(a) A Board shall ensure that payment for child care is made only to the provider.
(b) A Board or its child care contractor shall pay a regulated provider based on a child's monthly enrollment authorization, excluding periods of suspension at the concurrence of the parent, as described in §809.51(d) of this chapter.
(c) A Board shall ensure that a relative child care provider is not reimbursed for days on which the child is absent.
(d) A relative child care provider shall not be reimbursed for more children than permitted by the CCR minimum regulatory standards for Registered Child Care Homes. A Board may permit more children to be cared for by a relative child care provider on a case-by-case basis as determined by the Board.
(e) A Board shall not pay providers that are debarred from other state or federal programs unless and until the debarment is removed.
(f) Unless otherwise determined by the Board and approved by the Commission for automated reporting purposes, the monthly enrollment authorization described in subsection (b) of this section is based on the unit of service authorized, as follows:
  (1) A full-day unit of service is 6 to 12 hours of care provided within a 24-hour period;
  (2) A part-day unit of service is fewer than 6 hours of care provided within a 24-hour period; and
  (3) A blended-day unit of service is for a child enrolled in a school program, pre-K, HS, or EHS in which child care is part-day with care provided occasionally on a full-day basis.
(g) A Board or its child care contractor shall ensure that providers are not paid for holding spaces open without a valid contracted slots agreement, as described in §809.96 of this chapter.
(h) The Board or its child care contractor shall not pay a provider retroactively for new Board maximum payment rates or new provider published rates.
(i) A Board or its child care contractor shall ensure that the parent's travel time to and from the child care facility and the parent's work, school, or job training site is included in determining the enrollment authorized under subsection (f) of this section.
(j) A Board shall pay regulated child care providers prospectively every two weeks based on the enrollment authorization described in subsection (b) of this section.

Source Note: The provisions of this §809.93 adopted to be effective January 29, 2007, 32 TexReg 336; amended to be effective January 8, 2013, 38 TexReg 155; amended to be effective October 1, 2016, 41 TexReg 7529; amended to be effective August 1, 2018, 43 TexReg 4774; amended to be effective July 6, 2020, 45 TexReg 4528; amended to be effective January 25, 2021, 46 TexReg 593; amended to be effective October 3, 2022, 47 TexReg 6437; amended to be effective July 29, 2024, 49 TexReg 5540