This bill amends RCW 43.216.828 and creates a new section to modernize reimbursement rates for the Working Connections Child Care program. It expresses legislative intent to increase child care subsidy rates over time until they equal the full cost of providing high quality child care and requires that subsidy base rates, at minimum, reach the 85th percentile of the market based on the most recent market rate survey. The bill directs the Department of Children, Youth, and Families to use an existing "cost of quality child care rate model" to recommend base subsidy rates and specifies that the model for base rates must include fixed cost components such as staff salaries based on a living wage scale; benefits including paid leave and employer retirement contributions; family engagement activities or staff; planning release time; educational materials and curriculum; and professional development supports. Recommended base rates may not be lower than the 85th percentile requirement, the state must bargain with the exclusive representative for family child care providers over implementation of the rate increase, and the department must review and recommend rate enhancements for special populations (for example, infants, nonstandard hours, special needs) every three years. The section preserves family child care providers’ collective bargaining rights under RCW 41.56.028. Affected parties named in the text include the Department of Children, Youth, and Families, the Working Connections Child Care program, licensed or certified child care providers, family child care providers and their exclusive representative, and participants in the model's cocreation such as an early educator design team; the text also notes the federal Administration for Children and Families preapproved the model's methodology. Important implementation details are not included in the extracted text: the full contents and methodology of the cost model, specific timelines, funding sources, administrative procedures for raising rates to full cost, and the text or procedures of RCW 41.56.028 are not provided. Portions of prior statutory language appear bracketed or replaced, indicating the amendment may rely on additional statutory text not included here.

If enacted, this bill will push state child care subsidy payments for the Working Connections Child Care program toward covering much more of providers’ real operating costs by requiring base rates at least at the 85th percentile of market and by using a cost-of-quality model that builds in living-wage staff pay, benefits, planning time, materials, family engagement, and professional development. Practically, licensed and certified child care providers are likely to see higher reimbursement rates over time, which reduces their financial pressure and makes it easier to pay staff better and provide higher-quality services; family child care providers also gain a formal role in bargaining over how those increases are implemented. The Department of Children, Youth, and Families will have to use the existing model to recommend rates and periodically (every three years) review enhancements for infants, nonstandard hours, special needs, and similar populations, creating ongoing administrative work and likely increasing state subsidy spending. The bill does not specify funding sources, exact timelines, or detailed implementation steps, so the size and timing of rate increases and the resulting budgetary impact remain unclear.