Licensure limbo
House lawmakers have tabled an effort to introduce a new licensure system for childcare providers in Vermont, saying that too many questions remain unanswered.
S.206, a bill that the Senate passed in March, would have introduced a rigorous, tiered system for licensing individual childcare staff. Many roles in the field would have seen higher minimum training requirements, along with new licensure fees and oversight structures.
In a meeting of the House Human Services Committee last week, Rep. Theresa Wood, D-Waterbury, who chairs the committee, said she planned to leave the bill “on the wall” for the rest of the session, rather than putting it to a formal vote. She and other lawmakers have said they will continue work on the proposed licensure reforms, though this year’s end of the biennium will mean a new bill must be introduced.
“We need to be absolutely sure that this is the right way to go,” she told her colleagues.
Advocates say formally recognizing individuals for their qualifications would improve the quality of service, and ultimately strengthen a childcare workforce that’s both scarce and under prepared. Critics argue the move may worsen existing recruitment issues and impose new costs on providers and families.
Vermont already imposes a set of rules for childcare certification through the Department for Children and Families — but licenses are awarded to entire programs rather than individual people, often with more relaxed minimum requirements for staff qualifications. Since 2023’s landmark Act 76 directed more than $100 million in annual public funding toward childcare tuition subsidies for families, advocates say Vermont’s industry has added more than 100 new programs, 1,700 new care slots and 400 new jobs. But providers across the state have told VTDigger that hiring qualified staff is one of their biggest challenges each year.
Wood said in an interview Thursday she’s still worried about “unintended consequences” of raising the floor for licensure, which could deter home-based childcare providers from opening or worsen staffing shortages in centers across the state. Meanwhile, the labor costs associated with hiring better-qualified staff might eventually place a greater burden on families, even though compensation isn’t directly addressed in the bill, she said.
Wood is also hesitant to authorize new state staff positions to oversee the changes unless absolutely necessary. Such roles would require additional investment, and the licensure fees that would eventually offset those costs would be levied on the childcare workers themselves, who are in general low-earning.
Erin Roche, who leads First Children’s Finance Vermont, a nonprofit focused on the business side of childcare, said she appreciated lawmakers’ thoroughness on the prospect of licensure.
“It’s a big step,” she said in an interview, “We want to get it right.”
But for Roche, licensure reform remains an urgent priority, both to professionalize and reinforce staffing, and to hold individuals in the industry more directly accountable.
“Early educators have great responsibility, whether we call them a profession or not,” she said.
Sen. Ginny Lyons, D-Chittenden Southeast, the bill’s sponsor, expressed regret Thursday that lawmakers had not finished their work on the reforms this session. Nonetheless, she said, there were “some really basic underlying considerations” to hash out before such significant changes are implemented.
“We worked really hard on that bill,” she said of her Health and Welfare Committee. “But we won’t lose our enthusiasm for it.”
Wood said lawmakers will also continue to engage with childcare professionals over the summer to get more input on reforms the state might make.
“We want to do everything that we can to assure the safety of our children — that they’re getting the highest quality early education,” she said Thursday. “We just need to be careful about how we do that.”
In the know
A bill prompted by the 2023 death of a young Rutland City police officer became law this week with a sign-off from Gov. Phil Scott.
The legislation, S.89, expands access to state benefits for survivors of first responders killed in the line of duty. An $80,000 payment will now be available, starting in July, for survivors of certified police officers as well as some state Department of Corrections employees.
Sen. Tanya Vyhovsky, P/D-Chittenden Central, suggested calling the legislation “Jessica’s Law” when she introduced it last year. That was in honor of Jessica Ebbighausen, the 19-year-old Rutland officer struck head-on during a police pursuit by a Salisbury man who has since been charged with murder.
An internal affairs investigation later found that other officers involved in the July 2023 incident committed several policy violations and could have prevented Ebbighausen’s death.
— Shaun Robinson
On a voice vote that was far from unanimous, the House on Thursday refused to agree to the Senate’s changes to a bill that senators used as a vehicle to formally repeal 2023’s Clean Heat Standard. The bill, H.740, is now set to head to a conference committee.
The bulk of H.740 would direct the Agency of Natural Resources to collect data from fuel dealers about the types of fuel they sell and where they sell it.
— Shaun Robinson
On the move
Both the House and Senate have passed a bill that would create a new regulatory framework for large data centers in Vermont, should any of those facilities get built.
Senators made a number of changes to the bill, H.727, in recent weeks, and the House approved those changes Wednesday. Among them: a proposal to charge data center companies an annual fee based on how much electricity they use, which power companies would then dole out for projects that reduce fossil fuel usage in the area around a data center, such as EV chargers.
The bill will now go to Gov. Scott for his consideration.
— Shaun Robinson
Lawmakers on Thursday voted to send Gov. Scott another bill, S.198, that would make a number of changes to the state’s laws on tobacco and tobacco substitutes such as flavored nicotine vapes. The Senate agreed to the House’s version of the legislation Thursday.
Among its proposals, the bill would eliminate fines for minors who are caught with tobacco products and would boost fines for retailers that sell tobacco to kids.
— Shaun Robinson
On the trail
With House Education Committee chair Rep. Peter Conlon, D-Cornwall, leaving the Legislature, his seat in the Addison-2 district is up for grabs.
Tanya Byker, a Middlebury College economics professor, is running as a Democrat, the Addison Independent reported.
— Ethan Weinstein
Clarification: An earlier version of this newsletter mischaracterized the type of projects that could be funded by an annual fee charged to data center companies in H.727. The fee would support projects that reduce fossil fuel usage.
