided to the General Assembly under subsection (e) shall be
 9   appropriated on a continuing basis to the department for the
10   payment of salary supplements under the program.
11      (g)   The program shall expire upon the expiration of the
12   third fiscal year for which the department provides salary
13   supplements under this section.
14      (h)   The department shall adopt rules and promulgate
15   regulations necessary to implement this section.
16      (i)   As used in this section, the following words and phrases
17   shall have the meanings given to them in this subsection unless
18   the context clearly indicates otherwise:
19      "Child-care center" means any premises that operates for
20   profit in which child care is provided simultaneously for seven
21   or more children who are not relatives of the operator. The term
22   does not include a center operating under social service
23   auspices or a center that is an approved provider under the
24   Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts Program established under section
25   1512-D of the act of March 10, 1949 (P.L.30, No.14), known as
26   the Public School Code of 1949.
27      "Program" means the pilot salary supplement program
28   established under subsection (a).
29      Section 2.   This act shall take effect in 60 days.



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