- Indiana lawmakers are moving forward with a plan to prioritize legislation aimed at improving child care availability and affordability.
- The bill must pass at least one chamber by Tuesday to survive the session.
- Indiana, like other states, is addressing child care challenges with proposed measures such as deregulation and business incentives.
The Indiana Legislature’s plan to prioritize legislation that would make child care more available and affordable is largely on track as key deadlines approach this year’s legislative session, but Democrats remain on track to meet those goals. warns that financial support in the state’s next budget is essential.
The bill must pass at least one chamber by Tuesday for it to survive the session, but lawmakers could change or add proposals to other bills before the session ends in mid-March. I often do this.
Indiana is one of many states this year proposing legislative solutions to address child care availability and affordability, rolling back regulations to encourage businesses and passing deadlines in the Republican-led General Assembly. It includes several bills that aim to be cleared as soon as possible.
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The average cost of child care in Indiana is $166 per week, according to Brighter Futures Indiana, a partnership between the Indiana Department of Family and Social Services and the nonprofit Early Learning Indiana. The younger the child, the more expensive child care will be.
View of the Indiana State Capitol in Indianapolis. State lawmakers have promised to take steps this session to ease the burden of child care for parents and state employees. (Photography by Sir Francis Canker, via Getty Images)
House and Senate Republicans and Gov. Eric Holcomb have made improving access and affordability a top priority this legislative session.
Senators on Tuesday approved an agenda with bipartisan support aimed at addressing accessibility of care. The bill would expand child care subsidy programs to frontline employees who have children of their own. Lawmakers in Colorado and Nebraska have introduced similar measures. Nebraska is considering a program in which the state would pay 100% of child care costs for professionals in the field.
Indiana’s bill would also lower the minimum age for childcare workers to 18, and in some cases to 16.
Childcare groups and other business groups support the proposal. Holcomb agrees, and includes some of it in his own annual plan. Supporters argue that Indiana’s lack of affordable child care is keeping people out of all sectors of the workforce.
“This is an infrastructure issue in Indiana,” Republican Sen. Ed Charbonneau, the bill’s author, told lawmakers Tuesday. “It affects every aspect of our economy.”
Democratic lawmakers supported the bill in a floor vote, but said they need to continue paying attention to the issue until next year, when the state crafts a new budget.
Another bill, pending a vote in the Senate by Tuesday’s deadline, would provide varying degrees of property tax exemption for commercial centers and businesses that set up on-site child care for their employees. It has become.
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Across the state Legislature, lawmakers want to roll back some regulations for child care providers. The Republican-backed bill would increase the license period for facilities to three years instead of the previous two years and exempt certain child care programs in schools from being licensed. It will also increase the hours of in-home childcare centers, allowing them to serve up to eight children instead of six.
The bill was sent to the Senate on Tuesday. Democratic state Rep. Vanessa Summers said in her statement that she was “horrified” by the bill moving forward.
“The answer is not to roll back regulations. The answer is to actually invest in child care infrastructure,” Summers said. “I am extremely disappointed in this organization’s willingness to put children at risk.”
Republican leaders say eliminating some operational requirements will ease the burden on businesses.
