NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Hutchinson Democratic Representative Jason Probst explained to Hutch Post that the child care legislation coming out of the House Commerce Committee does a few different things.
"The bill is House Substitute for Senate Bill 96, which is a combination of two primary bills," Probst said. "House Bill 2785, which was creating the Office of Early Childhood as a stand alone office that would work under an agreement with the Department of Administration. It is a very good piece of legislation and something I think everyone generally agrees needs to be done. The current child care structure crosses across four different agencies, including KDHE, DCF, the Children's Cabinet and the Department of Education. It consolidates all of this and streamlines this into one agency. There was a Task Force that worked over the summer. The product of that, one of the strongest recommendations was, can we please get this housed in one place, with one agency or one office that is completely focused on early childhood, childhood development, daycare. That includes things like drop in programs and after school programs."
The other bill that is part of the package is one that would change child care regulations by putting much of that into statute. Probst doesn't think that's the best way to fix that problem.
"You lose a lot when you put things into statute and don't give the flexibility to respond to on the ground matters," Probst said. "Most of the providers in the community don't like that bill, certainly, the governor's office doesn't like it. It was vetoed last year."
When legislation is drafted with too much specificity, it means that agencies have to sometimes punish unintended mistakes rather than regulating major wrongdoing. Probst expects debate to be robust and he voted against the bill in committee.
"Putting out a bill that increases the number of infants that can be allowed from, right now, it's three and increases it to four per provider," Probst said "The general consensus is that's not safe for infants. It's not safe for other kids in the child care setting. It definitely isn't going to produce as good of outcomes."
It is possible that the bill could be amended on the floor to narrow its scope, but that would have to get a majority vote of the Committee of the Whole.
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