Indiana's new child care laws take small bites out of the larger issue
For the more than 850,000 Indiana children who are infants through 9 years old, only 763 licensed child care centers exist to take care of them when their parents cannot. Because of this, a CNBC study ranked Indiana almost at the bottom for quality of life, with the worst access to child care in the country.
At the beginning of the 2025 legislative session, Indiana Senate Democrats prioritized child care in their agenda, writing that they hoped to fully fund the Child Care Development Fund (CCDF), a child care subsidy for low-income families. But with the session ending April 24, their goal did not come to fruition in the supermajority Republican General Assembly.
A 2024 study by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce found that over half of Hoosier parents miss work or class because they cannot find child care. Absenteeism and employee turnover caused by this struggle creates an estimated $3.05 billion in losses for Hoosier employers each year.
Vanessa Green Sinders, president and CEO of the Indiana Chamber, told TheStatehouseFile.com in January that child care desserts like Indiana deter potential workers from coming to the state.
'We are such a great state to do business in, and we have so much economic development going on, … but that enthusiasm and that economic development is going to take more workforce,' Sinders said.
The Indiana General Assembly did not allot funding in the state budget to give Hoosiers universal, affordable child care through the CCDF, On My Way Pre-K or any other program. Instead, lawmakers wrote piecemeal legislation that addressed small parts of the larger problem.
— House Bill 1253 was signed into law by Gov. Mike Braun on May 1.
During a House meeting late in the legislative session, which ended April 24, bill author Rep. Dave Heine, R-Fort Wayne, said the Senate amended the bill to no longer require children who receive child care at a school to be a child of an employee. The Senate also changed the bill to allow multi-site child care centers, like a YMCA, to be able to operate under one license.
'It really will make it easier for them to expand but also, importantly, maintain the ability of the state to, you know, inspect and hold accountable those individual sites without jeopardizing the functioning of the entire enterprise,' Sam Snideman, vice president of government relations for United Way of Central Indiana, told TheStatehouseFile.com.
The most important Senate amendment, in Heine's opinion, was the addition of language that allows in-home child care centers to continue operation as class two structures as long as they are licensed in that category before July 1.
'This is very important language that was added because right now, we have 43 child care facilities providing child care to approximately 800 children that could be at risk of closing down if we did not add this language,' Heine said in the House meeting.
— Senate Bill 463, also signed by Braun May 1, would give a tax credit to employers who offer near or onsite child care to their employees.
Snideman said adding this option would make employers who opt into the tax credit more competitive in Indiana's job market because employees with kids might choose to work there for child care.
The new law will also expand the Micro-Facility Pilot Program, a project that allows existing child care centers to open small, non-residential ones that serve three to 30 children.
Sinders said the Indiana Chamber supported SB 463 and HB 1253 because they attempt to make child care more affordable and accessible in Indiana.
— House Bill 1248, signed into law April 10, sets aside CCDF funds for foster families who receive last-minute placements.
'We don't want to disadvantage those folks who are doing, you know, really important work or, you know, quite honestly disrupt the care for kids who are already facing tremendous challenges.' Snideman said.
— House Bill 1102, another child care bill that reached the governor's desk, receiving his signature April 3, will allow schools to enter contracts with religiously affiliated, nonprofit pre-K sites that offer child care. Snideman said this will create more potential providers for Hoosier families.
Snideman believes the reason Indiana has not invested fully in CDDF and other government-funded child care initiatives is because the issue is so broad. But both he and Sinders believe there's room for optimism.
'I think about it from a positive perspective,' Sinders said. 'The legislature is willing to continue to work on this issue and continue to try to make progress. … Every bite at the apple helps get you to the solution.'
Snideman is even more confident about the possibility of universal child care in Indiana's future.
'We are committed to expanding opportunities for Hoosiers in this space,' he said, 'which means we will be committed to this long, incremental process of us getting to a place where eventually, you know, every family in our state who wants and needs to send their kids to pre-K or to child care will have that opportunity.
This piece is from TheStatehouseFile.com as part of the Statehouse Reporting Project, a collaborative effort by collegiate journalism programs operating in statehouses across the country.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
31 minutes ago
- New York Post
Trump admin has ‘lot of good candidates' to replace Fed Chair Jerome Powell: Bessent
The Trump administration will focus on finding a replacement for Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell this fall, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC on Thursday, adding that officials had 'a lot of good candidates.' Bessent said it was up to the Fed to decide interest rates, although he added that if the central bank did not cut interest rates soon, any potential rate cut in September could be higher. With the unemployment rate low and inflation above their 2% target, Fed officials have been reluctant to cut interest rates from the current 4.25% to 4.5% range until it is clear that the Trump administration's tariff plans won't drive up prices. 3 Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said if the central bank did not cut interest rates soon, any potential rate cut in September could be higher. REUTERS President Trump has railed against Powell, a fellow Republican whom he appointed during his first time in office, and again urged him to resign. The president cannot fire Powell over a policy dispute. Trump administration officials argue that a tax bill that passed in Congress will boost private sector investment and strengthen the US economy, insisting that while tariff increases could result in a one-time bump in prices, they should not drive up inflation over the longer term. 'If they want to make a mistake here and not cut, that's fine,' Bessent told CNBC, insisting that tariffs imposed by Trump since taking office in January had not fueled inflation 'thus far.' 'What we've seen so far is that tariff, tariffs haven't hurt. The dog that didn't bark was that tariffs are going to hurt the economy, they're going to hurt markets,' Bessent said, citing a rapid market recovery after a 15% decline in April. The selloff came after Trump announced higher than expected tariffs against most US trading partners on April 2. Based on previous Fed models, he said, the central bank would have already cut interest rates that are 'very high real rates.' Holding off raised the chance that the Fed would need to cut interest rates by more later, said Bessent, who has been named a contender for the Fed chair role. 3 President Trump has railed against Powell, a fellow Republican whom he appointed during his first time in office, and again urged him to resign. AP Two jobs? Asked if one could head both Treasury and the Fed at the same time, Bessent said that hadn't been done since the 1930s, but did not explicitly rule out such a solution. Bessent said he was happy in his current job. The Federal Reserve Act explicitly says 'The members of the Board shall devote their entire time to the business of the Board,' which appears to rule out the possibility of Bessent doing two jobs at once. Trump recently named Secretary of State Marco Rubio to serve as his national security adviser, making him the first person to hold both roles since Henry Kissinger in the 1970s. 3 White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday holds a handwritten note by Trump to Powell. JIM LO SCALZO/EPA/Shutterstock Bessent said the administration will work on nominating a Fed chair to succeed Powell in the fall. 'We've been busy. The president's been doing peace deals, trade deals, tax deals, and we are landing the plane on all of those. So we're going to have more bandwidth after Labor Day,' he said.
CNBC
31 minutes ago
- CNBC
Trump megabill gives the oil industry everything it wants and ends key support for solar and wind
President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act ends long-standing federal support for solar and wind power, while creating a friendly environment for oil, gas and coal production. The House of Representatives passed Trump's megabill Friday ahead of a White House-imposed deadline, after the Senate narrowly approved the controversial legislation Tuesday. Trump has made his priorities on energy production clear. The U.S. will rely on oil, gas, coal and nuclear to meet its growing energy needs, the president said last weekend, bashing wind and solar power. "I don't want windmills destroying our place," Trump told Fox News in an interview that aired June 29. "I don't want these solar things where they go for miles and they cover up a half a mountain that are ugly as hell." The president's embrace of fossil fuels and hostility to renewable energy is reflected in his signature domestic policy law. It delivers most of the oil and gas sector's top priorities, according to the industry's lobby group, while ending tax credits that have played a crucial role in the growth of solar and wind power. The law opens up federal lands and waters to oil and gas drilling after the Biden administration enacted curbs, mandating 30 lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico over 15 years, more than 30 every year on lands across nine states and giving the industry access to Alaska. The law also slashes the royalties that producers pay the government for pumping oil and gas on federal lands, encouraging higher output. "This bill will be the most transformational legislation that we've seen in decades in terms of access to both federal lands and federal waters," Mike Sommers, president of the American Petroleum Institute, n industry lobbying group, told CNBC. "It includes almost all of our priorities." The law also spurs oil companies to use a carbon capture tax credit to produce more crude. The tax credit was designed to support nascent technology that captures carbon emissions and stores them underground. Under Trump's bill, producers would receive an increased tax benefit for injecting those emissions into wells to produce more oil. The law ends the hydrogen tax credit in 2028, later than previous versions of the bill. Chevron, Exxon and others are investing in projects to produce hydrogen fuel. "I have a number of members who plan on investing significantly in hydrogen and so the extension to the end of 2028 was a welcome priority that was fulfilled," Sommers said. The coal industry is also a big winner from the law, which mandates at least 4 million additional acres of federal land be made available for mining. The law also cuts the royalties that coal companies pay the government for mining on federal land, and allows the use of an advanced manufacturing tax credit for mining metallurgical coal used to make steel. The law phases out clean electricity investment and production tax credits for wind and solar that have played a crucial role in the growth of the renewable energy industry. The investment credit has been in place since 2005 and the production credit since 1992. The Inflation Reduction Act extended the life of both until at least 2032. Solar and wind farms that enter service after 2027 would no longer be eligible for the credits. There is an exception, however, for projects that start construction within 12 months of the bill becoming law. The phaseout is more gradual than previous versions of the legislation, which had a hard deadline of December 31, 2027. That gave all solar and wind projects just 2.5 years to come online in order to take advantage of the credits. "Despite limited improvements, this legislation undermines the very foundation of America's manufacturing comeback and global energy leadership," Abigail Ross Hopper, CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association, said in a statement. A related tax credit for using U.S.-made components in solar and wind farms ends for projects that enter service after 2027. A carveout allows projects that start construction within one year of the law's enactment to claim the credit. The credit was designed to spur demand at U.S. factories in order to break the nation's dependence on equipment from China. "If nothing changes, factories start to close," Michael Carr, executive director of the Solar Energy Manufacturers Association, told CNBC. "Factories that are on the drawing board that probably penciled [favorably] two weeks ago, maybe don't pencil now. We'll see investment slow down in the sector going forward."
Yahoo
36 minutes ago
- Yahoo
What's in Trump's big bill that passed Congress and will soon become law
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans muscled President Donald Trump's tax and spending cut bill through the House on Thursday, the final step necessary to get the bill to his desk by the GOP's self-imposed deadline of July 4th. At nearly 900 pages, the legislation is a sprawling collection of tax breaks, spending cuts and other Republican priorities, including new money for national defense and deportations. Democrats united against the legislation, but were powerless to stop it as long as Republicans stayed united. The Senate passed the bill, with Vice President JD Vance casting the tiebreaking vote. The House passed an earlier iteration of the bill in May with just one vote to spare. It passed the final version 218-214. Here's the latest on what's in the bill. Tax cuts are the priority Republicans say the bill is crucial because there would be a massive tax increase after December when tax breaks from Trump's first term expire. The legislation contains about $4.5 trillion in tax cuts. The existing tax rates and brackets would become permanent under the bill, solidifying the tax cuts approved in Trump's first term. It temporarily would add new tax deductions on tip, overtime and auto loans. There's also a $6,000 deduction for older adults who earn no more than $75,000 a year, a nod to his pledge to end taxes on Social Security benefits. It would boost the $2,000 child tax credit to $2,200. Millions of families at lower income levels would not get the full credit. A cap on state and local deductions, called SALT, would quadruple to $40,000 for five years. It's a provision important to New York and other high tax states, though the House wanted it to last for 10 years. There are scores of business-related tax cuts, including allowing businesses to immediately write off 100% of the cost of equipment and research. Proponents say this will boost economic growth. The wealthiest households would see a $12,000 increase from the legislation, and the bill would cost the poorest people $1,600 a year, mainly due to reductions in Medicaid and food aid, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office analysis of the House's version. Money for deportations, a border wall and the Golden Dome The bill would provide some $350 billion for Trump's border and national security agenda, including for the U.S.-Mexico border wall and for 100,000 migrant detention facility beds, as he aims to fulfill his promise of the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history. Money would go for hiring 10,000 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, with $10,000 signing bonuses and a surge of Border Patrol officers, as well. The goal is to deport some 1 million people per year. To help pay for it, immigrants would face various new fees, including when seeking asylum protections. For the Pentagon, the bill would provide billions for ship building, munitions systems, and quality of life measures for servicemen and women, as well as $25 billion for the development of the Golden Dome missile defense system. The Defense Department would have $1 billion for border security. How to pay for it? Cuts to Medicaid and other programs To help partly offset the lost tax revenue and new spending, Republicans aim to cut back on Medicaid and food assistance for people below the poverty line . Republicans argue they are trying to rightsize the safety net programs for the population they were initially designed to serve, mainly pregnant women, the disabled and children, and root out what they describe as waste, fraud and abuse. The package includes new 80-hour-a-month work requirements for many adults receiving Medicaid and food stamps, including older people up to age 65. Parents of children 14 and older would have to meet the program's work requirements. There's also a proposed new $35 co-payment that can be charged to patients using Medicaid services. More than 71 million people rely on Medicaid, which expanded under Obama's Affordable Care Act, and 40 million use the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Most already work, according to analysts. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that 11.8 million more Americans would become uninsured by 2034 if the bill became law and 3 million more would not qualify for food stamps, also known as SNAP benefits. Republicans are looking to have states pick up some of the cost for SNAP benefits. Currently, the federal government funds all benefit costs. Under the bill, states beginning in 2028 will be required to contribute a set percentage of those costs if their payment error rate exceeds 6%. Payment errors include both underpayments and overpayments. But the Senate bill temporarily delays the start date of that cost-sharing for states with the highest SNAP error rates. Alaska has the highest error rate in the nation at nearly 25%, according to Department of Agriculture data. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, had fought for the exception. She was a decisive vote in getting the bill through the Senate. A 'death sentence' for clean energy? Republicans are proposing to dramatically roll back tax breaks designed to boost clean energy projects fueled by renewable sources such as energy and wind. The tax breaks were a central component of President Joe Biden's 2022 landmark bill focused on addressing climate change and lowering health care costs. Democratic Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden went so far as to call the GOP provisions a 'death sentence for America's wind and solar industries and an inevitable hike in utility bills.' A tax break for people who buy new or used electric vehicles would expire on Sept. 30 of this year, instead of at the end of 2032 under current law. Meanwhile, a tax credit for the production of critical materials will be expanded to include metallurgical coal used in steelmaking. Trump savings accounts and so, so much more A number of extra provisions reflect other GOP priorities. The bill creates a new children's savings program, called Trump Accounts, with a potential $1,000 deposit from the Treasury. The Senate provided $40 million to establish Trump's long-sought 'National Garden of American Heroes.' There's a new excise tax on university endowments and a new tax on remittances, or transfers of money that people in the U.S. send abroad. The tax is equal to 1% of the transfer. A $200 tax on gun silencers and short-barreled rifles and shotguns was eliminated. One provision bars for one year Medicaid payments to family planning providers that provide abortions, namely Planned Parenthood. Another section expands the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, a hard-fought provision from GOP Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, for those impacted by nuclear development and testing. Billions would go for the Artemis moon mission and for the exploration of Mars, while $88 million is earmarked for a pandemic response accountability committee. Additionally, a provision would increase the nation's debt limit, by $5 trillion, to allow continued borrowing to pay already accrued bills. Last-minute changes The Senate overwhelmingly revolted against a proposal meant to deter states from regulating artificial intelligence. Republican governors across the country asked for the moratorium to be removed and the Senate voted to do so with a resounding 99-1 vote. A provision was thrown in at the final hours that will provide $10 billion annually to rural hospitals for five years, or $50 billion in total. The Senate bill had originally provided $25 billion for the program, but that number was upped to win over holdout GOP senators and a coalition of House Republicans warning that reduced Medicaid provider taxes would hurt rural hospitals. The amended bill also stripped out a new tax on wind and solar projects that use a certain percentage of components from China. What's the final cost? Altogether, the Congressional Budget Office projects that the bill would increase federal deficits over the next 10 years by nearly $3.3 trillion from 2025 to 2034. Or not, depending on how one does the math. Senate Republicans are proposing a unique strategy of not counting the existing tax breaks as a new cost because those breaks are already 'current policy.' Republican senators say the Senate Budget Committee chairman has the authority to set the baseline for the preferred approach. Under the alternative Senate GOP view, the bill would reduce deficits by almost half a trillion dollars over the coming decade, the CBO said. Democrats say this is 'magic math' that obscures the true costs of the tax breaks. Some nonpartisan groups worried about the country's fiscal trajectory are siding with Democrats in that regard. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget says Senate Republicans were employing an 'accounting gimmick that would make Enron executives blush.' ___ Kevin Freking And Lisa Mascaro, The Associated Press Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
