House advances one child care bill, votes down another with concerns about cost

The business community needs to do more to support the needs of families with children — that was one message from Republicans during a recent vigorous debate about the Best Beginnings Child Care Scholarship.

“There are a lot of private-sector entities statewide that have stood up child care because they need it in order to have their workforce,” said Rep. Bill Mercer, R-Billings.

And he and others argued that more of them should do the same, not foist the cost on taxpayers.

Best Beginnings leverages federal money to help lower income, working families or parents in school to afford child care, mostly by funding providers.

Friday, the House considered two bills that together would have cost an estimated $45 million for the biennium.

It advanced one bill to expand the Best Beginnings scholarship to workers in the field, House Bill 456, which appropriates $5.5 million a year.

However, after a debate about whose responsibility it is to support the needs of families who want to participate more in the workforce, legislators voted down another bill that would have expanded eligibility.

Rep. SJ Howell, D-Missoula, said in part due to workforce challenges, North Dakota decided to make substantial investments in child care, an estimated $38.9 million a year.

“And those investments have paid off. They’ve seen a 19% increase in workforce participation from workers with young kids,” Howell said.

But several Republican leaders argued the state needs to curtail spending, starting with the $17 million annual cost of the bill to expand eligibility, House Bill 457.

Majority Leader Steve Fitzpatrick, R-Great Falls, said legislators are bringing bills with expensive pricetags — laid out in analyses called fiscal notes — and the cost to expand eligibility is “immense.”

“I feel like it’s every day I walk on this floor, and it’s raining fiscal notes,” Fitzpatrick said. “One million. Two million. We just did $5.5 million. Now we’re at $17 million.

“We have to stop spending. We do not have an unlimited pot of money.”

Democrats, however, said the dollars are an investment in the economy, and they would pay off as more businesses are able to expand, and more workers are able to contribute to tax revenue.

Rep. Jonathan Karlen, D-Missoula, lead sponsor of both bills, said he likes the idea of having corporations pitch in, but businesses are limited.

“We don’t really have employers that are large enough to make those big investments in child care,” Karlen said.

Karlen also said the legislature is spending a lot of money on prisons, and it’s about to spend millions on a shooting range.

Nonstop Local reported the Department of Justice has requested $10 million for a new indoor firing range to support training for local, state and tribal law enforcement officers.

“I would argue that there is nothing more important than spending money on early childhood education, making sure this is where kids learn the foundational skills to set them up to succeed in school,” Karlen said.

A report from the state Department of Labor and Industry said 66,000 Montanans don’t fully participate in the workforce because of inadequate child care.

Rep. Jill Cohenour, D-East Helena, said the bill would support turning those people into taxpayers, and as such, it is an investment and would increase tax revenue.

“We don’t always get to be able to say that, but this is one of those bills,” Cohenour said. “ … It’s going to help every business in the state of Montana, including our good rural businesses.”

House Bill 456

On a bipartisan 61-38 vote and with little discussion, legislators advanced House Bill 456 on second reading, and it heads to the Appropriations committee.

The bill would make child care workers automatically eligible for the scholarship, and it aims to resolve a problem in the industry.

Child care workers earn low wages, too low to afford their own child care, but a family might earn too much to qualify for the scholarship.

At the same time, a child care business offering an employee a tuition waiver can end up losing significant income itself because the low child-to-employee ratios — mandated for safety — mean limited slots for children.

The scholarship is granted on a sliding scale based on income, and Karlen said the workers would still be responsible for a co-pay.

Workers in the industry earn low wages, a median $12.73 an hour, or estimated $26,480 annually in 2022, according to the Department of Labor and Industry.

Karlen said turnover in the industry is high as a result, but a pilot program in Montana that granted child care workers scholarships demonstrated a 20% decrease in turnover.

House Bill 457

House Bill 457 elicited significant debate and ultimately failed on a 44-55 vote.

Rep. Jerry Schillinger, R-Circle, said the reason people can’t afford child care anymore is they’ve destroyed good jobs in the state in natural resources, timber, mining and energy.

“Formerly, they had great paying jobs that paid for houses, paid for their own child care, let them live a good life,” Schillinger said.

But he and others said the solution shouldn’t be to stick taxpayers with the cost of the problem.

The bill would have tied eligibility to 85% of state median income instead of 185% of the federal poverty level.

It would have reached more working parents, and an estimated 2,500 more children, and supporters said it’s similar to how eligibility works in Alaska, Arkansas, Kansas, Utah and other states.

Rep. Linda Reksten, R-Polson, said she was conflicted about the bill because she sees the need, including in her district. However, Reksten suggested that when Montana recruits businesses, it puts in a caveat.

“We should have some sort of provision, when we attract business to the state, that they should provide some sort of child care service or some sort of match,” Reksten said. “ … We’ve got to have another creative solution other than just the taxpayer.”

In support of the bill, however, Rep. Shelly Fyant, D-Arlee, said she had been in close touch with her constituents, and they were asking for exactly the help HB 457 would offer.

“Not all of us can afford to bring our children to work and save those kinds of costs,” Fyant said.

Fyant said she had been a working parent all her life and had had to choose between putting food on the table or paying her electric bill, a situation she said not all of her colleagues have experienced.

Also in support, Rep. Jamie Isaly, D-Livingston, said the people the bill would help are teachers, police officers, firefighters, cooks, custodians, and legislative staff — not people earning the highest wages.

“We’re talking about the people that we depend on to be here for us and our constituents every day,” Isaly said.

Howell said the money would help Montana break out of the current gridlock in the workforce, where people who want to work can’t afford to do so because of the lack of child care.

But House Speaker Brandon Ler, R-Savage, said he thought it would end up exacerbating the current problem and mean its supporters would be back again, calling for even more money.

He warned fellow legislators he was going to oppose the bill “in a pretty hard way.”

The American Dream used to be that one parent could work, and one could stay home and raise children, he said. But he said the high cost of the bill to taxpayers meant families would have to work even more.

“That husband’s gonna have to pay more taxes,” Ler said. “And the wife will have to go out and get a second job, and the kids will have to go to daycare.”