This bill amends RCW 43.216.802 and RCW 43.216.828, adds new sections to chapter 43.216 RCW, and repeals RCW 43.216.827 (the prospective payments statute). It directs the Department of Children, Youth, and Families to adopt specified rules and use a completed child care cost methodology (per RCW 43.216.829) to recommend rates sufficient to cover full costs. Except for section 3, the act takes effect immediately as an emergency measure; section 3 takes effect July 1, 2027. Substantive legal changes include new rulemaking and procedural changes for subsidy payments and eligibility: licensed or certified child care centers and providers that accept state subsidy payments may, under a rule to be adopted by October 1, 2026, claim daily payments for up to 15 days in a month when a child attends at least one day and may claim a daily payment for each additional day a child attends beyond 15 days (that rule provision expires July 1, 2027). Beginning July 1, 2026, child care subsidy base rates for licensed/certified providers must meet the 85th percentile of market as established by the most recent market rate survey published before May 20, 2025; beginning July 1, 2027, base rates must meet the 75th percentile, and the state and the exclusive representative for family child care providers must bargain over implementation of that increase. Beginning July 1, 2026, licensed or certified child care providers may not receive a subsidy rate different from the rate for the subsidy region in which the provider is located. The department must also determine that households receiving or eligible for basic food benefits (SNAP or state food assistance) meet the Working Connections Child Care income eligibility requirements beginning November 1, 2024. The bill references collective bargaining under RCW 41.56.153 and several other RCW sections (43.216.808, 43.216.814, 43.216.055, 43.216.065) but those sections are not included in the provided text. The document shows deleted/struck text and sets two different market percentile requirements on successive dates; the rationale for that sequencing and the full text of related referenced provisions or exact new section numbers are not available here.

If enacted, the bill will likely raise the subsidy payments flowing to licensed and certified child care centers and providers by directing base rates to be set at high market percentiles (an 85th percentile target effective July 1, 2026 and a 75th percentile target effective July 1, 2027), which means state spending on child care subsidies will probably increase and providers should see higher per-child payments. Providers will also be able to bill daily for attendance in a new way (able to claim daily payments for up to 15 days in a month when a child attends at least one day, and for each day beyond 15), and beginning July 1, 2026 providers must receive only the subsidy rate for their subsidy region, so payments will be standardized by region. Households receiving basic food benefits will be treated as meeting income eligibility beginning November 1, 2024, which will likely expand the pool of eligible families and raise demand for subsidized care. The Department of Children, Youth, and Families must adopt temporary rules about the daily billing by October 1, 2026, and the family child care providers’ exclusive representative must bargain with the state over implementing the 2027 rate change, so some operational details and the timing of budget impacts depend on rulemaking and collective bargaining. The bill also repeals a prior prospective payment provision and references other statutes not included here, so the exact changes to payment timing and administrative processes are unclear until the department issues rules and bargaining outcomes are settled.