House Higher Education committee advances a package of workforce and higher-education bills, including childcare and tuition measures

The House Committee on Higher Education and Workforce Development advanced a set of bills on April 8, moving several measures to the floor or to joint Ways and Means with due-pass recommendations.

The committee approved work-session changes and passed amended versions of bills addressing early childhood workforce and childcare supports, expansion of workforce grant programs, degrees for adults in custody, tuition-flexibility for technical and regional universities and establishment or modification of multiple workforce-study and grant programs.

The session opened with work on House Bill 3,008, a childcare workforce bill. A staff summary said the dash-2 amendment directed $9,000,000 for recruitment and retention payments to child-care providers and $6,460,000 for child-care workforce training programs and removed a previously listed appropriation to United We Heal Training Trust. Representative Fragle moved the dash-2 amendment and moved the bill as amended; the motion carried.

Committee members revisited language in several bills that had prompted concerns about priority groups. Representative Young criticized provisions she said could make education less affordable, saying, "It's very, very concerning that we have some of the highest tuition rates in, in our country." Representative Wright described Oregon's childcare…