A BILL for an Act to provide for a legislative management study regarding child care infrastructure.
Summary
SB 2389 would have directed the Legislative Management to study North Dakota’s child care infrastructure during the 2025-26 interim. The study was designed to assess the current system’s strengths, challenges, and opportunities for better public policy, accountability, and investment in child care. It specifically required review of county-by-county data on child care availability and affordability, as well as an examination of public funding streams that support child care facilities, including child care assistance reimbursement levels, county and facility penetration rates, grant programs, and enhanced reimbursements for workers with specialized training.
The bill also would have directed a review of child care licensing and registration policies and procedures to identify ways to simplify and improve them. The Legislative Management would then have been required to report findings, recommendations, and any needed legislation to the 70th Legislative Assembly. Because the bill was a study measure rather than a direct regulatory change, its immediate effect would have been to initiate a policy review process rather than alter child care law on its own.
Impact
SB 2389 would not have directly changed child care licensing, funding, or assistance statutes, but it would have created a formal interim study that could lead to future legislation. Its practical impact would have been to place child care infrastructure, reimbursement policy, and licensing simplification under legislative review, with attention to county-level disparities and the use of public funds. The bill was defeated on the Senate floor, so no study was authorized and no statutory or administrative changes resulted from the measure.
Sentiment
The bill appears to have had limited support in the Senate, failing on second reading by a vote of 4-41 on February 17, 2025. That vote suggests the chamber was largely unsupportive of advancing the study proposal, even though the bill itself was framed as an informational and policy-development measure rather than a spending or regulatory mandate. No committee testimony is available in the provided record, so the public discussion reflected in the record is limited to the floor vote and the bill’s failure.
Contention
The main point of contention appears to have been whether the Legislature should devote interim resources to a study of child care infrastructure at all. Supporters likely viewed the measure as a way to gather data on access, affordability, reimbursement, and licensing barriers, while opponents may have seen it as unnecessary, duplicative, or not the best use of legislative time. Because there are no committee transcripts provided, the record does not identify specific arguments or named opponents, but the overwhelmingly negative vote indicates substantial resistance to the proposal.
AN ACT to provide for a legislative management study regarding child care provider licensing; to provide for a program evaluation regarding child care services; and to create a child care services licensing advisory committee.
AN ACT to provide for a legislative management study regarding child care provider licensing; to provide for a program evaluation regarding child care services; and to create a child care services licensing advisory committee.