Today, state Rep. Kelly Breen (D-Novi) joined Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the other members of the Governor’s Task Force on Child Care at a press conference to announce the introduction of a bipartisan package of bills to assist Michigan’s current child care facilities and providers while providing assistance for emerging child care providers.

 

“Finding high-quality, affordable child care has been an obstacle for many Michigan families for quite some time, and now due to the pandemic, families are struggling even more,” Breen said. “As a working mother of two young children, I understand personally how difficult it is to find reliable and safe child care options. Thanks to the forward-thinking and bipartisan collaboration of this task force, we are prepared to offer real solutions that will have a real positive impact on Michigan families.”

 

The Governor’s Task Force has proposed a bill package that aims to take on regulatory and organizational issues like:

 

  • Giving providers time to comply with new health and safety rules by allowing a 90-day grace period to implement.
  • Helping providers locate where families live and work by giving child care providers a safe path to locate in multi-use buildings.
  • Reducing the burden on providers by allowing their health and safety records to be shared with parents online.
  • Letting quality and caring providers thrive by cracking down on bad actors who try to game the system and get out of regulations.
  • Improving quality and access to quality infant-toddler care and allowing a contract model that covers the cost of care.
  • Helping expand and support family child care providers by creating Family Child Care Networks.
  • Allowing increased ratios for family and group homes that have a proven record of success.

 

Breen noted that the bills put forward by the task force would not be possible without the work of leaders on both sides of the aisle.

 

“I want to give my thanks and appreciation to Governor Whitmer for entrusting us with this important work on behalf of Michigan’s families,” said Breen. “I am very proud to have been able to collaborate with leaders like Reps. Jack O’Malley (R-Lake Ann), Ranjeev Puri (D-Canton), and Greg VanWoerkom (R-Norton Shores), who have brought their own invaluable bipartisan perspectives to this issue. We all agreed up front that our most important goal was to provide real solutions, and today we take our first legislative steps toward making those solutions a reality.”

 

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