Bills keep child care providers in business, improve choices for parents
On Monday, May 7, Senator Rich Draheim and the Minnesota State Senate passed a series of bipartisan bills aimed at addressing the problem of inadequate, expensive child care by encouraging existing providers to stay in business and lower the barriers of entry for new providers.
“Consistently, I hear from working families that have little to no options for child care,” said Senator Draheim. “And, in Greater Minnesota, the problem appears to be worse. By lessening the burdensome and unnecessary regulations child care providers face, this is a good first step toward keeping them in business and increasing choices for parents who want to work.”
Specifically, the Senate passed S.F. 3310, S.F. 2683, and S.F. 2685. The proposals make staffing requirements more flexible, reduce unnecessary paperwork, provide more transparency for providers and the public, require the Department of Human Services (DHS) to identify onerous regulatory burdens and take steps to reduce them, exempt most minor children of in-home child care providers from providing fingerprints and photographs for background study purposes – a demeaning practice that treated the children like criminals, and exempt most providers from unnecessary training.
On Tuesday, May 8, Senator Draheim participated in a special hearing that addressed Minnesota’s child care shortage.
“Time and again, we heard from child care providers that were saddled with unnecessary and onerous regulations from DHS,” added Senator Draheim. “It is no wonder that thousands of child care providers have left the industry over the last few years. Government should be looking out for the welfare of our children and encouraging new providers to enter the industry, not drive them to close.”
Child care providers testified that rules and regulations imposed on the industry by DHS are increasingly punitive and do not pass the common-sense test. For instance, child care providers must sometimes turn away siblings when their ages are not perfectly spaced to allow for a certain ratio of caretakers-to-children, even when the overlap is only a month or two. Something as simple as a misplaced bobby pin could cost a provider hundreds of dollars in fines, regulations are repetitive, and continuous education requirements are unreasonable. These issues are pushing providers out of the business, creating a crisis-level child care shortage, and limiting parents’ career options. A new subcommittee on child care availability will be established to study the regulatory and administrative barriers that exist for child care providers and develop recommendations to reduce the burden.
“We need to remember that the child care shortage doesn’t just affect young families, but everyone in Minnesota,” said Senator Draheim. “When parents are forced to leave the workforce to stay home with their children because there are no other options, we all pay the economic cost. By getting government out of the way and encouraging child care providers to keep their doors and homes open, we can solve this problem together.”