SB12-138 Summary

• Establishes primary goal of child care regulation as creating safe and healthy environments for children, with secondary goal of preserving affordable child care options by recognizing that regulatory costs are passed to parents.

• Eliminates mandatory periodic 5-year reviews of child care licensing rules by the Department of Human Services and replaces them with discretionary reviews initiated by the Governor (executive order) or General Assembly (resolution) using multi-stakeholder committees.

• Redirects child care cash fund activities from funding quality improvements to funding health, safety protection, and affordable child care options.

• Modifies child care resource and referral system language to emphasize affordability and safety over quality promotion.

• Ensures federal Department of Defense quality child care standards for military family pilot programs are applied in addition to state standards and prohibits using federal standards as a model for other licensed child care centers.