Authorized child care hours.

1. In this paragraph, “department” means the department or the county department or agency determining and authorizing the amount of child care for which an individual may receive a subsidy under this section. 2. Except as provided in subd. 3., the department shall authorize no more than 12 hours of child care per day per child. 3. The department may authorize more than 12 hours, not exceeding 16 hours, of child care per day for a child whose parent provides written documentation of work or transportation requirements that exceed 12 hours in a day. 4. If the authorized hours of child care per day for a child will be reduced from more than 12 to 12 or less because the child’s parent does not provide the written documentation required under subd. 3., the department shall provide to the child’s parent who is receiving the subsidy under this section and to the child’s child care provider 4 weeks’ notice of the reduction in authorized hours before actually reducing the child’s authorized hours. 5. The department shall take into consideration child learning and development and shall promote continuity of care when authorizing hours of child care. The department is not required to limit authorized hours based on the individual’s schedule of activities under sub. (1m) (a) or the number of hours the individual spends in those activities.

If payment to a child care provider is based on authorized hours of child care, the department shall do all of the following with respect to establishing and adjusting the number of authorized hours per child: 1. The department shall track a child’s hourly usage of child care authorizations over a 6-week period. 2. If the child’s hourly usage tracked under subd. 1. is less than 60 percent of the authorized hours of child care, the department shall reduce the authorized hours of child care for the child to 90 percent of the maximum number of hours of child care that the child attended during that 6-week period. 3. The department shall provide written notice of the proposed adjustment under subd. 2. to the child’s parent who is receiving the subsidy under this section, the child’s child care provider, and the applicable county department or agency. 4. The department shall provide a grace period after the number of authorized hours are reduced under subd. 2., during which time the child care subsidy amount paid to the child care provider for the child shall remain the same as before the reduction in authorized hours was made.

The department shall exclude from a child’s hourly usage calculation under par. (am) 2., all of the following: 1. One week per year of vacation time for the child’s child care provider. 2. One week per year of sick time for the child’s child care provider. 3. Two weeks per year of vacation time for the child’s parent who is receiving the subsidy under this section with the child. 4. Any reduction in hours due to a temporary break from an authorized activity. 5. Any hours during which the child participates in an elementary school readiness program under s. 49.132.