Iowa House passes child care bills regarding teen workers, aid for caregivers

By Iowa Capital-Dispatch via TN Content Exchange

The Iowa House passed legislation Monday that would allow 16- and 17-year-old child care employees to work unsupervised during certain periods.

Lawmakers also advanced a bill raising rates for child care providers under the state assistance program and making them eligible for aid to afford care for their own children.

House lawmakers amended House File 319, a bill originally dealing with physical examination requirements for child care workers, to include a measure allowing employees who are minors to work without adult supervision for “flex care” options.

Rep. Joel Fry, R-Osceola, said the measure would primarily allow workers under age 18 to assist without adult workers present “to assist during naptime and five minute breaks” for children younger than 5 — something currently not allowed in Iowa law.

The amendment incorporates language from a bill that failed to advance before the “funnel” deadline earlier this year. Supporters argue that the provision will help alleviate problems with staffing shortages at child care facilities.

Rep. Austin Baeth, D-Des Moines, said that as the parent of two young children, he does not believe “we should be patching that shortage with unsafe solutions.” He said “flex care” is not limited by the rules of the Department of Health and Human Services to only five-minute periods, and also said he was concerned about the “nap time” supervision allowances.

“What can happen during a nap time when you have a child watching four little infants? A lot,” Baeth said. “I had a kid get super sick in the middle of naptime. I don’t know if I feel so safe with the 16-year-old unsupervised, trying to figure that out and then watching all the other kids.”

He called for the Legislature to instead consider options recommended by the governor’s child care task force, which recommended measures such as rehabilitating vacant schools as child care centers and having child care centers be taxed as residential rather than commercial properties. The property tax proposal was originally included in Gov. Kim Reynolds’ income tax bill, but was separated out as Senate Study Bill 3181. The bill has not yet received a subcommittee meeting.

Bill would increase child care rates, eligibility for providers

The House also passed House File 2658 Monday with a 92-1 vote.

The measure would require DHHS to increase half-day reimbursement rates for the state child care assistance program for providers from the 65th to 80th percentile, based on the 2023 market rate surveys of child care costs.

The bill also extends Iowa’s child care workforce pilot program to June 30, 2025, that allows for full-time child care workers to be eligible for the child care assistance program even if they are above the program’s income threshold. Rep. Ann Meyer, R-Fort Dodge, said the reimbursement rate increase will cost $15 million and the pilot program extension will cost $10.2 million, both financed using the state’s Child Care Development Fund.

Meyer said the pilot program on extending child care assistance to workers in the field has been successful in retaining child care workers in the state.

“Just some interesting data on the pilot program: 92% of the participants in the pilot were already employed by child care, but 99% of those were retained — 37% in the pilot would leave child care if this was not available,” Meyer said. “So it’s proven to be a good retention tool.”

Rep. Tracy Ehlert, D-Cedar Rapids, also praised the pilot program, and asked lawmakers to consider further measures to help incentivize workers in the field.

“In my early childhood educator, professional capacity and talking to (providers), many are very appreciative of the pilot program,” Ehlert said. “But in some, they’re wanting to know well, what can we offer our providers that don’t need the child care? So maybe moving forward, we can think of how we can benefit the ones that no longer need child care, either maybe their children have aged out, or they don’t have children, and how we can retain those professionals as well.”

Both bills head to the Senate for further consideration.