Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
House advances childcare worker scholarships but rejects broader income-eligibility expansion
Summary
The Montana House moved House Bill 456, authorizing Best Beginnings scholarships for childcare workers, to appropriations after a 61-38 second-reading vote. A companion measure to expand family eligibility, House Bill 457, failed on second reading, 44-55.
The Montana House on Friday advanced a measure to expand Best Beginnings childcare scholarships for people who work in licensed childcare settings but rejected a linked bill that would have widened family income eligibility.
House Bill 456, sponsored by Representative Katie Carlin, passed second reading in the House Committee of the Whole by a 61-38 vote and will be re-referred to the Appropriations Committee for consideration of its $5.5 million-per-year general fund appropriation.
The scholarship bill is intended to improve retention and recruitment of childcare workers by allowing workers’ children to receive scholarships that reduce families’ out-of-pocket costs. Representative Carlin told the committee the Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS) provided data used to model the $5.5 million figure and that resource-and-referral agencies…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
