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Senate Workforce Development panel OKs amended House Bill 11-19 to create time-limited evaluation of childcare licensing

2952005 ยท April 10, 2025
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Summary

The Senate Workforce Development Committee amended and voted to advance House Bill 11-19, removing a Department of Human Services response requirement and creating a time-limited legislative evaluation process with a Childcare Advisory Committee update before the panel dissolves.

The Senate Workforce Development Committee on Thursday approved an amended version of House Bill 11-19 to create a legislative program evaluation of childcare licensing standards and a time-limited advisory process.

Senator Hogan, sponsor of the bill, told the committee the amendment (version 2,005) removes a prior section that would have required the Department of Human Services to submit a formal response to legislative management, saying the change makes the measure "less like an audit than an evaluation." She said the department will still be a "critical piece" of the evaluation but that the committee removed language that could have placed an "unreasonable burden on the administrative branch."

The bill, as amended, directs the Childcare Advisory Committee to provide an update as part of the evaluation and specifies that the advisory committee will dissolve once the rewrite of licensing standards is complete. The committee adopted amendment 2,005 on a voice/roll-call tally the clerk recorded as 4-0-1, and then moved House Bill 11-19, as amended, for a due-pass recommendation; the committee voted in favor by the same roll-call pattern and advanced the bill.

Senator Larson described the approach as a "novel idea," praising the formation of a temporary group to study implementation and then disband. "Something to form a group to study and then have it disbanded after they report," Larson said, "I think that's kind of a new idea that's kind of cool."

Committee members and the sponsor emphasized that this version is intended to establish a legislative council program-evaluation process distinct from any administrative-branch review. "There will be DOGE and there will be legislative council program evaluations, but the protocols may be different," Senator Hogan said, characterizing the two tracks as "parallel" approaches and noting the state is conducting these evaluations for the first time.

Discussion focused on removing the explicit requirement that the Department of Human Services provide a written response to legislative management; that requirement was deleted from section 4 in the amended draft. Committee members also clarified that the Childcare Advisory Committee will deliver the mandated update and that the advisory body is time-limited, dissolving when the licensing rewrite is finished. Several members said they supported the amended language as a less punitive, more evaluative framework.

With the committee's recorded tally of 4 yes, 0 no and 1 recorded as not voting on the amendment, the panel approved the amendment and then approved the bill as amended. The committee chairman closed the session by thanking members and adjourning the workforce development committee for the sixteenth legislative session.

The committee record shows the following formal actions: adoption of amendment 2,005 to House Bill 11-19 (approved 4-0-1) and a motion to give House Bill 11-19 a due-pass recommendation as amended (approved, same tally).