Latest news with #HouseBill2045
Yahoo
26-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Kansas bill seeks to enhance and expand childcare services
PITTSBURG, Kan. — A new Kansas bill has parents and childcare services relieved. On Thursday, Kansas Governor Laura Kelly signed House Bill 2045, a bill which plans to consolidate more than 20 childcare services and early childhood programs into the Office of Early Childhood. The bill will also create more childcare openings across the state. The Bill also focuses on increasing availability of childcare slots, allows fewer education requirements for some workers in a childcare facility and changes ratios of the number of adults to children. For one Pittsburg mom who just recently ended her search for the best childcare service after being on the wait list for 4 to 5 months later. She says it's good to know there are more options and it's less of a burden. 'It's really important they have somewhere that they can trust with their child as well. They go back to work because since it's so necessary for us to work these days, I just I feel like as a parent, it would be nice to have a place that they cannot worry about, have, like you said, like take that weight off of your shoulders while you go and work for them.' Jessica Aguilar, Pittsburg mom. 'This is just kind of making it official that they are concerned about childcare, lack of and wanting to keep those that are providing that care open.' Ann Elliott, Family Resource Center Executive Director. The office will officially open in mid-2026, with childcare licensing, childcare subsidy, home visitation programs and the Kansas Children's Cabinet and trust fund. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Kansas governor signs legislation to expand child care access, create Office of Early Childhood
Gov. Laura Kelly greets 11-month-old Brynn, daughter of Sen. Tory Marie Blew, before speaking about the importance of creating the Office of Early Childhood. (Morgan Chilson/Kansas Reflector) TOPEKA — Surrounded by the shouts and chatter of children playing, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly on Thursday signed legislation consolidating the state's early childhood services under one department and supporting creation of more child care openings. 'When I ran for governor in 2018, I often said that, should I leave a legacy, I wanted to leave behind the most comprehensive early childhood system in the nation, so that our children, their families, our businesses and our communities could thrive,' Kelly told a crowd gathered at the Kansas Children's Discovery Center in Topeka. Kelly signed House Bill 2045, which creates the Office of Early Childhood, effectively consolidating more than 20 Kansas programs having to do with children, child care and other issues under one banner. In addition, the bill is expected to increase availability of much-needed child care slots, although critics have voiced concerns that it softened licensure requirements. The bill allows fewer education requirements for some workers in a child care facility and changes ratios of the number of adults to children. It also matches vaccination requirements to those currently in place for children attending school. Rep. Kirk Haskins, a Topeka Democrat, said he worked on the bill for three years and that the final product, while not without its costs, was effective and good. 'We do have a day care gap that we have to address,' he said. 'But we have to be careful to make sure we're not changing so much that it harms our children.' Kelly said some concerns raised about the bill were misguided because people didn't understand that much of the language included in HB 2045 was already in statute elsewhere. 'Some of the concerns, like the wording on certain provisions within that, those are things that were already in statute,' she said. 'They were just sort of put into the child care conversation, but were already existing. But I felt very comfortable that what we ended up with addressed a lot of concerns.' Kelly said objections to the vaccination language in HB 2045 was one of those misunderstood issues. 'That language already exists in state law, and we just put it into child care regulations,' she said. Sen. Tory Marie Blew, a Great Bend Republican, spoke to the crowd while holding her 11-month-old daughter, Brynn. She said she and her husband put their names on a child care wait list in 2020, and then it took them longer than expected to have a child. A spot didn't come open until just after their daughter was born in May 2024, she said. 'Many folks are not working because either they can't afford it or they don't have access to it,' Blew said. 'The thing about child care is it's an issue across every state. Hopefully more states will look to Kansas on what we're doing here.' Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes, D-Lenexa, equated the legislation to a promise to Kansas families. 'By establishing the Kansas Office of Early Childhood, this bill takes a transformative step toward making child care in Kansas more accessible, more affordable and more effective,' she said. 'Kansas will now have a centralized, accountable agency with an executive director focused entirely on those early childhood services,' Sykes added. 'This means more coordination, less confusion and better results.' Kelly said it had been clear for some time that the current system in Kansas wasn't meeting the needs of providers, communities and businesses. This legislation ensures a stronger, more comprehensive and flexible system for providers, she said. 'We know the earliest years of childhood are crucial in determining the trajectory of one's entire life, including economic health and social outcomes,' Kelly said. 'A robust, flourishing early childhood system not only benefits our children, but it's also critical to our state's economic growth and well-being.'
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Gov. Kelly signs bill to consolidate Kansas childhood programs
TOPEKA (KSNT) – Governor Laura Kelly has signed a bill that will consolidate nearly 20 state programs for young children into a new office. On Thursday, Kelly signed House Bill 2045 into law. Under the bill, existing programs will be merged into the Office of Early Childhood, which will open in mid-2026. The office will work with child care licensing, child care subsidies, home visitation programs and the Kansas Children's Cabinet and Trust Fund. 'House Bill 2045 is a win for businesses, early childhood providers, and most importantly, Kansas children and families,' Governor Laura Kelly said. 'Now, our early childhood system will no longer be bogged down by inefficiencies and bureaucratic red tape. Through collaboration with the Legislature, this bill will streamline access to high-quality early childhood services and make Kansas the premier place to raise a family while ensuring the highest standards for child well-being and safety.' HB2045 gained bipartisan support in the House and Senate. The bill passed the House 99-23 and passed the Senate 30-10. 61st year for biggest car part swap meet in Kansas According to a press release from the Office of the Governor, the Office of Early Childhood will be staffed by current state employees who will be retrained. A director will be appointed and a transition team will oversee the consolidation of programs. 'Kansas has a very urgent need for more, affordable child care and this legislation hits directly at bottlenecks in the system that, quite frankly, suppress availability and drive up cost,' said Speaker of the House of Representatives Dan Hawkins. 'These are real solutions that will immediately increase slots by reducing overly burdensome regulations, streamlining support services for providers and families, and addressing underserved and rural shortages by increasing flexibility for home-based providers. I especially want to thank House Commerce Chair Sean Tarwater, Vice Chair Adam Turk, and Representative Laura Williams for their tireless work to solve these issues without growing government in the process.' For more Kansas news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Kansas lawmakers approve creation of new child care department, change regulations
Sen. Beverly Gossage spoke this week about the importance of creating a new department, the Kansas Early Childhood Office, to get all child-care governance under one umbrella. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector) TOPEKA — The House and Senate moved forward this week to create a new Kansas Office of Early Childhood, merging three departments that govern child care in the state, while loosening regulations for child care providers and providing an opt-out for required child vaccinations. Both chambers passed House Bill 2045, sending the legislation on to Gov. Laura Kelly for her approval. The votes came over objections from several lawmakers about the lack of a fiscal note and opportunity to debate. Sen. Beverly Gossage, a Eudora Republican, said the bill was the result of three years' worth of work to put governance of private child care under one umbrella. 'We had licensing under the Department of Education, we had funding under DCF, we had the Children's Cabinet,' she said. 'So the idea was to create the Office of Early Childhood and have a director in that office, overseeing three subdivisions.' The bill also looks at child care regulations, making changes to allow fewer education requirements for some workers in a child care facility and changing ratios of the number of adults to children, Gossage said. The bill also changes vaccination requirements, allowing a child's guardian to avoid the immunization requirements if they provide a signed written statement that immunizations violate sincerely held religious beliefs. Several legislators raised concerns that such a significant change as adding a new department was coming before the Legislature in a conference committee report, which is negotiated by representatives from both the House and Senate and can't be amended by either chamber. Sen. Doug Shane, a Louisburg Republican, said he thinks the 63-page bill should be debated in front of the Senate. 'I really appreciate and agree with a lot of changes that are brought forth in the bill, including trying to decouple child care from burdensome regulations, but I'm concerned without thoroughly vetting this and with the creation of a new agency that we set ourselves up for long-term challenges,' he said. 'Echoing the famous words of Ronald Reagan, it feels a little bit like we're from the government and we're here to help, which is probably what created our child care crisis to begin with.' In the House, Rep. Barb Wasinger, a Hays Republican, raised concerns about the bill's fiscal note, or lack thereof. 'It starts a whole new agency, which means more full-time employees, which means more money to the Children's Cabinet. It means starting a whole new preschool area involved with child care in the school district,' she said. 'I think this is a good bill with some bad changes.' Rep. Susan Ruiz, D-Shawnee, assured the House that consolidating departments under the new banner of an Early Childhood Office doesn't necessarily mean new costs, but some representatives remained unconvinced. 'I just cannot support something where we don't know how it is going to affect us financially,' said Rep. Carrie Barth, R-Baldwin City. Rep. Sean Tarwater, R-Stilwell, argued that the changes to child care regulations are much needed. 'I had a lot of the same concerns that you all do, but over time we worked through it and we think this is a good bill,' he said. 'It's going to open up thousands of slots for day care. One of the No. 1 reasons people are not in the workforce is because they can't find day care for their children. This goes a long way in solving that problem.' The bill passed the Senate 30-10 and the House 99-23.
