Increasing Access to Child Care

Access to child care is one of the top issues Senate Republicans are working on during the 2024 legislative session.

This session, our caucus is prioritizing Senate Bill 2, which would implement new policies to improve the access and affordability of child care in Indiana.

SB 2 would:

• Introduce new policies to help more people become child care workers by cutting certain regulations;
• Allow children of child care workers to qualify for assistance from On My Way Pre-K and the Child Care and Development Fund;
• Require the Indiana Economic Development Corporation to annually report to the General Assembly the funds being dedicated to supporting child care; and
• Require the Family and Social Services Administration (FFSA) to provide a dashboard with information on available child care and utilization and report on various items that affect expansion efforts like early childhood educator pay and child tax incentives.

Finally, this bill would also create a pilot program for at least three "micro facilities" that serve between three to 30 children to operate with reduced regulations under the supervision of the FSSA. These facilities would ideally represent the diverse areas with a critical shortage of child care in Indiana.

SB 2 passed the Senate with bipartisan support Jan 30. It now moves to the House of Representatives for further consideration.

To learn more about SB 2, click here.