2) Provide feedback on Applications Fees, Deposits or waitlist fees - BY JULY 2, 2025

The Division of Early Learning Licensing and Administration (DELLA) is requesting feedback from families to establish a reasonable administrative fee at licensed child care programs.

A new law (Senate Bill 25-004) was signed in March 2025 and goes into effect on January 1, 2026. It says that if a family pays an application fee, deposit, or waitlist fee to a child care provider (like a child care center, family child care home, or neighborhood youth organization), and their child isn’t enrolled within six months, that fee is refundable.

Child care programs will be allowed to keep a small administrative fee to cover the costs of handling the application, deposit, or waitlist. The Colorado Department of Early Childhood will help decide what a “reasonable” fee is—and that’s where you come in!

The Department’s Division of Early Learning Licensing and Administration (DELLA) is asking for your feedback to help set this fee. Please take a few minutes to complete this short survey by July 2, 2025.

This small administrative fee should only cover:

• Staff time spent directly administering the wait list, deposit, or application;
• Any costs directly incurred in the actual collection of waitlist, application, or deposit fees;
• Any costs directly incurred from follow-up communication with families in order to keep the waitlist, application, or deposit up-to-date; and
• Any costs directly incurred in processing the refund of waitlist, application, or deposit fees.

This law also requires providers to clearly explain their fees and refund policies, so families know what to expect.

3) Request for Written Comments: Proposed changes to the Colorado Child Care Assistance Program (CCCAP)

The proposed rules address the following items in order to comply with state and federal requirements:

• Parent Fee Formula (Effective August 1, 2026)
  • § 98.45(b)(5) and § 98.45(l)(3) prohibit States and Territories from charging family co-payments above 7 percent of a family’s income. This is a federal waiver-eligible provision with an August 1, 2026, implementation deadline.
• Parent Fee Consumer Education (Effective August 1, 2026)
  • § 98.33 (a)(8) requires lead agencies to provide information on the sliding fee scale for parent co-payments, including the copayment amount a family may expect to pay and policies for waiving co-payments. C.R.S. 26.5-4-111 (4)(a)(I) requires the Department and counties to provide information on parent fees. This is a federal waiver-eligible provision with an August 1, 2026, implementation deadline.
• Substance Use Disorder Treatment Program Activity (Effective July 1, 2026)
  • C.R.S. 26.5-4-111 (15) requires that an applicant be able to satisfy the eligible activity criteria for up to one year by participating in substance use disorder treatment. Participation in a nationally recognized, evidence-based substance use disorder treatment program at an intensive outpatient service level of care or higher must be recognized as an eligible activity for a workforce training program. This has a July 1, 2026, required implementation date.

The Colorado Child Care Assistance Program Division has been working with the CCCAP Rule Rewrite committee since January 24, 2025, to engage the community. During these meetings, CCCAP collaborated with county staff, child care providers, families, and community partners to develop the rules that will bring the program into compliance with state and federal requirements.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Please use the link below to provide public comment regarding the draft CCCAP rules by July 14, 2025: https://forms.gle/NmBBemHawHHiTno2A

The draft rules can be viewed using the link below and are also linked in the public comment form. (Redline Draft | Clean Draft | Rule Folder)

NEXT STEPS

The Department will review and consider all public feedback received and will incorporate the recommendations into the draft CCCAP rules, as able. The draft rules will be reviewed by the Rules Advisory Council (RAC) on August 14, 2025, for initial discussion and again on September 11, 2025, to vote on a recommendation. The Executive Director will hold a discussion hearing to receive feedback and testimony on the proposed rules during the Public Rulemaking Hearing on September 25, 2025, then consider the rules for permanent adoption on October 23, 2025.

HOW TO STAY INFORMED

All rulemaking material received and collected, including written comments, recordings of previously held community engagement meetings, and revised versions of the draft CCCAP rules will be publicly accessible and stored in the 2025 CCCAP Rule Rewrite Folder that is linked below.

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/14lSmxC_fkxeO6Hvebpy4EHzPOuP_RaHd

Please review the CDEC Rule Tracker, located on the Rulemaking and Rules Advisory Council's (RAC) webpage, for more detailed information regarding the rulemaking timeline for these rules.

4) Proposed changes to the Rules Regulating Child Care Centers that Provide Less than 24-hour Care. These proposed changes will add rules regulating Outdoor Nature-Based Preschools (ONB) and update small child care center rules to allow for the care of infants and toddlers.

The Division of Early Learning, Licensing, and Administration (DELLA) recently held seven (7) Community Rule Review Committee meetings to build on the previous nine months of stakeholder engagement conducted in 2022-2023, which created draft ONB part-day and hybrid rules. During the seven Community Rule Review Committee meetings, DELLA worked with interested individuals on updating the draft package to incorporate the legislation from SB 24-078 currently in statute, which allows for full-day outdoor nature-based programming.

In addition to the proposed changes, including ONB regulations and expanding the small center rules, the proposed revisions also incorporate technical cleanup of the center rules.

STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Please use the link below to provide public comment https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd_sLlGqf7AuQOgrN7W1khQdtO1Hy_2Sav-L7McgkCNTa0ybA/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=103470441599801217022 regarding the draft Center rules https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qRpb24m2CqkP3i6EPXK3TaG05h6yOBy7/view?usp=drive_link and https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lBWrx3hvgCkdpnocEs6h-2m0X8YoUjq5/view?usp=drive_link by July 14, 2025.

NEXT STEPS

CDEC will review and consider all public feedback received and will incorporate the recommendations into the draft Children’s Center/ONB rules, as able. The draft rules are expected to be reviewed by the Rules Advisory Council (RAC) on Sept 4, 2025, and considered for permanent adoption on December 31, 2025.

HOW TO STAY INFORMED

All rulemaking material received and collected, including written comments, recordings of previously held stakeholder meetings, and revised versions of the draft Childcare Center/ONB rules will be publicly accessible and stored in the Center Rules Folder https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1EKHMLA6GVW55uGGP5tRtSuPIgFl2ZqMF

Please review the CDEC Rule Tracker, located on the Rulemaking and Rules Advisory Council's (RAC) webpage, for more detailed information regarding the rulemaking timeline for these rules.