E-network : Child Care Subsidy Update - New Bill Introduced

KIDS ARE PRIORITY ONE COALITION
Live the Promise

January 22, 2008
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Rep. Fisher Introduces
Child Care Subsidy Bill
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During this legislative session, it will be important to use every opportunity to make the case for the importance of quality early learning experiences and the need for a larger public investment in children’s early years.  We are making progress in our work to raise the issue of early care and education to greater visibility, but we have to continue to make our case, especially in this budget year, which is shaping up to be the most challenging we have seen in a long time.

Closing the estimated $18 million shortfall in the Child Care Subsidy Program will require a large investment. Some policymakers are looking for a specific revenue source to close that gap. In his State of the State address  the Governor talked about adjusting the state capital gains tax in a way  that would produce additional revenue.  Rep. Mike Fisher (D-Lincoln) has introduced a bill--H. 603--which would dedicate a large portion of that revenue to funding the Child Care Subsidy Program.

H. 603 faces a lot of competition for scarce funds, but it may be the best vehicle this session for getting new money into the Child Care Subsidy Program. At the very least, it will be an opportunity to talk with legislators about the program, why it's important and what an investment in the program would do:
  • Bring us closer to making sure that our children get the quality, nurturing experiences they need while their parents are working;
  • Increase parents’ access to higher quality early learning experiences for their children (when subsidy rates more closely reflect actual costs, more programs are likely to accept children who receive a subsidy);
  • Prevent cost-shifting to un-subsidized parents in an attempt to make up the difference between subsidy rates and actual costs; and
  • Guard against the current trend whereby providers absorb the difference between the subsidy rate and what parents can pay, thus putting added pressure on an industry so crucial to our workforce and employers. 
Please take a few minutes to contact your legislator about the importance of the subsidy program and of H. 603. Emphasize the positive impact on children, families, early childhood programs and the economy of bringing the program's eligibility guidelines up to current levels and raising rates so they more closely reflect actual fees charged. If you live in any of the following districts, please contact members of the House Ways and Means Committee (which deals with tax policy on the House side, where H. 603 will start its journey through the legislature) :

Representative Obuchowski (Rockingham) , Chair
Representative Otterman (Topsham), Vice-Chair
Representative Smith (Morristown)
Representative Aswad (Burlington)
Representative Branagan (Georgia)
Representative Condon (Colchester)
Representative Howard (Rutland City)
Representative Hube (Londonderry)
Representative Peterson (Williston)
Representative Sharpe (Bristol )
Representative Winters (Williamstown)

For more information, contact Barbara Postman, Kids Are Priority One Policy Coordinator (229-6377 or bpostman@voicesforv tkids.org) or Kim Friedman, Kids Are Priority One Organizing Director (348-9879 or kfriedman@svcable. net).