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2023 Legislative Session
Transmittal Update
We've reached the halfway point of the 2023 Legislative Session! Our elected officials are on break until March 9.
So far this session, we've provided written or in-person testimony on 19 House and Senate bills that impact Montana families and young children.
We've also engaged with individual representatives and senators on draft bills, provided research and conducted outreach regarding bill hearings, advocacy and more.
Zero to Five Montana hosted an amazing event, Have a Heart for Kids Day, in the Capitol Rotunda on Feb. 3. Families, legislators, members of the governor's staff along with partner organizations from across the state joined us in energizing conversations around policies prioritizing Montana families.
Throughout the first half of session we have helped coordinate and support parents, child care professionals, as well as organizational partners to engage in the legislative process. If this is an action you would like to take, please reach out! Our staff is ready and excited to work with you.
Early Childhood Legislation - A Look Ahead
As we look to the final half of the legislative session, we remain hopeful for critical investments in children and families. Here are a few bills we would like to highlight:
Early Education: HB 352 establishes targeted interventions, including home-based literacy and classroom-based options, to support third grade reading proficiency. It passed out of committee with bipartisan support. HB 287 is a bill to revise the Indian Language Preservation Program, and early learning is included. This bill continues into the senate.
Child Care: HB 648 increases eligibility for the Best Beginnings Scholarship program, and will have a hearing scheduled in House Human Services after transmittal. HB 187 and SB 376 are both housing-related bills that would help to support residential child care businesses. We’re keeping a close eye on LC 2627, a bill to create a child care subtrust.
Tax Credits: HB 268 is a child tax credit bill, and although this bill is tabled in appropriations, we are hopeful it will continue moving forward as it’s a priority bill of Governor Gianforte. We’re keeping a close eye on LC 3491, a bill that will provide a tax credit for the early childhood workforce.
Ahead of the 2023 legislative session we released a comprehensive policy agenda created with input from more than 40 Montana parents, providers, and policy makers, as well as business and community leaders. We are pleased to see many of our policy priorities reflected in bills coming forward from both parties, in both chambers.
Click below to read our 2023 Legislative Policy Agenda, and please reach out if you have any questions.
What to expect after transmittal?
- Bills that have been transmitted to the next chamber will be heard in committees. After hearings and executive action, non-tabled bills could start making their way to becoming laws.
- Revenue and appropriations bills will continue to move through committees as they approach their own introduction and transmittal deadline on March 28 and April 3, respectively.
- A few Saturdays have been added to the legislative calendar: March 11, March 18, March 25, and April 1.
- With just around 40+ legislative days left of session, bills and hearings will continue to move rapidly as we approach May.
Be sure to tune in to our Instagram on Fridays for the continuation of our weekly video recap of the week's legislative activity and check out our early childhoodzerotofive.org bill tracker.
Also - don't miss our weekly session update call on Thursdays at 12:30 p.m.!
(Register below.)
In the News
- In case you missed it: Zero to Five Montana is featured in this Montana PBS: Impact piece on child care
- Need for high quality child care on reservations - Char-Koosta News
- Colorado added thousands of child care slots in "day care deserts" in just two years - Colorado Sun
- And Child Care for All - NY Times opinion
- Day care dilemma: How parents navigate unlicensed and licensed child care systems across the country - WIBW (Kansas)
- Idaho legislature could revoke $43M in federal funding for childcare - Idaho News 6
In February, our Montana Child Care Business Connect technical assistance program has:
Delivered 56.5 hours of one-on-one consultation to 18 new and existing providers across the state.
These services have supported more than 132 jobs in the early education industry.
Through surveys, we're finding that 76% of survey respondents indicate they would work more hours for their employer if they had sufficient out-of-home, high quality care options.
To find out how Business Connect plays a role in helping providers and communities meet the needs of employers in 2023, contact our staff.
Welcome, Shelby!
MCCBC is staffed with local experts who have extensive knowledge of Montana, small business operations and early child care facilities across the state. We are pleased to introduce Shelby Whelan as our new Community Navigator!
Shelby is a people-person who is excited to continue her community development work as the Community Navigator for Montana Child Care Business Connect.
Shelby Whelan
After graduating from the University of Montana with a bachelor’s degree in psychology specializing in family and human development, Shelby worked in several roles within Zero to Five Butte-Silver Bow. In these positions, she helped develop and implement community-led projects related to children and families, facilitated a handful of early childhood coalitions and committees, received the 2022 Moving Mountains award, and became invested in the need for early childhood systems change in Montana.
Shelby will work with communities across the state to embolden and bolster community engagement involving child care business development. If your community is interested in expanding child care options, contact Shelby via email at shelbyw@zerotofive.org.
Montana Child Care Business Connect is now accepting applications for community cohorts for our community child care business capacity building program. The goal of this program is to engage communities to identify solutions to increase the supply of high quality affordable child care through mobilizing community members and empowering the creation of community-based solutions (preserve existing child care businesses and add new child care slots).
Community participants will work to evaluate, enhance, establish, and expand existing and/or new child care programs. Applications should be submitted by a team of invested community members. Teams are encouraged to include a cross-sector of individuals.
The first cohort will span six months, and we will only be accepting 10 groups this first round. Slots are limited so do not wait — CLICK TO DOWNLOAD APPLICATION
To apply, download the application, fill it out & save it, then email to shelbyw@zerotofive.org.
The application for this first cohort will close March 8, 2023. Award notices will be announced and MCCBC will gather awardees in-person this Spring.
Questions about this cohort? See our FAQ sheet here!
March 9: What are Different Types of Marketing?
March 23: What is Risk Management?
All Tiny Training webinars are held from 1:30 - 2:00 p.m.
Missed a Tiny Training webinar? Subscribe to our YouTube channel to access past recordings. Or visit childcarebusinessconnect.com.
Additional Offerings
March 6, 10 a.m. -12 p.m. - Policies and Practices for Child Care Business Management (Center Directors)
