BY: MORGAN CHILSON
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.
“This bipartisan legislation is a win for businesses, child care providers and most importantly, Kansas children and families,” Kelly said in a statement. “Now, our early childhood system will no longer be bogged down by inefficiencies and bureaucratic red tape. I look forward to signing House Bill 2045 as we streamline access to high-quality early childhood services and make Kansas the premier place to raise a family.”
The bill’s passage 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.