In a busy day at the State House, the New Hampshire Senate and House of Representatives voted on a handful of critical child care bills Thursday, including funding for the child care workforce grant program, tax credits, and increasing state scholarship eligibility.
$15 million for child care workforce grant shelved by Senate
After extended debate and communication with the state’s congressional delegation, the Senate voted to table a bill to fund the child care workforce grant due to fiscal concerns.
Senate Bill 483 proposes that $15 million in state general funds be used for a child care workforce grant program to improve staff recruitment and retention amid the statewide decline in child care employees and availability. The bill proposes funding the program with state dollars, as was done in 2023 when it began.
The bill was unanimously passed by the Senate, followed by an immediate vote to lay the bill on the table — an action that puts the bill aside until the Senate decides to take it up again or until the legislative session ends, resulting in the bill dying.
“We’ve been tabling all of the money bills coming out of [the Committee on] Finance to see how the fiscal year shapes up later this spring, so we’ll see what happens,” said Sen. Cindy Rosenwald, a Nashua Democrat and prime sponsor of the bill. “But I was very happy that the entire Senate recognized that the child care workforce is critical to the growth of child care capacity.”
SB 483 addresses a funding problem created by the state’s biennial budget, as lawmakers initially sought to use $15 million in surplus federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funds for the workforce grant program. The appropriation was contingent on federal approval, which the Administration for Children and Families denied in October in a “vague” response, according to lawmakers.
The Senate Finance Committee expressed interest in funding the program but asked the state Department of Health and Human Services to seek clarification from the federal government on its decision. In January, Karen Hebert, director for the Division of Economic Stability, confirmed that the federal government said TANF cannot be used to “support operating expenses of a business or industry” not eligible for TANF or “child care workers directly.”
SB 483 and its companion bill in the House have been a source of disagreement between Republicans and Democrats. While the program has bipartisan support, Republicans have voiced concerns about the state’s growing budget deficit.
Child care providers and advocacy groups have championed the bill to move forward since the issue arose, as the lack of funding is preventing the workforce grant program from continuing and putting the state at a greater risk of losing more providers.
Shannon Tremblay, director of the legislatively appointed Child Care Advisory Council, said that compensation challenges for providers still need to be addressed to “keep experienced educators in the field.”
“From the feedback we’ve received as a board, providers consistently shared that the workforce retention and recruitment grants were very successful in helping programs maintain staffing during a particularly challenging time,” she said. “As state leadership explores options to address the child care challenges in New Hampshire, providers’ wages must be one area examined as part of the board discussion.”
Jackie Cowell, executive director of Early Learning New Hampshire, a nonprofit that advocated for early education policy, said she is “grateful” for continued bipartisan support.
“Early Learning NH and our partners will continue to advocate strongly that we, as a state, do whatever we can to make sure these grants go out the door as intended this biennium so that child care programs can keep and hire great teachers,” she wrote.
House advances tax credit; Senate tables co-locating bill
New Hampshire’s child care availability and affordability issues have caught the attention of business owners, who testified about how their businesses and their ability to recruit have been affected. Gov. Kelly Ayotte pitched the idea of giving businesses tax credits if they help address the problem for their employees.
In a consent calendar vote — a group of bills considered noncontroversial and acted upon with a single vote — the House of Representatives voted to pass House Bill 1433, which creates a tax credit for businesses that increase child care offerings by 12 or more seats.
HB 1433 allows a business to claim a credit equal to 50% of its qualifying expenditures against its business profits tax or business enterprise tax for the first two years if it creates the new slots. Businesses would be able to apply to the program on a first-come, first-served basis, and the state would not dole out more than $5 million a year in credits.
Rep. Mary Murphy, a Francestown Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, wrote in the committee report that while the bill “not completely solve” shortages in the child care industry, it would “improve the situation.”
“A critical shortage of child care facilities and staffing has resulted in a current estimated 12-month waitlist for openings,” Murphy wrote. “… The committee felt that while there are some advantages to constructing child care centers on company property, most companies will view these as cost centers, not profit centers, and will choose to leverage in-community centers for which child care is their main business.”
A bill filed in the Senate, Senate Bill 654, would create a tax credit for businesses that offer child care on-site or within a quarter-mile of the office. It would also create a “parent hours” tax credit for businesses that allow employees with at least one child to work between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. on weekdays.
Sen. Victoria Sullivan, a Manchester Republican and prime sponsor, said that SB 654 would allow parents to be near their children during the workday and would give businesses an incentive to schedule parents during school hours.
“When my boys were in elementary school,” Sullivan said. “I knew many children that were in school well before school started and were picked up after their parents’ work day ended, sometimes hours after school let up. The children were cooped up in a building more hours than their parents were.”
After a unanimous vote to pass the bill, the Senate voted to table it.
Sen. Donovan Fenton, a Keene Democrat, said that while he supports the bill, if it comes back from being tabled, “it will need additional work” due to uncertainty about how the credits would function and the fiscal impact.
Increase to scholarship eligibility voted through
In the Senate’s consent calendar vote, Senate Bill 645 passed, which would increase the eligibility threshold for the Child Care Scholarship Program.
The bill would increase the income eligibility for the scholarship program from families whose gross monthly income is less than or equal to 85% of the state median income to 95% of the state median income.
To pay for the increase, 2% of the tobacco tax fund and 2% of the liquor tax would go to the Department of Health and Human Services to administer and expand the program.
The bill now heads to the Senate Finance Committee for a second hearing.