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No. 76 Page 14 of 74 2023

VT LEG #371318 v.1 Sec. 5b. 33 V.S.A. § 3512 is amended to read: § 3512. CHILD CARE FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM; ELIGIBILITY (a)(1) The Child Care Financial Assistance Program is established to subsidize, to the extent that funds permit, the costs of child care for families that need child care services in order to obtain employment, to retain employment, or to obtain training leading to employment. Families seeking employment shall be entitled to participate in the Program for up to three months and the Commissioner may further extend that period. * * * (5) The Department shall ensure that applications for the Child Care Financial Assistance Program use a simple, plain-language format. Applications shall be available in both electronic and paper formats and shall comply with the Office of Racial Equity’s most recent Language Access Report. (6) A Vermont resident who has a citizenship status that would otherwise exclude the resident from participating in the Child Care Financial Assistance Program shall be served under this Program, provided that the benefit for these residents is solely State-funded. The Department shall not retain data on the citizenship status of any applicant or participant once a child is no longer participating in the program, and it shall not request the citizenship status of any members of the applicant’s or participant’s family. Any records