Child Care Reform Legislation Advances in House Committee

The House Committee on Families and Children on Thursday advanced House Bill 6 and House Joint Resolution 50, legislation aimed at strengthening Kentucky’s child care system to better support working families, employers, and communities across the Commonwealth.

House Bill 6 reflects the work of more than 40 stakeholders who spent 18 months studying Kentucky’s child care challenges and developing consensus recommendations through the Kentucky Collaborative on Child Care. The bill focuses on long-term reforms to improve affordability, access, and quality within the state’s child care system.

The testimony highlighted components of the proposal, including:

• Creation of child care micro centers to support innovations and help address major gaps in child care services like third-shift and drop-in child care
• Modernization of the All STARS quality rating system to better support continuous improvement and reflect quality across different care settings
• Reforms to the Employee Child Care Assistance Partnership (ECCAP) to emphasize outcomes, provide more effective incentives for child care providers, and streamline compliance processes

Together, the reforms are designed to increase flexibility, promote innovation, and make it easier for providers and employers to participate in solutions that expand child care availability.

House Bill 6 passed the committee with 12 yes votes and one pass. 

Following the vote on House Bill 6, the committee also unanimously advanced House Joint Resolution 50, which directs the Kentucky Auditor to study administrative regulations, statutes, and agency processes affecting the opening and operation of licensed and certified child care services. The resolution seeks to identify opportunities to streamline processes while maintaining health, safety, and quality standards.

Both measures now move forward in the legislative process.