AN ACT Relating to eliminating child care licensing fees;
Summary
SB 5130 would eliminate child care licensing fees in Washington by amending the state’s child care licensing statutes so the Department of Children, Youth, and Families may not charge fees for obtaining or continuing a child care license. The bill also preserves the department’s authority to waive fees in situations where doing so would be in the public interest or financially advantageous to the state, but the core effect of the measure is to remove licensing fees as a routine cost for child care providers.
In addition to the fee change, the bill makes conforming amendments to the licensing process for child care agencies. It retains the existing framework for applications, license continuations, annual compliance declarations, background check submissions, and monitoring visits, while clarifying that the department can still establish licensing fees by rule only to the extent consistent with the new prohibition on charging child care licensing fees. The bill therefore changes the funding mechanism for child care regulation without otherwise dismantling the licensing system.
Impact
The bill would directly affect Washington’s child care licensing statutes by removing the department’s ability to charge licensing fees to child care providers. This would reduce operating costs for licensed child care centers and family child care homes, while shifting the financial burden of licensing administration away from providers and potentially onto the state. The bill leaves intact the department’s oversight, inspection, background check, and enforcement authority, so child care licensing would continue under the same regulatory structure minus the fee requirement.
Sentiment
The available legislative history suggests strong support for the bill, at least at the committee level. The Senate Committee on Early Learning & K-12 Education voted 9-0 to do pass the measure, indicating broad agreement among committee members. No committee transcript excerpts were provided, so there is no recorded floor or hearing debate in the supplied materials, but the unanimous committee vote points to a generally favorable reception.
Contention
No specific objections are documented in the provided materials, and there were no recorded dissenting votes in committee. The main policy issue implicit in the bill is fiscal: child care providers would benefit from lower costs, while the state would lose fee revenue used to support licensing administration. Any contention would likely center on whether the state should absorb those costs or whether eliminating fees could affect the department’s ability to fund oversight, but that concern is not explicitly reflected in the supplied discussion or vote history.