A conference committee on House Bill 1015 adopted a technical amendment that replaces the phrase "childcare facility" with "early childhood program," clarifies the covered ages and changes the payment schedule from quarterly to monthly, committee members said.

The amendment, offered by Senator Sean Clary, was described by Clary as a drafting fix to align the bill's language with the state Century Code and with the Department of Health and Human Services' (DHHS) terminology. "So it's pretty, it's a technical change, or technical fix, to some childcare funding that we adopted in 10/2012," Clary said. He added, "It doesn't change any of the funding or the policy," and said the department requested the monthly payment schedule to align administration with other programs.

The change affects the language in section 17 of the bill: the words "childcare facility" are struck and replaced with "early childhood program," and the phrase indicating eligible ages is clarified so the program explicitly covers children aged 0 to 3. Committee discussion made clear the intent of the change is alignment and administrative ease rather than any increase to the program's dollars or eligibility.

Representative Lefor asked for confirmation that the change had been discussed with DHHS and would not alter funding. Senator Clary confirmed it had been discussed previously in the DHHS budget context and that the amendment does not add dollars. Brady, identified on the record as legislative counsel, and Becky from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) both indicated that the correction was appropriate to include in the budget bill as a technical fix.

Committee members moved and approved the amendment (listed in the record as amendment 25.0159 0.02027). The motion to adopt the amendment was moved by Senator Beccadoll and seconded by Senator Wojcick; the committee recorded affirmative votes for members present during the roll call, including Representative Lefor and others recorded as "aye" or "yes." Following adoption of the amendment, the committee moved to pass House Bill 1015 as amended; that motion was seconded and approved on the record.

The committee concluded its business and adjourned. No changes to funding amounts, eligibility criteria beyond the clarified age range, or policy intent were recorded in committee testimony; committee members characterized the action as corrective drafting and an administrative alignment with DHHS procedures.