Add Hawaii Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP)

[hua7450]

Summary

Implements Hawaii's Child Care Assistance Program (Child Care Subsidy) in PolicyEngine. This is Hawaii's CCDF-funded child care subsidy: a multi-dimensional provider max-rate lookup combined with an 85%-State-Median-Income test and a sliding-fee co-payment computed as a percentage (0–9%) of the department's maximum rate. Eligibility, income, and co-payment rules come from HAR Title 17 Chapter 798.2; the provider payment rates come from HAR Title 17 Chapter 798.3, Exhibit I. The infant/toddler vs older rate is selected from the child's actual age (under 36 months) per HAR 17-798.3-2, matching how sibling CCAPs (NH, TX, AK, RI) derive an age category rather than baking age into a provider input.

Closes #8599

Regulatory Authority

• HAR Title 17, Subtitle 6, Chapter 798.2 — Child Care Services (full rules, scanned PDF) — §§17-798.2-9 (eligibility), -10/-11 (income), -13 (rates/payments), -14 (computation/co-payment), -16 (redetermination). Parameter and variable references use #page=XX anchors into this multi-page PDF (e.g. eligibility #page=14, income limit #page=15, countable income #page=19, exclusions #page=24, payment computation #page=28, co-payment #page=29).
• HAR Title 17, Subtitle 6, Chapter 798.3 — Child Care Payments, Exhibit I (effective 2020-01-02) — the operative statewide provider payment rate table and its Full-Time/Part-Time monthly-hour bands. Rate and hours-tier parameters anchor to #page=71.
• HAR 17-798.3-2 — Definitions — defines that an infant and toddler center serves children "six weeks to thirty-six months," which fixes the infant/toddler vs older age boundary at 36 months. The school-age before/after-school and intersession/summer categories are defined here by care setting (kindergarten age and above), not by an age cutoff.
• Exhibit II — Gross Income Eligibility Limits & Sliding Fee Scale, effective 2020-01-02 (single-page scanned chart — no page anchor). Operative sliding-fee scale mapping each FPG band to its co-payment percentage.
• CCDF State Plan FFY2025-2027 — confirms statewide rates (no island/county variation), 85% SMI eligibility, and the pending 9%→7% copay-cap amendment.

Program Overview

• Administration: State-administered by the Hawaii Department of Human Services, Benefit, Employment & Support Services Division (DHS BESSD). Legacy brand: "Child Care Connection Hawaii (CCCH)".
• Funding: Federal Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), 42 USC §9858.
• Rates: Statewide — there is no island/county variation (CCDF State Plan §3.1.2.a "set statewide ☒ Yes").
• Directory/prefix: gov.states.hi.bessd.ccap (variables prefixed hi_ccap).

Eligibility

Requirement	Source	How Modeled
Child under age 13	§17-798.2-9(a)(1)	age < age/child_limit (13) in hi_ccap_eligible_child
Child 13–17 with a physical/mental incapacity	§17-798.2-9(a)(2)	is_disabled & (age >= child_limit) & (age <= age/disabled_child_limit) (17, inclusive)
Child receiving court-ordered child protective services	§17-798.2-9(a)(3)	receives_or_needs_protective_services (any age in program)
Income ≤ 85% State Median Income by family size	§17-798.2-9(b)(1)	hi_ccap_income_eligible: smi(size, state) × income/smi_rate (0.85) / 12 vs monthly countable income
Income test waived for CPS family units	§17-798.2-9(b)(1)(B)	income_eligible | has_protective_services in hi_ccap_income_eligible
Caretaker(s) in an approved activity	§17-798.2-9(b)(2)	hi_ccap_activity_eligible: every tax-unit head/spouse must be in a real activity (employed, full-time student, or receiving CPS), with the disability pathway handled as an activity link (see below)
Child satisfies CCDF immigration eligibility	§17-798.2-1 (ties to 42 USC §9858)	Reuses federal is_ccdf_immigration_eligible_child (not recreated)
Resource/asset test	Federal CCDF	Reuses federal is_ccdf_asset_eligible (not recreated)

Disability is an activity link, not a standalone activity. Per §17-798.2-9(b)(2)(H)/(I), an incapacitated caretaker qualifies the family only when the other head/spouse is in an approved activity. A single idle disabled caretaker — or two idle disabled parents — does not qualify. hi_ccap_activity_eligible models this by disqualifying the unit if any caretaker is neither in a real activity nor disabled, and additionally requiring at least one real-activity caretaker whenever a caretaker is disabled-and-inactive.

Age group (infant/toddler vs older). hi_ccap_age_group (Person, MONTH) classifies each child as INFANT_TODDLER when the child's age is under 36 months and OLDER otherwise. The 36-month boundary comes from HAR 17-798.3-2, which defines an infant and toddler center as serving children "six weeks to thirty-six months"; the cutoff is stored in age/infant_toddler_max_months.yaml (36). The model derives the age group from the child's actual age — rather than reading an age-encoded provider input — so the correct Exhibit I rate (infant/toddler vs older) is selected automatically, matching sibling CCAPs (NH, TX, AK, RI). The school-age before/after-school and intersession/summer provider categories are care-setting based (kindergarten age and above per HAR 17-798.3-2) and so are not driven by this age group.

Income

Countable income (hi_ccap_countable_income, SPMUnit, MONTH) is monthly gross income from all counted sources (§17-798.2-10(b)). It is implemented as a formula (not a pure adds list): the formula sums the counted sources from income/countable_income/sources.yaml, then excludes the employment and self-employment income of household members who are minors and full-time students per §17-798.2-11(8). The excluded types (§17-798.2-11) are otherwise simply omitted from the source list rather than subtracted inline.

Counted sources (mapped to PolicyEngine variables): employment_income, self_employment_income, sstb_self_employment_income, social_security_retirement, social_security_disability, social_security_survivors, ssi, dividend_income, interest_income, rental_income, pension_income, veterans_benefits, military_retirement_pay, unemployment_compensation, workers_compensation, alimony_income, child_support_received. (Recurring monthly SSI is counted; §17-798.2-11(5)(B) excludes only retroactive lump-sum SSI.)

Minor-student earnings exclusion (§17-798.2-11(8)): the formula subtracts the employment_income + self_employment_income of any household member who is both a minor (age < 18) and a full-time student. The 18-year cutoff comes from age/minor_age_limit.yaml (18), backed by HAR 17-798.3-2 ("Minor means a person under eighteen years old"); is_full_time_student is the available proxy for the regulation's "at least half-time student" condition.

Counted in the regulation but with no PolicyEngine equivalent (documented in comments, not modeled): railroad retirement (captured via social_security_*), temporary disability insurance, income from estates/trust funds, royalties, free rent converted to cost compensation (we don't track in-kind rent-for-activity at the moment), strike benefits (captured via unemployment_compensation).

Excluded by §17-798.2-11 (omitted from the list): capital gains, SNAP, WIC, USDA donated foods, EITC, Title IV HEA aid, half-time-or-more student-minor earnings, non-recurring lump sums, and others.

Conversion handling: the regulation's weekly/bi-weekly conversions (§17-798.2-10(a)(3)) are handled by the framework idiom — annual income sources are auto-divided to monthly because hi_ccap_countable_income is MONTH-defined and adds annual variables. The WEEKS_IN_YEAR / MONTHS_IN_YEAR factor is used explicitly in hi_ccap_monthly_care_hours and hi_ccap_authorized_activity_hours to convert weekly hours into the monthly-hour bands.

Provider Rates (Exhibit I, effective 2020-01-02)

Rates come from HAR 17-798.3 Exhibit I (effective 2020-01-02), which supersedes the earlier 2017-08-01 standalone rate table. Rates are statewide (no island/county variation), encoded as a single multi-breakdown parameter rates/rates.yaml keyed [hi_ccap_provider_category][hi_ccap_age_group][hi_ccap_hours_tier]: 8 provider types × 2 age groups × 2 hour tiers (Full-Time / Part-Time).

hi_ccap_provider_category is a direct input enum whose 8 members are provider types with no age baked in: LICENSED_CENTER_OR_GROUP_HOME, ACCREDITED_CENTER, NAFCC_ACCREDITED_FAMILY, REGISTERED_FAMILY, LEGALLY_EXEMPT, LICENSED_SCHOOL_AGE_INTERSESSION_SUMMER, LICENSED_BEFORE_AFTER_SCHOOL, EXEMPT_BEFORE_AFTER_SCHOOL. The infant/toddler vs older row of Exhibit I is selected from the child's actual age via hi_ccap_age_group (see the Age group note above) rather than from an age-encoded provider input — matching sibling CCAPs (NH, TX, AK, RI), which all derive an age category. The two hour tiers are resolved by hi_ccap_hours_tier from one of two monthly-hour band schemes:

• Standard care (all rows except before/after-school): Full-Time 87+ monthly hours / Part-Time 1–86.
• Before/After-School care: Full-Time 45+ monthly hours / Part-Time 1–44.

Band lower bounds are inclusive (exactly 87 hours = Full-Time; 86 = Part-Time).

Full rate table ($/month, provider type × age group × tier, two-pass vision-verified at 1200 DPI):

Provider type (enum)	Age group	Full-Time	Part-Time
LICENSED_CENTER_OR_GROUP_HOME — Licensed center or group child care home	Infant/Toddler	1,733	1,733
	Older	795	795
ACCREDITED_CENTER — NAEYC/NECPA/Hawaiian-medium accredited center-based	Infant/Toddler	980	980
	Older	980	980
NAFCC_ACCREDITED_FAMILY — NAFCC accredited family child care home	Infant/Toddler	750	750
	Older	700	700
REGISTERED_FAMILY — Registered family child care home	Infant/Toddler	650	362
	Older	600	334
LEGALLY_EXEMPT — Legally exempt relative, non-relative, and center-based	Infant/Toddler	400	223
	Older	350	195
LICENSED_SCHOOL_AGE_INTERSESSION_SUMMER — Licensed school-age intersession/summer	(care-setting)	450	350
LICENSED_BEFORE_AFTER_SCHOOL — Licensed before/after school	(care-setting)	155	86
EXEMPT_BEFORE_AFTER_SCHOOL — Legally exempt before/after school	(care-setting)	120	61

The first 5 provider types use the standard hour bands and vary by age group (infant/toddler vs older). The last 3 are care-setting categories (kindergarten age and above per HAR 17-798.3-2): the two before/after-school types use the before/after-school hour bands, and the intersession/summer type uses the standard bands; none of the three vary by age group.

Benefit Calculation

effective_care_hours          = min(child's monthly care hours,            # HAR 17-798.2-14(b)(1)
                                     caretaker's authorized activity hours) # lesser-of
hours_tier                     = band(effective_care_hours)                # FULL_TIME / PART_TIME
age_group                      = INFANT_TODDLER if age < 36 months         # HAR 17-798.3-2
                                 else OLDER
hi_ccap_maximum_monthly_rate   = rates[provider_category][age_group][hours_tier]  # Exhibit I
                                 (= 0 if effective_care_hours < 1)         # zero-hour gate
capped_expenses                = min(spm_unit_pre_subsidy_childcare_expenses, # actual cost
                                     sum of maximum_monthly_rate)          # vs dept max rate
copay                          = sum(maximum_monthly_rate) × copay_rate    # §17-798.2-14(b)(4)
hi_ccap (MONTH)                = max(capped_expenses − copay, 0)

• Activity-hours cap (§17-798.2-14(b)(1)): the rate tier is driven by the lesser of the child's monthly care hours (childcare_hours_per_week → monthly) and the caretaker's authorized monthly activity hours. For a two-parent unit the binding constraint is the caretaker with the fewest hours (min-of-parents, analogous to NH CCAP He-C 6910.07(p)). Employed caretakers cap the tier by their work hours; non-work activities (school, disability, protective services) have no tracked hour count and so are non-binding. Caretaker work hours read weekly_hours_worked_before_lsr to avoid a circular dependency with labor-supply responses.
• Zero-hour gate: Exhibit I's Part-Time band starts at 1 monthly hour, so a child with less than 1 effective monthly care hour (no care need) receives $0 in hi_ccap_maximum_monthly_rate.
• Lesser-of (§17-798.2-13(a)): the subsidy is capped at the lesser of the department's Exhibit I max rate and the family's actual childcare cost.
• Co-payment (§17-798.2-14(b)(4)): copay = department's maximum rate allowable × copay% — the percentage multiplies the provider max rate, NOT gross income.
• Copay % (copay/rate.yaml): a single family-size-independent bracket on the family's gross income as a share of FPG, ranging 0% (≤100% FPG) up to 9% in 1-point steps per the Exhibit II bands. The per-family-size dollar columns in Exhibit II are just FPG × band, so the percentage is a pure function of the income/FPG ratio. Band-top thresholds use X.0001 so a family at exactly a band top lands in the lower band.
• 85% SMI cap: the income limit is computed as the federal smi() helper × 0.85 (parameterized via income/smi_rate.yaml), so the limit tracks HHS State Median Income by year (NJ CCAP pattern) rather than freezing a dollar table.

Not Modeled

What	Source	Why Excluded
Foster-parent income-test waiver	§17-798.2-9(b)(1)(A)	No licensed-foster-parent input exists at the moment (is_in_foster_care marks a child in care, not a foster-parent caretaker). The CPS-family waiver under (b)(1)(B) is modeled.
Activity pathways for short-term job offers, employment breaks, job search, first-to-work, and protective-order day care	§17-798.2-9(b)(2)(B)–(J)	No inputs for job-offer timing, FTW participation, POD approval, or short temporal windows we don't track at the moment. Core work/school/training and the protective-services and disability-link pathways are modeled.
Provider age 18+, licensing, background/abuse/FBI/TB checks, caretaker-relationship exclusions	§17-798.2-9(c)	Provider compliance attributes are not simulatable. The provider category (which drives rates) is modeled as an input enum.
One-time registration payment ≤ $125/fiscal year	§17-798.2-13(b)(1)	Provider-side payment, not a monthly household benefit; no fiscal-year-cumulative tracking.
12-month redetermination	§17-798.2-16	Administrative process, not a benefit calculation.
Hawaii public assistance / TANF counted as income	§17-798.2-10(b)(11)	Counted by the regulation, but omitted from CCAP countable income to avoid the CCAP↔TANF circular dependency (CCAP income → tanf → TANF dependent-care deduction → childcare_expenses → child_care_subsidies → CCAP). TANF families fall below the lowest copay band, so the omission does not change their subsidy in practice.
Out-of-state public assistance; adoption assistance counted as income	§17-798.2-10(b)(10), (12)	Counted by the regulation, but no clean PolicyEngine income input exists.

Historical / Verification Notes

• Rate era: the operative rates are the 2020-01-02 Exhibit I rates from HAR 17-798.3 (parameter effective date 2020-01-02). This supersedes the earlier 2017-08-01 standalone Exhibit I rate table and the still-earlier 2009 codified Exhibit I, which are earlier eras out of scope here. The rate table was restructured from the 2017 era's four hour tiers (Full-Time / Two-Thirds / One-Third / Casual) to the 2020 era's two tiers (Full-Time / Part-Time).
• Age in rates is derived, not input: Exhibit I prints separate infant/toddler and older rows for each provider type. Rather than encode that age split into the provider input enum, the model keeps 8 age-free provider types and selects the infant/toddler vs older row from the child's actual age (hi_ccap_age_group, boundary 36 months per HAR 17-798.3-2). This mirrors how NH, TX, AK, and RI CCAPs derive an age category.
• before_lsr choice: both the caretaker work-hours read (for the activity-hours cap) and the activity test use weekly_hours_worked_before_lsr rather than the post-response hours, to avoid a circular dependency with behavioral labor-supply responses.
• 85% SMI: the income limit is computed as the federal smi() helper × 0.85 (parameterized via income/smi_rate.yaml), so values track HHS State Median Income by year rather than freezing a dollar table from Exhibit II or the CCDF plan (which report different HHS SMI years).
• Pending policy (not enacted): a HAR 17-798.3 amendment to lower the copay cap from 9% to 7% (a federal CCDF 2024 requirement) was pending AG review as of the FFY2025-2027 plan. This is not yet enacted, so the current 9% cap is modeled.
• Source verification: the Exhibit I rate table was two-pass vision-verified at 1200 DPI; the Exhibit II fee/income scale was transcribed from a scanned single-page chart (no text layer). Single-page scanned PDFs carry no #page= anchor; the multi-page HAR rules and HAR 798.3 payments PDFs use verified #page=XX anchors.

Files Added

changelog.d/hi-ccap.added.md

policyengine_us/parameters/gov/states/hi/bessd/ccap/
  age/child_limit.yaml                    # 13
  age/disabled_child_limit.yaml           # 17
  age/infant_toddler_max_months.yaml      # 36 (infant/toddler vs older boundary)
  age/minor_age_limit.yaml                # 18 (minor-student earnings exclusion)
  income/smi_rate.yaml                    # 0.85
  income/countable_income/sources.yaml    # positive counted-income list
  rates/rates.yaml                        # [provider_category][age_group][hours_tier], Exhibit I 2020-01-02
  hours_tier/standard.yaml                # 87+/1-86 → tier enum
  hours_tier/before_after.yaml            # 45+/1-44 → tier enum
  copay/rate.yaml                         # 0–9% copay% by FPG ratio

policyengine_us/variables/gov/states/hi/bessd/ccap/
  hi_ccap.py                              # SPMUnit MONTH subsidy
  hi_child_care_subsidies.py              # SPMUnit YEAR aggregator
  hi_ccap_countable_income.py             # SPMUnit MONTH countable income (formula: sources − minor-student earnings)
  hi_ccap_provider_category.py            # Person MONTH input enum, 8 provider types (no age)
  hi_ccap_age_group.py                    # Person MONTH enum, INFANT_TODDLER vs OLDER (age < 36 months)
  hi_ccap_hours_tier.py                   # Person MONTH tier enum from brackets
  hi_ccap_maximum_monthly_rate.py         # Person MONTH rate lookup + zero-hour gate
  hi_ccap_monthly_care_hours.py           # Person MONTH effective care hours (lesser-of)
  hi_ccap_authorized_activity_hours.py    # SPMUnit MONTH caretaker activity hours (min-of-parents)
  copay/hi_ccap_copay.py                  # SPMUnit MONTH = max rate × copay%
  copay/hi_ccap_copay_rate.py             # SPMUnit MONTH copay% from FPG ratio
  eligibility/hi_ccap_eligible.py         # SPMUnit MONTH (combine)
  eligibility/hi_ccap_eligible_child.py   # Person MONTH (age/disability/CPS/immigration)
  eligibility/hi_ccap_income_eligible.py  # SPMUnit MONTH ≤85% SMI
  eligibility/hi_ccap_activity_eligible.py# SPMUnit MONTH activity test (disability activity-link)

policyengine_us/tests/policy/baseline/gov/states/hi/bessd/ccap/
  hi_ccap.yaml
  hi_child_care_subsidies.yaml
  hi_ccap_countable_income.yaml
  hi_ccap_age_group.yaml
  hi_ccap_authorized_activity_hours.yaml
  hi_ccap_monthly_care_hours.yaml
  hi_ccap_hours_tier.yaml
  hi_ccap_maximum_monthly_rate.yaml
  integration.yaml
  copay/hi_ccap_copay.yaml
  copay/hi_ccap_copay_rate.yaml
  eligibility/hi_ccap_eligible.yaml
  eligibility/hi_ccap_eligible_child.yaml
  eligibility/hi_ccap_income_eligible.yaml
  eligibility/hi_ccap_activity_eligible.yaml

Registry edits:
  policyengine_us/parameters/gov/hhs/ccdf/child_care_subsidy_programs.yaml  # + hi_child_care_subsidies
  policyengine_us/programs.yaml                                            # + HI state_implementation (status: complete)

Test plan

• 130 tests pass locally (full HI CCAP suite: policyengine-core test policyengine_us/tests/policy/baseline/gov/states/hi/bessd/ccap/ -c policyengine_us)
• Added coverage since the prior revision: the minor-student income exclusion (hi_ccap_countable_income.yaml), the two hours-helper unit tests (hi_ccap_authorized_activity_hours.yaml, hi_ccap_monthly_care_hours.yaml), the hi_ccap_age_group.yaml 36-month boundary, and a before/after-school activity-hours-cap case.
• CI passes

[codecov]

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 100.00%. Comparing base (bd1ae42) to head (8c53f78).
⚠️ Report is 24 commits behind head on main.

Additional details and impacted files

@@             Coverage Diff              @@
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+ Coverage   77.77%   100.00%   +22.22%     
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  Lines           9       243      +234     
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+ Hits            7       243      +236     
+ Misses          2         0        -2     

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