Republican lawmakers want to ease regulations for child care providers

Legislative leaders say they’ll continue to push for greater access to child care during the upcoming legislative session. Republican lawmakers plan to focus on easing regulations for child care providers across the state.

Republican lawmakers eased requirements on home-based child care providers during the last session, despite concerns from Democrats. Among other changes, they increased the number of children allowed in unlicensed homes. House Speaker Todd Huston (R-Fishers) says lawmakers should continue to reduce regulations to help address the need for more child care.

“The fact of the matter is, we need a heck of a lot more capacity," Hutson said. "And the best way the government can help in that is to really look and see what are we doing to constrain it.”

READ MORE: Indiana Senate approves loosened regulations for unlicensed child care homes
 

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Huston says requirements on child care workers also pose an obstacle. He says lawmakers should look at those regulations and create more programs to help people through the licensure process.

“I think we need to continue to ask ourselves, you know, do the regulatory requirements around licensing match what the needs are?" Huston said.

Timoria is our labor and employment reporter. Contact her at tcunningham@wfyi.org.