STATEHOUSE (Jan. 11, 2024) — State Sen. Ed Charbonneau (R-Valparaiso) joined Senate Republican leadership and other members of the Senate today to announce the caucus's 2024 legislative priorities, including a bill authored by Charbonneau to make child care more accessible and affordable for Hoosier families.
Senate Bill 2 would roll out multiple new policies to help more people become child care workers and cut certain regulations that drive up the cost of operating a child care facility.
"Child care is a huge infrastructure issue facing Indiana. In order to help families remain happy and healthy, we need to offer options that can ease some of the burden," Charbonneau said. "Senate Bill 2 would help more Hoosier families find reliable, affordable child care, ultimately helping improve our workforce."
SB 2 would allow more children of child care workers to automatically qualify for assistance from On My Way Pre-K and the Child Care and Development Fund, ultimately encouraging more parents to become child care workers themselves by reducing the financial burden.
The bill would also create a pilot program for at least three "micro facilities" that serve between three and 30 children to operate with reduced regulations under the supervision of the Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA). These micro facilities would represent geographically diverse areas with a critical shortage of child care.
In addition, SB 2 would expand the number of people qualified to work in child care and speed up the timeline for the Early Learning Advisory Committee to review child care regulations.
Finally, to improve Indiana's child care data, SB 2 would require FSSA to establish a dashboard on their website that includes monthly updates on the number of child care subsidies available, the average copay required under each subsidy and the number of children on a wait list for each subsidy.
"I am a strong believer in data-driven decision making, and part of the problem with child care in Indiana is the lack of data," Charbonneau said. "The policies that would be implemented through Senate Bill 2 would help make child care more accessible for families by making it easier for providers to find workers, reducing regulations and improving our data, which can be used to help us make more informed decisions to continue improving child care standards throughout the state."
The Indiana General Assembly reconvened for session Jan. 8 and must conclude legislative business on or before March 14. Session and committee meetings are livestreamed at iga.in.gov. More information on bills, session schedules, daily calendars and more can be found on this site.
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State Sen. Ed Charbonneau (R-Valparaiso) represents Senate District 5,
which includes Pulaski and White counties, and portions of Jasper and Porter counties.
Click here to download a high-resolution photo.
Contact: Emma Balzer, Senior Press Secretary
Emma.Balzer@iga.in.gov
317-232-7184
