Implement Georgia CCAP (Childcare and Parent Services - CAPS)

[hua7450]

Summary

Implements Georgia Childcare and Parent Services (CAPS) — the state's CCDF-funded child care subsidy program administered by the Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL). Models eligibility (residency, child age/disability, immigration, income, activity, assets), a 108-cell reimbursement rate table (3 zones x 3 provider types x 4 age groups x 3 care types), income-based family fees with waivers, and Quality Rated provider add-ons.

Closes #7957

Regulatory Authority

• CAPS Policy Manual — §5 (Family Unit), §6 (Eligibility), §7 (Priority Groups), §8 (Income), §9 (Family Fees), §10 (Scholarships/Rates)
• Appendix A — CAPS Maximum Income Limits by Family Size (eff. 3/2/2026)
• Appendix C — CAPS Reimbursement Rates (eff. 3/2/2026)
• Appendix D — Family Fee Assessment Chart (eff. 3/2/2026)
• CCDF State Plan FFY 2025-2027 — Quality Rated add-ons, asset limit, fee waivers

Income Eligibility Tests

• Initial eligibility: gross applicable income <= 50% State Median Income (Appendix A; Policy Manual §8.3)
• Ongoing/redetermination: gross applicable income <= 85% SMI (Appendix A; CCDF Plan §2.5.5)
• Modeled via ga_caps_enrolled flag: new applicants use 50% SMI threshold; enrolled families use 85% SMI

Income Sources

13 countable income types (Policy Manual §8.4):

#	CAPS Income Type	PolicyEngine Variable
1	Gross wages/salary (incl. commissions, cash bonuses)	employment_income
2	Net self-employment income	self_employment_income
3	Unemployment compensation	unemployment_compensation
4	Worker's compensation	workers_compensation
5	Alimony	alimony_income
6	Child support (regular/ongoing)	child_support_received
7	Veteran's benefits	veterans_benefits
8	Capital gains	capital_gains
9	Rental income	rental_income
10	Dividends (regular/ongoing)	dividend_income
11	Retirement/pension	pension_income
12	Social Security retirement	social_security_retirement
13	Base pay for military personnel	military_basic_pay

Listed in §8.4 but no PolicyEngine variable: military allotments, lottery payments. Commissions and cash bonuses are folded into employment_income.

Excluded income (by omission from sources list): TANF, SSI, SSA disability/survivors, adoption supplements, LIHEAP, Census Bureau income, in-kind donations, tax refunds, cash gifts, disaster relief, relative care subsidy, GBI/UBI, AmeriCorps unearned income, DECAL stipends, income from children 17 or younger.

Benefit Calculation

Subsidy formula (Policy Manual §9.6, §10):

sum_max_monthly  = sum_over_eligible_children(ga_caps_maximum_weekly_benefit) * 52/12
base_monthly     = min(spm_unit_pre_subsidy_childcare_expenses_monthly, sum_max_monthly)
net_base         = max(base_monthly - ga_caps_family_fee, 0)
weighted_bonus_rate = sum(max_weekly * quality_bonus_rate) / sum(max_weekly)
ga_caps          = net_base * (1 + weighted_bonus_rate)

Matches the SPMUnit-level capping pattern used by RI CCAP, MA CCFA, and CO CCAP. Per §9.6.1's exact "per-child lesser-of state max and provider's published rate" is approximated at the SPMUnit level since PolicyEngine does not track per-child provider published rates.

Rate table — 3 zones x 3 provider types x 4 age groups x 3 care types = 108 cells (Appendix C):

Zone	Provider	Infant FT/wk	Toddler FT/wk	Preschool FT/wk	School FT/wk
1	Center	$260	$248	$221	$185
1	Family	$199	$188	$180	$156
2	Center	$165	$160	$150	$140
2	Family	$145	$140	$135	$135
3	Center	$130	$125	$120	$115
3	Family	$120	$110	$105	$94

(Informal rates = Family rates. Part-time daily and before/after school weekly rates also included.)

Family fee tiers (Appendix D):

Income-to-FPL Ratio	Fee Rate
<= 10%	0% (no fee)
> 10% to 50%	3% of income
> 50% to 100%	5% of income
> 100%	7% of income (federal cap)

• Fee is per-family, not per-child
• Weekly fee = floor(annual_income * rate / 52), converted to monthly
• Fee waived (§ 9.5.1) for minor parents (age <= 17), children in DFCS custody, or income <= 10% FPL

Quality Rated add-ons (CCDF Plan §4.3.3):

• 2-star: 5% bonus on net base payment
• 3-star: 10% bonus on net base payment

Requirements Coverage

REQ	Description	Parameter	Variable	Test
REQ-001	Georgia residency	defined_for=StateCode.GA	all variables	integration.yaml Case 7
REQ-002	Child age <= 12	age_threshold/child.yaml (13)	ga_caps_eligible_child	eligible_child.yaml Cases 1-3
REQ-003	Disabled child age <= 17	age_threshold/disabled_child.yaml (17)	ga_caps_eligible_child	eligible_child.yaml Cases 4-6
REQ-004	Child citizenship (INA/45 CFR 98.20)	federal is_ccdf_immigration_eligible_child	ga_caps_eligible_child	eligible_child.yaml Cases 7-8, 16
REQ-008	Initial income <= 50% SMI	income/smi_rate/initial_eligibility.yaml (0.5)	ga_caps_income_eligible	income_eligible.yaml Cases 1-2, 7-8
REQ-009	Ongoing income <= 85% SMI	income/smi_rate/ongoing_eligibility.yaml (0.85)	ga_caps_income_eligible	income_eligible.yaml Cases 3-5, 9-10
REQ-010	Very low income priority (50% FPL)	Captured by fee tier (REQ-025/REQ-030)	ga_caps_family_fee	family_fee.yaml Cases 2, 7
REQ-011	Activity: 24 hrs/week	activity_requirements/weekly_hours.yaml (24)	ga_caps_activity_eligible	activity_eligible.yaml Cases 1-13 (Case 13 verifies CCDF fallback)
REQ-012	Asset test ($1M)	federal is_ccdf_asset_eligible	ga_caps_eligible	eligible.yaml Case 4
REQ-013	13 countable income sources	income/countable_income/sources.yaml	ga_caps_countable_income	income_eligible.yaml Case 15
REQ-014	Excluded income types	Implicit (omitted from sources)	ga_caps_countable_income	income tests
REQ-015	4-week annualization method	Implicit (PE uses annual income)	--	--
REQ-016	Family unit composition	SPMUnit entity	all SPM-unit variables	all SPM-unit tests
REQ-017	3 geographic zones (county-based)	zone_1_counties.yaml, zone_2_counties.yaml	ga_caps_zone	zone.yaml Cases 1-7
REQ-018	Provider type (Center/Family/Informal)	enum GACAPSProviderType	ga_caps_provider_type	maximum_weekly_benefit.yaml Cases 1-9
REQ-019	4 child age groups	age_group/*.yaml thresholds	ga_caps_age_group	age_group.yaml Cases 1-7
REQ-020	Care type (FT/PT/Before-After)	enum GACAPSCareType	ga_caps_care_type	maximum_weekly_benefit.yaml Cases 10-18
REQ-021	108-cell rate table	rates/center.yaml, family.yaml, informal.yaml	ga_caps_maximum_weekly_benefit	maximum_weekly_benefit.yaml (18 cases)
REQ-022	Subsidy = min(max, expenses) - fee, with QR bonus	--	ga_caps	ga_caps.yaml, integration.yaml
REQ-023	Quality Rated add-on (5%/10%)	quality_rated/bonus_rate.yaml	ga_caps, ga_caps_quality_rating	ga_caps.yaml Cases 2-4
REQ-024	Family fee is per-family	-- (SPMUnit entity)	ga_caps_family_fee	family_fee.yaml
REQ-025	Fee tiers by FPL ratio (4 tiers)	family_fee/rate.yaml	ga_caps_family_fee	family_fee.yaml Cases 1-4, 8-13
REQ-026	Weekly fee = floor(income * rate / 52)	--	ga_caps_family_fee	family_fee.yaml
REQ-027	Max copay cap 7%	family_fee/rate.yaml top bracket	ga_caps_family_fee	family_fee.yaml Case 1
REQ-028	Fee waiver: DFCS custody	--	ga_caps_family_fee (is_in_foster_care)	family_fee.yaml Case 19
REQ-029	Fee waiver: minor parents <= 17	family_fee/minor_parent_age.yaml (17)	ga_caps_family_fee	family_fee.yaml Cases 6, 14
REQ-030	Fee waiver: income <= 10% FPL	family_fee/rate.yaml tier 1 (0%)	ga_caps_family_fee	family_fee.yaml Cases 2, 7-8
REQ-038	Income limits from SMI/FPL	smi_rate/*.yaml + hhs_smi	ga_caps_income_eligible	income_eligible.yaml Cases 12-14

Not Modeled

What	Source	Why Excluded
REQ-005: Immunization requirement	Policy Manual §6	Administrative verification, not a financial variable
REQ-006: Proof of identity	Policy Manual §6	Administrative verification, not a financial variable
REQ-007: Priority group membership	Policy Manual §7	Complex categorical; group 13 is catch-all so effectively all eligible families qualify
REQ-031: Registration fee ($65/child)	Policy Manual §10	One-time administrative cost, not recurring subsidy
REQ-032: 12-month eligibility period	Policy Manual	Time-based administrative rule; PE models point-in-time eligibility
REQ-033: Fee protection (no mid-period increases)	Policy Manual	Time-based administrative rule; requires temporal state tracking
REQ-034: Graduated phase-out	Policy Manual	Captured by entry vs. ongoing thresholds (REQ-008/REQ-009)
REQ-035: Age transition timing (Monday after birthday)	Policy Manual §10	Intra-month timing; PE uses annual/monthly periods
REQ-036: Disability negotiated rate	Policy Manual §10	Case-by-case administrative decision, no standard formula
REQ-037: 15% QR discount removal	Policy Manual	Already removed (10/06/2025), before our effective date
Per-child lesser-of (state max vs published rate)	Policy Manual §9.6.1	PolicyEngine does not track per-child provider published rates; cap applied at SPMUnit total (same pattern as RI/MA/CO childcare)
Variable Schedule Scholarship (VSS)	Policy Manual §10	Combines B&A, FT, and PT rates dynamically; collapsed to a single dominant care type
Military allotments	Policy Manual §8.4	No matching PolicyEngine variable

Files Added

parameters/gov/states/ga/decal/caps/
  age_threshold/child.yaml
  age_threshold/disabled_child.yaml
  age_group/toddler_min.yaml
  age_group/preschool_min.yaml
  age_group/school_age_min.yaml
  activity_requirements/weekly_hours.yaml
  income/smi_rate/initial_eligibility.yaml
  income/smi_rate/ongoing_eligibility.yaml
  income/countable_income/sources.yaml
  family_fee/rate.yaml
  family_fee/minor_parent_age.yaml
  quality_rated/bonus_rate.yaml
  zone_1_counties.yaml
  zone_2_counties.yaml
  zone_3_counties.yaml
  rates/center.yaml
  rates/family.yaml
  rates/informal.yaml

variables/gov/states/ga/decal/caps/
  ga_caps.py
  ga_caps_enrolled.py
  ga_child_care_subsidies.py
  eligibility/ga_caps_eligible.py
  eligibility/ga_caps_eligible_child.py
  eligibility/ga_caps_income_eligible.py
  eligibility/ga_caps_activity_eligible.py
  income/ga_caps_countable_income.py
  copay/ga_caps_family_fee.py
  payment/ga_caps_zone.py
  payment/ga_caps_provider_type.py
  payment/ga_caps_care_type.py
  payment/ga_caps_age_group.py
  payment/ga_caps_quality_rating.py
  payment/ga_caps_maximum_weekly_benefit.py

tests/policy/baseline/gov/states/ga/decal/caps/
  integration.yaml
  ga_caps.yaml
  eligibility/ga_caps_eligible.yaml
  eligibility/ga_caps_eligible_child.yaml
  eligibility/ga_caps_income_eligible.yaml
  eligibility/ga_caps_activity_eligible.yaml
  copay/ga_caps_family_fee.yaml
  payment/ga_caps_zone.yaml
  payment/ga_caps_age_group.yaml
  payment/ga_caps_maximum_weekly_benefit.yaml

programs.yaml — Georgia registered under CCDF state_implementations

Verification

• Reimbursement rates verified against Appendix C (108/108 cells match, 600 DPI confirmed)
• Income limits verified against Appendix A (50% SMI / 85% SMI thresholds — Appendix A supersedes CCDF Plan §2.2.4's outdated 40%)
• Family fee tiers verified against Appendix D (4 FPL brackets, "above X%" boundary semantics with 0.0001 shift)
• Quality Rated add-ons verified against CCDF Plan §4.3.3 (5%/10% rates)
• Zone county assignments verified against Appendix C zone map (14 Zone 1 + 46 Zone 2 counties match)
• CI passes

Test Plan

• 10 test files covering eligibility, income, fees, rates, zones, integration (_edge.yaml files merged into canonical counterparts per testing-patterns skill)
• Activity-eligibility tests pin meets_ccdf_activity_test: false to isolate the GA-specific 24-hour rule from the federal CCDF fallback
• All 127 GA CAPS tests pass locally
• CI passes

[codecov]

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 100.00%. Comparing base (7078494) to head (ac7b73e).
⚠️ Report is 14 commits behind head on main.

Additional details and impacted files

@@            Coverage Diff             @@
##              main     #7958    +/-   ##
==========================================
  Coverage   100.00%   100.00%            
==========================================
  Files            1        15    +14     
  Lines           16       255   +239     
==========================================
+ Hits            16       255   +239     

Flag	Coverage Δ
unittests	100.00% <100.00%> (ø)

Flags with carried forward coverage won't be shown. Click here to find out more.

☔ View full report in Codecov by Sentry.
📢 Have feedback on the report? Share it here.

🚀 New features to boost your workflow:

• ❄️ Test Analytics: Detect flaky tests, report on failures, and find test suite problems.

[PavelMakarchuk]

Program Review — Georgia CAPS (PR #7958)

Source Documents

• PDFs: CAPS Policy Manual (109pp), Appendix A income limits (1pp eff. 3/2/2026), Appendix C rates+zone map (2pp eff. 3/2/2026), Appendix D family fee chart (1pp eff. 3/2/2026), CCDF State Plan FFY 25-27 (388pp)
• Year: 2026 (effective 3/2/2026)
• Scope: New state program (48 files, 4,908 additions)

CI Status

All checks pass (codecov/patch + codecov/project both pass). 136/136 YAML tests pass locally.

Critical (Must Fix)

1. Default zone overstates reimbursement for 3 GA counties — policyengine_us/variables/gov/states/ga/decal/caps/payment/ga_caps_zone.py:29 defaults unmapped GA counties to GACAPSZone.ZONE_1 (highest-cost zone). Per Appendix C page 2, Ben Hill, Johnson, and Toombs are Zone 3 counties, but they're absent from policyengine-us's county enum (policyengine_us/variables/household/demographic/geographic/county/county_enum.py, which holds 154 of 159 GA counties). With the current default, households in these 3 counties would receive Zone 1 rates (e.g. $260/wk infant FT) instead of Zone 3 rates ($130/wk) — a ~2x overstatement. Fix: change the select default to GACAPSZone.ZONE_3 (the residual "rest of state" zone). The gap is documented in parameters/gov/states/ga/decal/caps/zone_3_counties.yaml lines 100-101 but the default isn't aligned with that documentation.

2. social_security_dependents incorrectly counted as income — parameters/gov/states/ga/decal/caps/income/countable_income/sources.yaml line 17 lists social_security_dependents under countable income, and tests/.../income/ga_caps_countable_income.yaml Case 8 explicitly tests it as counted. CAPS Manual §8.4.2 (p.49) explicitly excludes "disability/survivors and SSI benefits received by the Social Security Administration." The social_security_dependents variable covers SSDI-auxiliary and survivor benefits (in addition to OAS-auxiliary), and working-age recipients (e.g. Case 8's 30-year-old) overwhelmingly receive SSDI-auxiliary or survivor benefits — both unambiguously excluded by §8.4.2. Fix: remove social_security_dependents from sources.yaml and flip Case 8 to assert exclusion (parallel to existing Case 9 for social_security_disability).

Should Address

• Page-anchor off-by-ones (4 distinct citations, 6 files) — actual page content lives one page after the cited #page=N:
  • parameters/gov/states/ga/decal/caps/activity_requirements/weekly_hours.yaml: Manual #page=33 → #page=34 (§6.8.1)
  • parameters/gov/states/ga/decal/caps/age_threshold/child.yaml: Manual #page=29 → #page=30 (§6.4.1)
  • parameters/gov/states/ga/decal/caps/age_threshold/disabled_child.yaml: Manual #page=29 → #page=30 (§6.4.1)
  • variables/gov/states/ga/decal/caps/eligibility/ga_caps_activity_eligible.py: Manual #page=33 → #page=34
  • variables/gov/states/ga/decal/caps/eligibility/ga_caps_eligible_child.py: Manual #page=29 → #page=30
  • variables/gov/states/ga/decal/caps/copay/ga_caps_family_fee.py: prefer #page=55 (§9.5.1 waiver criteria) over current #page=54 (§9.4 lead-in), matching family_fee/minor_parent_age.yaml
• PR body inconsistency — "12 countable income sources" vs sources.yaml has 14 — the PR-body "Income Sources" table omits social_security_retirement and social_security_dependents. After dropping social_security_dependents (per Critical #2), the yaml will have 13 sources; the PR body should be reconciled and a row added for social_security_retirement.
• variables/gov/states/ga/decal/caps/ga_caps_enrolled.py missing default_value = False — input-only bool variable. Framework defaults to False, so behavior is correct, but explicit default_value is the convention and improves discoverability.
• 108-cell rate matrix only ~17% sampled in tests — tests/.../payment/ga_caps_maximum_weekly_benefit.yaml and integration cases collectively touch ~18/108 cells. Critical missing combinations: Informal in Zone 1 or Zone 2 (only Zone 3 Informal tested); Family PART_TIME in Zone 1; Family BEFORE_AFTER_SCHOOL in any zone; INFANT × Family in Zone 2 or 3; TODDLER × Center in Zone 2 or 3. A 4–6 case addition would close the major gaps.
• No test for unlisted-county Zone 3 fallback — all Zone 3 test cases use Appling, which is in the explicit zone_3_counties.yaml list. The implicit-Zone-3-for-unlisted-counties branch (directly related to Critical #1) is never asserted. Add one case with a Georgia county not in any of the three zone_*_counties.yaml lists.
• Mixed-tier Quality Rated case untested for THREE_STAR + TWO_STAR — only NONE + TWO_STAR is covered (integration Case 8). The THREE_STAR + TWO_STAR mixed-tier weighted bonus path (effective rate strictly between 0.05 and 0.10) has no test.
• No childcare_days_per_week = 0 / 7 boundary test in ga_caps_maximum_weekly_benefit.yaml.
• No asset boundary case at exactly $1,000,000 / $1,000,001 in ga_caps_eligible.yaml — Case 4 uses $1.5M (well above cap). The asset check is upstream in is_ccdf_asset_eligible, but a pin would prevent silent drift.
• No base_subsidy = 0 with non-NONE quality rating case — ga_caps.yaml Case 1 exercises zero base with NONE rating; the multiplicative bonus on net_base = 0 is never explicitly pinned with a non-NONE rating.

Suggestions

• School-age definition tension — Appendix C uses "6 years & older" for the rate tier; Manual defines "School Age" as "at least 5 by Sept 1". A 5-year-old "school age by Manual definition" would still be billed at preschool rates under current implementation. Matches Appendix C bracketing but worth a code comment in payment/ga_caps_age_group.py.
• Activity/minor-parent gates use is_tax_unit_head_or_spouse — eligibility/ga_caps_activity_eligible.py:15 and copay/ga_caps_family_fee.py:21 identify "the parent(s)" via tax-unit headship. SPM-unit composition can diverge (e.g. grandparent caregiver in same SPM but different tax unit). Matches VA CCSP precedent; not a blocker.
• Manual §6.4.1 court-ordered-supervision path not modeled — eligibility/ga_caps_eligible_child.py:19-22 documents the omission. Forced by data availability; no fix needed.
• PR description omits zone_3_counties.yaml from the "Files Added" list (cosmetic — file is in the diff at lines 719-833).
• Appendix A and Appendix D hrefs omit #page=1 (cosmetic — both are single-page PDFs).
• Title precision — a few parameter titles cite a section header rather than the leaf subsection (e.g., "Section 8.4 (Applicable Income)" instead of "Section 8.4.1"); optional polish.
• ga_caps_enrolled.py missing reference field (cosmetic) — a one-line link to CAPS Manual §8.3.1/§8.3.2 would aid traceability.
• income/ga_caps_countable_income.py could widen reference to pages 49-50 — §8.4.3 child-earnings exclusion (implemented via is_adult filter) is on p.50.
• Add ga_caps_countable_income to 1-2 integration cases' output blocks to tighten the audit trail.

Investigated and Cleared (NOT real issues — highlight as strengths)

1. No sources/ or lessons/agent-lessons.md regression at repo root (unlike PR #8208 from the same author).
2. No _edge.yaml test leftovers — confirmed merged into canonical counterparts per testing-patterns skill.
3. No federal helper duplication — is_ccdf_immigration_eligible_child, is_ccdf_asset_eligible, meets_ccdf_activity_test consumed directly from federal definitions.
4. No spm_unit_benefits.py wiring needed — ga_child_care_subsidies aggregator follows the parameter-registry pattern (parameters/gov/hhs/ccdf/child_care_subsidy_programs.yaml + parameters/gov/household/household_state_benefits.yaml), avoiding hard-coded Python edits. This matches the 15-state CCAP pattern (AK, CA, CO, CT, DE, MA, ME, NE, VT, NH, PA, NJ, RI, SC, VA) — cleaner than WV/WA precedent which DID modify spm_unit_benefits.py (those edits were for non-CCAP variables).
5. County zone classification fully parameter-driven — no hard-coded county lists in Python.
6. All 12 income sources with PE variables match Manual §8.4.1 verbatim (14 yaml entries; 12 mappable + 2 SS variants where the dependents one is the §8.4.2 issue above).
7. All 4 fee tiers + 3 waivers match Appendix D and Manual §9.5.1 verbatim. Boundary semantics (0.0001 strict-inequality) explicitly tested in Cases 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18.
8. 108/108 rate cells match Appendix C (all 18 spot-checked cells across all 3 zones, all 3 provider types, all 4 age groups, all 3 care types). Informal = Family enforced correctly.
9. Period access correct throughout (period.this_year for demographics/bools, period for flows; verified across all 9 formula variables).
10. All 3 §9.5.1 family-fee waivers implemented and tested — minor parent (Case 6/14), DFCS custody (Case 19), ≤10% FPL (Cases 2/5/7/16).
11. Appendix A SMI math hand-verified — GA FY2026 4-person SMI $110,736 × 0.50 = $55,368 (Appendix A row 4) and × 0.85 = $94,125.60 (Appendix A row 4). Size-1 adjustment (0.52) yields $57,583; ×0.50 = $28,792 and ×0.85 = $48,946 (Appendix A row 1). All match.
12. Quality Rated add-on — 5%/10% rates and 2024-09-29 effective date verbatim from CCDF Plan §4.3.3 p.69; applied to net base payment (post-fee) per the same section.
13. No hard-coded numeric values in formulas — constants MONTHS_IN_YEAR, WEEKS_IN_YEAR used; bracket scales handle lookups.
14. Aggregator entity / defined_for / adds patterns all match precedent (CO CCAP, MA CCFA, RI CCAP).

PDF Audit Summary

Topic	Cells Confirmed	Mismatches
Eligibility (5 params)	5	0
Income sources (12 of 14 Manual §8.4.1 bullets w/ PE variables)	12	1 (social_security_dependents — §8.4.2)
Family fee tiers + waivers	4 + 3	0
Reimbursement rates (108-cell matrix)	108 (18 spot-checked)	0
Zone county lists	14 + 46 + 96 (3 missing from enum)	0 listing errors; 3 enum gaps
Quality Rated bonus	2 (5%/10%)	0

Validation Summary

Check	Result
Regulatory Accuracy	Strong; 1 material exclusion error (SS dependents) and 4 minor scope/style notes
Reference Quality	Clean; 4 page-anchor off-by-ones to fix
Code Patterns	PASS with minor; no critical regressions; no sources/ / lessons/ artifacts
Test Coverage	Strong (127 cases, all primary boundaries covered); rate matrix only 17% sampled
PDF Value Audit	0 value mismatches across ~140 audited cells
CI Status	All passing (codecov/patch + codecov/project)

Recommended Severity: COMMENT (close to APPROVE)

Rationale: Strong implementation with comprehensive coverage. Two material items to address before merge: (1) the unmapped-county default-to-ZONE_1 issue that overstates reimbursement for Ben Hill/Johnson/Toombs (~2x), trivially fixed by changing the select default to ZONE_3; and (2) social_security_dependents should be excluded per Manual §8.4.2. The remaining items are page-anchor off-by-ones, the PR-body income-source count reconciliation, and a handful of polish/test-gap items. No value mismatches found in the rate matrix, family fee tiers, SMI thresholds, Quality Rated bonus, zone county lists, or eligibility thresholds.

Next Steps

• Author: fix the ga_caps_zone.py default (change to ZONE_3), drop social_security_dependents from sources.yaml and flip Case 8, fix 4 page-anchor off-by-ones, reconcile PR-body income source list.
• To auto-fix: /fix-pr 7958

[hua7450]

Thanks for the thorough review, @PavelMakarchuk! All addressed in bb50a17.

Critical fixes

1. Zone default → Zone 3. Changed the select default (and the variable's default_value) in ga_caps_zone.py from ZONE_1 to ZONE_3, so Ben Hill, Johnson, Toombs, and any county not yet in the enum now fall to the residual "rest of state" zone instead of the highest-cost zone — fixing the ~2× reimbursement overstatement. Also updated the now-stale "— default" annotation in the zone test comment.

2. social_security_dependents excluded. Removed it from income/countable_income/sources.yaml per Manual §8.4.2 (SSA disability/survivors), and flipped ga_caps_countable_income.yaml Case 8 to assert exclusion (output 0), paralleling Case 9 for social_security_disability.

Page anchors — fixed all four off-by-ones:

• §6.8.1 #page=33 → 34 (weekly_hours.yaml, ga_caps_activity_eligible.py)
• §6.4.1 #page=29 → 30 (age_threshold/child.yaml, age_threshold/disabled_child.yaml, ga_caps_eligible_child.py)
• §9.5.1 #page=54 → 55 (ga_caps_family_fee.py)

PR body — reconciled the income-source count (now 13) and added the social_security_retirement row.

On ga_caps_enrolled's default_value: left it off, since the framework already defaults bool inputs to False — happy to add the explicit form if you'd prefer it.

The remaining test-coverage suggestions (rate-matrix sampling, unlisted-county fallback case, mixed-tier QR path, boundary pins) are noted — let me know if you'd like those in this PR or a follow-up.

[PavelMakarchuk]

Program Review — PR #7958 (Georgia CAPS, new program)

Repository: PolicyEngine/policyengine-us
Author: ziming
Program: Georgia Childcare and Parent Services (CAPS), DECAL, CCDF-funded
Year: 2026 (effective 3/2/2026)
Scope: 19 parameters, 14 variables, 10 YAML test files (127 cases), programs.yaml registry entry

Source Documents

• PDFs (5):
  • CAPS Policy Manual (109pp) — https://caps.decal.ga.gov/assets/downloads/CAPS/0-CAPS_Policy-Manual.pdf
  • Appendix A — CAPS Maximum Income Limits by Family Size
  • Appendix C — CAPS Reimbursement Rates (108-cell rate table + zone map)
  • Appendix D — Family Fee Assessment Chart
  • CCDF State Plan FFY2025-27 (388pp) — https://www.decal.ga.gov/documents/attachments/CCDFStatePlan25-27.pdf

🔴 Critical (Must Fix)

None.

CI is 26/26 PASS. No hard-coded values, no missing references, no incorrect formulas, no real value mismatches against source PDFs (108/108 rate cells confirmed, 14+46 zone counties confirmed, 9 family-fee parameters confirmed, 5 eligibility parameters confirmed).

🟡 Should Address

Regulatory accuracy

1. CAPS → labor-supply → CAPS circularity in policyengine_us/variables/gov/states/ga/decal/caps/eligibility/ga_caps_activity_eligible.py: the activity test reads post-LSR weekly hours. Switch to weekly_hours_worked_before_lsr to break the feedback loop, mirroring the established SNAP labor-supply pattern.
2. Period mismatch on policyengine_us/parameters/gov/states/ga/decal/caps/activity_requirements/weekly_hours.yaml: declared period: year but the value represents a weekly threshold (24h/wk). Should be period: eternity (matches how other weekly-threshold parameters are encoded).
3. social_security_retirement countable-income scope (income/countable_income/sources.yaml): confirm this variable already captures survivor-insurance payments as required by CAPS Policy Manual §8.4.1 glossary (line 855). If not, add a survivor-benefits source or extend the variable's scope.

References (page anchors / scope)

4. age_threshold/child.yaml & age_threshold/disabled_child.yaml cite Policy Manual #page=30, but §6.4 content is on printed/PDF page 29. Update anchors.
5. activity_requirements/weekly_hours.yaml cites #page=34, but §6.8 heading and the 24-hour value are on printed page 33. Update anchor.
6. 3 single-page-PDF references missing #page=1 — income/smi_rate/initial_eligibility.yaml, income/smi_rate/ongoing_eligibility.yaml, family_fee/rate.yaml. Add anchors for consistency.
7. family_fee/minor_parent_age.yaml cites "§9.5", but the corroborating sub-clause is §9.5.1. Tighten the citation.
8. Parameter count discrepancy: PR description claims 19 parameters; diff shows 18. Possibly an asset-limit parameter was dropped (CAPS relies on federal is_ccdf_asset_eligible). Clarify in PR body.

Code / parameters

9. ga_caps.py:49-53 numpy division-warning suppression should mirror the pattern in ga_caps_family_fee.py:31-36 (use np.errstate(divide='ignore', invalid='ignore') with explicit np.where masking). Cosmetic but consistent.

Document source choice

10. Disabled-child age boundary: CAPS Policy Manual §6.4.1 sets age 17; CCDF State Plan §2.2.1(b)(i) (page 19) sets age 18. PR picked 17 (more restrictive, more recent). This is defensible — ask author to add a one-line comment in age_threshold/disabled_child.yaml noting the source choice and conflict so future maintainers don't "fix" it to 18.

Test gaps (high priority)

11. Multi-child different QR ratings (e.g., 2-star + 3-star siblings) — exercises the weighted Quality Rated bonus formula across children.
12. §8.4.2 excluded-income types — verify TANF / SSI / LIHEAP / cash gifts are excluded from ga_caps_countable_income.
13. Same-household zone swap — same household run through Zones 1, 2, 3 to confirm rate table is wired correctly to ga_caps_zone.
14. Division-safe path: case where sum_max_weekly = 0 (e.g., no eligible children / zero rate) — confirms ga_caps.py does not raise and returns 0.
15. End-to-end aggregation wiring: ga_caps → ga_child_care_subsidies → child_care_subsidies → household_state_benefits. Currently relies on individual unit tests; add an integration test that asserts non-zero flow at each level.

🟢 Suggestions

• Description-template conformance on age_threshold/child.yaml and age_threshold/disabled_child.yaml (use the standard "The maximum age …" template).
• ga_caps_family_fee.py: idiomatic np.where() style (already correct; only a polish suggestion).
• Document the Quality Rated per-child default-NONE approximation — when QR rating is unknown, treated as no bonus. Add a brief docstring comment so users understand the conservative default.
• Rate-table coverage gaps in tests: add Family Preschool, Informal Infant/Toddler, and Zone-3 Center FT cases to cover currently-untested cells.
• Add a VSS (variable special support / very-special-services) collapse test if those flags are intended to be supported.

PDF Audit Summary

Category	Count
Confirmed correct against PDFs	130+ (108 rate cells, 14 Zone-1 + 46 Zone-2 counties, 9 fee params, 5 eligibility)
Real value mismatches	0
Mismatches investigated and cleared (MONTH/YEAR auto-conversion in ga_caps_income_eligible)	1 — false positive (PolicyEngine auto-divides YEAR-defined flow variables in MONTH formulas; identical pattern in ma_ccfa_income_eligible.py; boundary tests at $1 increments confirm correctness)
Source-conflict items (Policy Manual §6.4.1 age 17 vs CCDF Plan §2.2.1(b)(i) age 18)	1 — author chose more restrictive; document inline
Missing-feature gaps	0 PR-blocking (3 Zone-3 counties — Ben Hill, Johnson, Toombs — missing from PE-US county enum; already documented with inline comment, not a blocker)
Defensible "Not Modeled" exclusions	All — DFCS-custody waiver implemented via is_in_foster_care; verify against full §9.5.1 text (low priority)

Validation Summary

Check	Result
Regulatory accuracy	0 critical, 3 should-fix
Reference quality	0 critical, 5 should-fix (page anchors + §9.5.1 scope + parameter-count discrepancy)
Code patterns	0 critical, 2 polish items
Test coverage	5 high-priority gaps, several lower-priority suggestions
PDF value audit	0 real mismatches (108/108 rates, 14+46 zones, 9 fees, 5 eligibility); 1 false-positive cleared; 1 source-conflict (disabled age)
CI	26/26 PASS

Verified Correct (Highlights)

• 108/108 reimbursement rate cells match Appendix C exactly (3 zones × 3 provider types × 4 age groups × 3 care types).
• All 14 Zone-1 counties and all 46 Zone-2 counties match the Appendix C zone map exactly.
• 9 family-fee parameters match Appendix D exactly.
• 5 eligibility parameters match Policy Manual + Appendix A.
• Federal CCDF helpers (is_ccdf_asset_eligible, is_ccdf_immigration_eligible_child, meets_ccdf_activity_test) correctly wired — no reinvention.
• ga_caps_enrolled parallels the established sibling pattern (ma_ccfa_enrolled, ri_ccap_enrolled).
• Regulatory agent numerically traced integration Case 1 ($30K employment → $173.33 monthly family fee) and verified end-to-end correctness.

Review Severity: APPROVE (with should-fix items)

No critical blockers. Should-fix items are quality polish (period metadata, page anchors, circularity hardening, test coverage). Recommend the author address the should-fix list in a follow-up commit before merge; suggestions can be deferred.