SCS CSHB 89 - Summary

• Expands education tax credits across six tax types (insurance, income, oil/gas, property, mining, fisheries) to include child care facility operations, contributions to child care facilities, and employee child care cost assistance payments, increasing the combined credit limit from $1,000,000 to $3,000,000.

• Establishes automatic inflation adjustments to the $3,000,000 combined credit limit beginning January 1, 2030 and every five years thereafter, using the Consumer Price Index for urban Alaska.

• Renames the "day care assistance program" to "child care assistance program" throughout Alaska statutes and expands program eligibility to 105 percent of median monthly household income adjusted for family size.

• Requires the Department of Labor to establish subsidy rates using market rate or cost of care studies, prohibits child care facilities from denying acceptance based on disability or socioeconomic status, and adds grants for highest-performing quality facilities.

• Makes the bill's child care assistance program changes conditional on federal approval by January 1, 2026, with an effective date of January 1, 2028 for the original tax credits sections.