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Establish provisions for eligibility in the child care assistance program for certain child care employees.

South Dakota's child care assistance program will now allow child care employees to be eligible for assistance under the program, a new eligibility category that wasn't available before. The bill also clarifies that the Secretary of Social Services must adopt rules governing how the program operates, including who qualifies and what services are covered. These changes expand access to child care assistance beyond families to include workers in the child care industry itself.

Direct the Department of Social Services to amend administrative rules allowing graduate students to be eligible for child care assistance.

Graduate students will now be eligible for child care assistance in South Dakota, with the Department of Social Services required to update its rules by September 30, 2025 to reflect this change. The new rules will allow graduate students pursuing degrees beyond a bachelor's degree to meet eligibility requirements by attending just 6 semester credit hours per month instead of the 12 hours required for undergraduate students. This makes it easier for graduate students juggling their studies with work to qualify for state-funded child care help.

Establish the manner of determining payments for the child care assistance program.

South Dakota is clarifying how the state calculates and pays for its child care assistance program by requiring the Department of Social Services to establish specific payment determination methods through administrative rules. The bill makes it mandatory (rather than optional) for the secretary of social services to adopt rules covering payment amounts, eligibility, and other program details that were previously discretionary. This change gives the department clear authority to set consistent payment structures for families and child care providers participating in the assistance program.