Implement Washington State Child Care Assistance Program

[hua7450]

Summary

Implements Washington State Working Connections Child Care (WCCC) — the state's CCDF/CCDBG-funded child care subsidy program administered by DCYF (intake by DSHS Child Care Subsidy Contact Center).

Closes #8207

Regulatory Authority

• Chapter 110-15 WAC — Working Connections and Seasonal Child Care (DCYF rules)
• RCW 43.216.802 — Eligibility, general requirements (income limits, SNAP categorical, child citizenship)
• RCW 43.216.808 — CPS/CWS/specialty-court categorical
• RCW 43.216.814 — HS/HSE expanded eligibility
• RCW 43.216.828 — Subsidy rates / cost model
• RCW 43.216.135 — Tiered reimbursement / copayments
• DCYF Copay Calculation Table (eff. 10/1/2025)
• DCYF Regional Map EPS_0004

Program Overview

• Administration: DCYF Early Learning Division (rules + payments); DSHS Child Care Subsidy Contact Center (intake)
• Funding: Federal CCDF/CCDBG + state match
• Authorization period: 12 months (WAC 110-15-0082)

Eligibility

Requirement	Source	How Modeled
Income at or below 60% SMI (applicants) / 65% SMI (recipients)	WAC 110-15-0005(1)(f)(i)	wa_wccc_smi_rate selects via is_wccc_enrolled
85% SMI for HGP (homeless)	WAC 110-15-0023(2)(b)	is_homeless triggers higher SMI rate
85% SMI for parents in HS (no age cap)	RCW 43.216.814(1); WAC 110-15-0005(2)	head/spouse is_in_k12_school
SNAP recipients auto-income-eligible	RCW 43.216.802(5); WAC 110-15-0075(3)	wa_wccc_income_eligible checks is_snap_eligible | (snap_reported > 0)
Asset limit $1,000,000	WAC 110-15-0005(1)(d); CCDBG Act of 2014	Federal is_ccdf_asset_eligible (replaces state-specific check)
Child under 13	WAC 110-15-0005(3)(b)(i)	wa_wccc_eligible_child (age < 13)
Child under 19 with verified special need	WAC 110-15-0005(3)(b)(ii); WAC 110-15-0220(1)(b)	wa_wccc_eligible_child extends to age 19 when is_disabled
Child must be a dependent of parent in unit	WAC 110-15-0005(1)(a)	is_tax_unit_dependent
WA residency	WAC 110-15-0005(3)(a)	defined_for = StateCode.WA
Approved-activity test (work, school, K-12, disabled)	WAC 110-15-0005(1)(f), 0040, 0045	wa_wccc_activity_eligible (simplified — we don't track approved-activity hours at the moment)
Both parents must individually pass activity test	WAC 110-15-0020	Sum of head/spouse not individually-eligible == 0
Neither parent nor child citizenship considered	RCW 43.216.802(7)	No immigration check in formula

Family Share / Copay

Income Tier (% SMI)	Monthly Copay
At or below 20%	$0 (waived)
Above 20%, at or below 36%	$65
Above 36%, at or below 50%	$90
Above 50%, at or below 60%	$165
Above 60%, at or below 65% (recipients only)	$215

Source: WAC 110-15-0075(2). Copay is not prorated for partial-month use (WAC 110-15-0075(4)).

Copay waived for:

• HGP recipients (homeless) — WAC 110-15-0075(5)(c)(i)
• Parents in HS — WAC 110-15-0075(5)(a)

Benefit Calculation

benefit = min(
    max(actual_childcare_expenses - copay, 0),
    sum_per_child(max_monthly_reimbursement)
)

Provider rates (WAC 110-15-0200/0205/0240, effective 7/1/2023 for centers and family home; in-home/relative $4.00/hr from 7/1/2024):

• Center: 7-region × 4-age × FULL_DAY/HALF_DAY matrix. Region overrides for centers only: Clark→R3; Benton/Walla Walla/Whitman→R6.
• Family home: 7-region × 5-age (incl. ENHANCED_TODDLER 12–17 mo) × FULL_DAY/HALF_DAY/PARTIAL_DAY matrix.
• In-home/relative: $4.00/hr/child (was $3.85/hr before 7/1/2024).
• Day type per WAC 110-15-0190(7): FULL_DAY = ≥5 hr/day, HALF_DAY = <5 hr/day, PARTIAL_DAY = <5 hr/day with before-and-after-school care.
• Monthly billing units: 23 days (center), 22 days (family home), 230 hours (in-home).

Architecture

• Federal CCDF reuse: asset eligibility uses the federal is_ccdf_asset_eligible variable (matching the $1M CCDBG ceiling), not a state-specific check.
• Compact payment/ folder: 7 variables total, with single-use rate lookups inlined into wa_wccc_max_monthly_reimbursement. Day-type indirection (FULL_TIME/PART_TIME → FULL_DAY/HALF_DAY) was removed in favor of a single wa_wccc_day_type input that directly encodes WAC 110-15-0190(7)'s per-day care-hour distinction.

Requirements Coverage

35 in-scope requirements implemented (REQ-001/002/005/006/007/008/009/010/011/012/014/017/018/019/020/021/022/024/027/028/029/030/031/032/033/038/040/041/042/043/044/045/046). One in-scope item (REQ-034 16-hr/day cap) is non-binding under simplified billing standards (16 × 30 = 480 > 230 monthly hour cap) and is documented in the Not Modeled section.

Not Modeled

What	Source	Reason
Apprenticeship 75% SMI (12 mo)	WAC 110-15-0005(1)(f)(ii); RCW 43.216.802(3)	No PolicyEngine apprenticeship input
ECE workforce 85% SMI	WAC 110-15-0005(1)(f)(iii)	No PolicyEngine ECE-workforce input
HSE-certificate path (age 21 cap)	RCW 43.216.814(2)	Only HS path is modeled — no PolicyEngine HSE input
Court-supervision child eligibility (under 19)	RCW 43.216.802(2)(a)(ii)	No PolicyEngine court-supervision input
Activity hours (110 hr/mo full-time threshold)	WAC 110-15-0190(1)	We don't track approved-activity hours at the moment
CPS/CWS/family-assessment categorical	WAC 110-15-0024(1)(a)	No PolicyEngine CPS/CWS-involvement input
Specialty/therapeutic court categorical	WAC 110-15-0024(1)(b)	No PolicyEngine input
Copay waiver for ECE workforce	WAC 110-15-0075(5)(b)	Parent eligibility excluded above
Copay waiver for non-HGP categorical (CPS/CWS)	WAC 110-15-0075(5)(c)(ii)	CPS/CWS excluded above
Mid-period copay no-increase rule	WAC 110-15-0085(4)	Temporal eligibility-period logic not modeled
Tiered reimbursement bonuses (Early Achievers)	WAC 110-15-0210	Defer to v2 (requires quality-rating input)
Infant enhanced rate $300/mo	WAC 110-15-0215	Defer to v2
Special needs / registration / field-trip / nonstandard-hours fees	WAC 110-15-0215+	Defer to v2
16-hr/day cap (per child per day)	WAC 110-15-0190(9)	Non-binding given simplified 230-hour/month billing standard (16 × 30 = 480 > 230)
"Unmarried parents with no mutual children = separate households" rule	WAC 110-15-0015	SPMUnit aggregation may put them together
Per-day care-hours / before-and-after-school flag for day-type derivation	WAC 110-15-0190(7)	wa_wccc_day_type defaults to FULL_DAY; user override accepted

Historical Notes

• 2021 Fair Start for Kids Act (ESHB 1213): planned expansion of income limits from 60% SMI → 75% SMI (2025) → 85% SMI (2027).
• 2025 c 412 (ESSB 5752) delayed the 75% SMI expansion to 7/1/2029 and the 85% SMI expansion to 7/1/2031. WAC 110-15-0005 still reflects the 60%/65% SMI rule.
• Copay table (WAC 110-15-0075) updates annually each Oct 1. Current dollar amounts effective 10/1/2025.
• SNAP automatic income eligibility (RCW 43.216.802(5)) effective 11/1/2024.

Key Implementation Notes

• Reference implementation: Maine CCAP (policyengine_us/{variables,parameters}/gov/states/me/dhhs/ccap/).
• Provider rates: 7/1/2023 baseline used per scope decision (the 7/1/2025 center rate table referenced in the F7 budget package was not located as a published PDF; current WAC 110-15-0200 still shows 7/1/2023 rates).
• Income source list at parameters/.../wccc/sources.yaml; wa_wccc_countable_income.py uses adds = "..." (not inline). TANF excluded from sources to prevent a benefit cycle.
• Registered in programs.yaml, spm_unit_benefits.py, and household_state_benefits.yaml per CO CCAP precedent.

Files

parameters/gov/states/wa/dcyf/wccc/    (~30 parameters)
variables/gov/states/wa/dcyf/wccc/     (~24 variables across copay/, eligibility/, income/, payment/)
tests/policy/baseline/gov/states/wa/dcyf/wccc/  (18 test files)

Verification TODO

• CI passes
• Verify amounts in parameters/.../wccc/copay/amount.yaml against WAC 110-15-0075(2)
• Verify provider rate cells in rates/center.yaml and rates/family_home.yaml against WAC 110-15-0200(1) and 110-15-0205(2)
• Verify region county lists against DCYF EPS_0004 regional map
• Verify SNAP categorical-eligibility effective date (11/1/2024) handled correctly per RCW 43.216.802(5)

Test plan

• 121 tests pass (policyengine-core test policyengine_us/tests/policy/baseline/gov/states/wa/dcyf/wccc/ -c policyengine_us)
• CI passes

[codecov]

Codecov Report

❌ Patch coverage is 98.78788% with 4 lines in your changes missing coverage. Please review.
✅ Project coverage is 97.09%. Comparing base (d55cd4f) to head (2d7fb23).
⚠️ Report is 56 commits behind head on main.

Files with missing lines	Patch %	Lines
.../states/wa/dcyf/wccc/copay/wa_wccc_smi_fraction.py	90.00%	1 Missing and 1 partial ⚠️
...ates/wa/dcyf/wccc/eligibility/wa_wccc_smi_limit.py	90.47%	1 Missing and 1 partial ⚠️

Additional details and impacted files

@@             Coverage Diff             @@
##              main    #8208      +/-   ##
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- Coverage   100.00%   97.09%   -2.91%     
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  Files            2       21      +19     
  Lines           35      344     +309     
  Branches         0        4       +4     
===========================================
+ Hits            35      334     +299     
- Misses           0        8       +8     
- Partials         0        2       +2     

Flag	Coverage Δ
unittests	97.09% <98.78%> (-2.91%)	⬇️

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