Colorado § 26.5-4-102 - Legislative declaration.

§ 26.5-4-102. Legislative declaration.

(1) The general assembly hereby finds and declares that:

(a) The state's policies in connection with the provision of child care assistance and the effective delivery of such assistance are critical to the ultimate success of any welfare reform program;

(b) Children in low-income families who receive services through a child care assistance program need and deserve the same access to a broad range of child care providers as do children in families who do not need assistance;

(c) It is critical to provide low- to moderate-income families with access to high-quality, affordable child care that fosters healthy child development and school readiness, while at the same time promotes family self-sufficiency and attachment to the workforce; and

(d) Individual counties play a vital role in administering the child care assistance program and have local knowledge of their individual community needs.

(2) Therefore, the general assembly hereby finds and declares that it is in the best interests of the state to:

(a) Adopt the Colorado child care assistance program set forth in this part 1;

(b) Adopt a consistent, statewide plan for child care provider reimbursement rates with a goal of payment rates that adequately cover the cost of quality child care to facilitate and increase access to high-quality child care for low-income families;

(c) Achieve parity across counties in the state with regard to the CCCAP program and funding allocation.

Source: L. 2022: Entire article added with relocations, (HB 22-1295), ch. 123, p. 660, § 3, effective July 1.

Editor's note: This section is similar to former § 26-2-802 as it existed prior to 2022.