The following article was originally published in the Ohio Capital Journal and published on News5Cleveland.com under a content-sharing agreement.
An Ohio House committee approved two different bills targeting help for child care in the state, though members of the committee expressed concerns about state funding on the topic.
Ohio House Bill 2, proposed legislation that creates a cost-sharing model for child care, passed the House Children and Human Services Committee on Tuesday, moving the measure for possible full House vote.
The language of the bill is the same as language included in the House version of the budget, passed last month. That budget proposal is still awaiting final approval, as the Senate works on its own draft before the two chambers come together to reconcile their drafts and create a final draft to send to the governor by the end of June.
House Bill 2 would cap child care assistance at 400% of the federal poverty level. The cost-sharing model in the bill would split the cost between the employer, employee, and the state, after an employer applies for the financial assistance. The state would put in 20% of the cost, and the employer and employee would each pay 40%, according to the bill.
Child care providers are not required to be a part of Step Up to Quality, the state’s child care and early learning provider rating system, under the bill.
The bill was passed 12 to 1, with only state Rep. Sarah Fowler Arthur, R-Ashtabula, voting against it.
“I do still have some significant concerns with the fact we incentivized, through Step Up to Quality, a number of providers to not be providers for the last period of time,” she told the committee.
She added that she stood against the bill “because I have concerns about the state subsidizing child care going forward.”
Fellow Republican state Rep. Tracy Richardson, of Marysville, voted in favor of the bill, but looked to the future of the measure and the language in the budget for needed changes.
“I will support the bill, but I want to publicly state that I believe that our finance committee may have some work to do on this bill, maybe look at perhaps some potential reduction in overall funding,” Richardson said.
She said the same thing about a second bill passed by the committee on Tuesday, a bill which would appropriate $10.25 million each for the next two years for grants aimed at expanding “child care capacity” and establishing an employer-based child care learning lab, among other resources for grant applicants.
Ohio House Bill 41 would require the Ohio Department of Children and Youth to oversee a grant program “to assist employers in retrofitting or equipping their onsite or near-site child care facilities, in building new child care facilities, or in partnering with child care providers, government entities, nonprofit organizations or others on initiatives to create child care capacity within their communities to support the workforce,” according to an analysis of the bill by the Legislative Service Commission.
“I see this being a potential, really strong pilot program, providing dollars necessary for those facilities that matter, particularly in areas where we are most impoverished,” Richardson told the committee before voting in favor of the bill. “I do think, fiscally, our finance committee should take a closer look at the overall appropriation.”
Fowler Arthur voted against the bill, along with Rep. Gary Click, R-Vickery, but neither made statements as to why they were voting against the second child care measure.
