Senate Health and Welfare advances bill letting child-care providers set staff-to-child ratios; opponents cite safety concerns

The Senate Health and Welfare Committee on Monday voted to send House Bill 243 to the Senate floor with a due-pass recommendation after more than three hours of testimony on whether Idaho should remove fixed child-to-staff ratios from statute and let licensed providers set and publish their own ratios.

Representative Rod Furness, District 31, told the committee HB 243 is intended to “help providers the Idaho way by reducing onerous regulations and helping parents and students find affordable daycare.” He said deregulation would expand the workforce and permit more in-home providers to operate: “This bill is about deregulation. It has ratios. It is set by the childcare. They are licensed. They have limits on those licenses,” Furness said.

Supporters argued the bill modernizes supervision language and shifts some numerical requirements out of code so providers, rather than the state, determine appropriate staffing levels and publish them for parents. Kate Oz of Kestrel West said one change moves the definition of “supervision” from administrative rule into statute and adds that for children 5 and younger a caregiver must be “within sight or normal hearing and near enough to render immediate assistance.” Oz said the bill “does not eliminate ratios” but asks facilities to establish a ratio “appropriate to ensure…