C.R.S. Section 26.5-3-801
Legislative declaration


(1)

The general assembly finds and declares that:

(a)

Colorado’s economic recovery depends on its workforce having access to stable, high-quality, and affordable child care. Supporting the ability of Colorado’s workforce to return to work during and after the COVID-19 public health emergency is estimated to have an economic enabling effect of more than four billion four hundred million dollars in income.

(b)

The COVID-19 public health emergency has significantly impacted Colorado’s child care sector by reducing child care provider revenues while at the same time increasing expenses. Child care provider operating costs have increased to include additional daily cleaning, daily health monitoring, supplying personal protective equipment for child care workers, and lower staff-to-child ratios to allow for sufficient physical distancing.

(c)

In Colorado, this additional cost burden has forced ten percent of the state’s child care providers to close their doors since March 2020. Almost three-quarters of all child care providers indicate they have or will engage in layoffs, furloughs, or pay cuts. For minority-owned or operated child care providers, this figure is even higher. More than twenty-five percent of existing child care providers report that closure is imminent without some kind of financial intervention.

(d)

Child care providers generate revenue primarily through enrollment and tuition fees and the business model depends on full enrollment;

(e)

At every stage of the COVID-19 public health emergency, parents have been faced with the difficult choice to pull their children from child care, either due to health concerns or because the economic recession has impacted their ability to afford it. Statewide, enrollment in child care for children less than five years of age has decreased by thirty-nine percent since the COVID-19 public health emergency began.

(f)

Colorado faces other ongoing threats to the child care sector’s sustainability, including high turnover and low pay in the child care profession, as well as the prohibitively expensive cost of opening and operating a child care program;

(g)

More than half of Coloradans live in a “child care desert”, where there are more than three children less than five years of age for each single available child care opening. Some rural areas completely lack licensed child care providers. Statewide, Colorado faces a dramatic shortage of at least thirty-nine thousand spots for infants and toddlers.

(h)

Most child care in Colorado is owned or operated by women, and more than forty percent of our child care workforce is composed of women of color. Furthermore, throughout the COVID-19 public health emergency, women of color have been more likely to be on the front lines as essential workers and are more likely to lose their jobs.

(i)

Despite women’s steadily increasing labor participation rates and earning trajectories over the past twenty-five years, the COVID-19 public health emergency threatens to set back a generation of progress. When women exit the workforce, they face more barriers than men do to return, and their future earning potential and path to retirement security suffers.

(j)

Women have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 public health emergency: Almost one hundred seventy-nine thousand women left Colorado’s labor force between February and May 2020, compared to eighty-eight thousand men. Nationally, four times as many women as men dropped out of the labor force in September 2020 alone. The impact of this trend on the United States’ economy and the well-being of women and families is estimated to amount to approximately sixty-four million five hundred thousand dollars in lost income and economic activity.

(2)

Intentionally left blank —Ed.

(a)

Therefore, the general assembly finds it is a matter of statewide concern that we take immediate action to save and protect our child care infrastructure, including offering a wide range of child care options, including but not limited to public and private child care centers, day care centers, school-age child care centers, before- and after-school programs, nursery schools, kindergartens, preschools, church day care centers, day camps, summer camps, facilities for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and other facilities described in section 26.5-5-303. Supporting this mixed delivery of child care enables the state to invest in its children’s futures, advance gender equity in the home and the workplace, and rebuild an economy that works for all Coloradans. When Colorado families have access to child care, everyone benefits.

(b)

The general assembly further finds that, to assist the state’s workforce in returning to work and maintaining employment without facing the difficult choice between working and accessing quality child care, it is critical that the state allocate and quickly distribute funding to existing and new child care providers throughout the state and that such actions constitute critical government services.

Source: Section 26.5-3-801 — Legislative declaration, https://leg.­colorado.­gov/sites/default/files/images/olls/crs2023-title-26.­5.­pdf (accessed Oct. 20, 2023).

26.5‑3‑101
Legislative declaration
26.5‑3‑102
Definitions
26.5‑3‑103
Program created - repeal
26.5‑3‑104
Selection of centers - grants
26.5‑3‑201
Short title
26.5‑3‑202
Legislative declaration
26.5‑3‑203
Definitions
26.5‑3‑204
Colorado child abuse prevention board - creation - members - terms - vacancies - reimbursement for expenses
26.5‑3‑205
Powers and duties of the board
26.5‑3‑206
Colorado child abuse prevention trust fund - creation - source of funds
26.5‑3‑207
Disbursement of grants from the trust fund - restrictions
26.5‑3‑208
Report - repeal of part
26.5‑3‑301
Definitions
26.5‑3‑302
Child care services and substance use disorder treatment pilot program - created - purposes - eligibility - evaluation - funding - rules
26.5‑3‑303
Repeal of part
26.5‑3‑401
Legislative declaration
26.5‑3‑402
Definitions - repeal
26.5‑3‑403
Early intervention services - administration - duties of department - rules - repeal
26.5‑3‑404
Child find - responsibilities - interagency operating agreements
26.5‑3‑405
Authorized services - conditions of funding - purchases of services - rules - repeal
26.5‑3‑406
Coordinated system of payment for early intervention services - duties of departments - repeal
26.5‑3‑407
Cooperation among state agencies - implementing coordinated payment system - revisions to rules
26.5‑3‑408
Certified early intervention service brokers - duties - payment for early intervention services - fees - repeal
26.5‑3‑409
Payment from private health insurance for early intervention services - trust fund
26.5‑3‑410
Annual report - cooperation from certified early intervention service brokers and qualified providers
26.5‑3‑501
Short title
26.5‑3‑502
Legislative declaration
26.5‑3‑503
Definitions
26.5‑3‑504
Nurse home visitor program - created - rules
26.5‑3‑505
Health sciences facility - duties
26.5‑3‑506
Program applications - requirements
26.5‑3‑507
Selection of entities to administer the program - grants - nurse home visitor program fund - created
26.5‑3‑508
Annual program review - audit
26.5‑3‑601
Legislative declaration
26.5‑3‑602
Definitions
26.5‑3‑603
Social-emotional learning programs grant program - created - implementation partner - application - selection - funding - rules
26.5‑3‑701
Definitions
26.5‑3‑702
Early childhood mental health consultation - statewide program - creation - purpose - rules
26.5‑3‑703
Model of early childhood mental health consultation - standards and guidelines - qualifications
26.5‑3‑704
Statewide professional development plan for early childhood mental health consultants
26.5‑3‑705
Statewide qualifications and competencies for early childhood mental health consultants
26.5‑3‑706
Data collection - reporting
26.5‑3‑707
Funding support
26.5‑3‑801
Legislative declaration
26.5‑3‑802
Child care sustainability grant program - created - timeline and criteria - grant awards - funding - definitions
26.5‑3‑803
Emerging and expanding child care grant program - created - timeline and criteria - grant awards - funding - definitions - repeal
26.5‑3‑804
Employer-based child care facility grant program - created - timeline and criteria - eligibility - grant awards - reports - funding - definitions - repeal
26.5‑3‑805
Early care and education recruitment and retention grant and scholarship program - created - criteria and eligibility - grant and scholarship awards - reports - funding - rules - definitions - repeal
26.5‑3‑806
Child care teacher salary grant program - created - timeline - criteria and eligibility - grant awards - reports - definitions
26.5‑3‑807
Community innovation and resilience for care and learning equity (CIRCLE) grant program - created - criteria - definitions
26.5‑3‑808
Family, friend, and neighbor support programs - advisory group - training and support program - funding - definitions - repeal
26.5‑3‑901
Legislative declaration
26.5‑3‑902
Definition
26.5‑3‑903
Family-strengthening grant programs - authorized requirements - implementation partner - rules
26.5‑3‑904
Home visiting grant program - authorized requirements - implementation partner - rules - definition - repeal
Green check means up to date. Up to date

Current through Fall 2024

§ 26.5-3-801’s source at colorado​.gov