We need to work together this session to make child care more affordable and accessible. There is a four-pronged approach to help alleviate the burdens on working Iowans, including grants to open new child care facilities, helping parents with the high cost of child care, and partnering with small businesses to expand child care to their employees.
This past week, I joined several colleagues to cosigned four bills supporting affordable and accessible child care in Iowa. These bills will greatly benefit all Iowans as well as help boost our economy. A short synopsis of the four of the bills is below.
Grants to Expand or Open New Licensed Child Care Facilities:
The Child Care Center and Child Development Home Grant Fund would provide startup or expansion assistance to daycare providers to help offset the costs of establishing a new licensed child care center. These startup costs include supplies, infrastructure, and registration of the facility.
Partner with Small Businesses to Expand Child Care:
With Iowa’s shortage of child care options, we will encourage more small businesses to provide child care benefits to their employees through tax credits. The benefits include building or fixing an existing structure at or near the small business or operating/leasing a building to operate a child care center for their employees.
Expand Child Care Assistance Program:
The Child Care Assistance program is available to families with an income less than 145% of the federal poverty level, which is $30,132 for a family of three in Iowa. This plan will expand the program to include another 7,300 children by raising the eligibility to 200% of the federal poverty level. This bill will also ease the transition for families off assistance as their income increases by expanding CCA Plus to include 1,585 more children.
Expand the Child Care & Dependent Care Tax Credit:
The Iowa Child and Dependent Care tax credit provides child care relief for Iowa families with children younger than 13 years or with disabled dependents. Currently, the credit is only available to families with an income of less than $45,000, and even for those who qualify, it still falls short of the actual cost of child care. Once a family makes $1 more than that $45,000 cap, they lose all child care assistance. This is called the “Child Care Cliff.” The bill will eliminate the cliff effect expanding the credit to more families, and it will phase out the credit as family’s incomes rise to $250,000. These changes would make the state more attractive to growing families by providing one of the most competitive Child and Dependent Care Tax Credits in the country.
Affordable and Accessible Child Care falls under the umbrella of good paying jobs for all Iowans, which is a priority of mine this session. Without these child care expansions and benefits, many Iowans cannot afford to go to work, simply because they can’t afford child care. This needs to end, and I believe these bills are the first steps.
State Rep. Kenan Judge, D-Waukee, represents House District 44, which includes Waukee, Clive, and West Des Moines in Dallas County. He can be reached at kenan.judge@legis.iowa.gov or at his cell, 515-250-2841.
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March 06, 2020 at 05:01PM
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Rep. Judge: Working together for child care - Des Moines Register
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