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Committee Hears Support for Bill Allowing Temporary Licenses to Speed Child-care Expansions
Summary
A House committee heard testimony supporting House Bill 850, which would allow established child-care programs in good standing to receive temporary licenses while completing full licensure, aiming to reduce delays that can keep providers from opening new sites or transferring operations.
Representative Melissa Schmidt of District 141 told the House Committee on Professional Registration and Licensing that House Bill 850 would let existing child-care providers that meet safety and staffing requirements operate under a temporary license while they finish paperwork and inspections for a full license.
The bill, Schmidt said, is intended to shorten current licensing delays that she and witnesses said can take a year to 18 months and prevent proven programs from opening additional locations or transferring operations quickly. "House Bill 850 desires to bring to our attention the issue of delayed expansion of great existing childcare programs and offer a possible solution," Schmidt said.
Why it matters: Committee members and multiple witnesses said the state's shortage of child-care slots is a barrier to families and to the workforce. Schmidt cited a media report that 78 Missouri counties are described as "child-care deserts" and a business study estimating large economic losses tied to child-care shortages. Witnesses representing community health centers, the YMCA, Kids Win Missouri, Boys & Girls Clubs and private providers described recurring licensing delays that left providers unable to open on schedule.
What the bill would do: Under the plan outlined to the committee, temporary licenses would be available only to existing programs in good standing that complete key safety and staffing prerequisites before opening. Those prerequisites, as described in testimony, include passing state and local fire and sanitation inspections, completing background checks, and meeting staffing and training requirements such as CPR and first-aid certifications and 12 hours of annual continuing training. Schmidt said the committee would draft a House Committee substitute to define "good standing" and to clarify eligibility criteria.
Testimony and examples: Melissa Wehner, vice president of operations at Jordan Valley Community Health Center, described moving an existing program to a new site in 2023 and experiencing roughly a two-month delay before opening despite having passed fire inspections and being "in good standing." "We were still delayed almost 2 months in getting our program started in our new facility," Wehner told the committee, noting her center is licensed for 65 children and serves a mix of Medicaid and privately paying families.
Ken Hussey of the Missouri State Alliance of YMCAs said YMCAs across the state face similar hold-ups; he described an example in which 50 child-care slots tied to a school partnership were delayed for months. Robin Shelf of Kids Win Missouri and Scott Penman of the Missouri Alliance for Boys & Girls Clubs said they support the bill while stressing that safety standards must be maintained. David Jackson, a registered lobbyist for WonderSchool, said his organization has trained prospective in-home providers, with 18 opened and about 90 waiting in licensure.
Concerns and clarifications sought: Committee members asked how the bill would handle providers with past violations, whether temporary licensees could be revoked if safety issues arose, and whether change-of-ownership situations would qualify. Schmidt said the substitute will address different classifications of violations so that paperwork issues are treated differently from violations that place children at risk. On enforcement, she said the state would use the same closure and revocation processes that apply to currently licensed programs: "Same process as an existing program," she said.
Next steps: The sponsor said the committee will prepare a House Committee substitute to clarify definitions and eligibility, including explicit requirements for background checks, inspections and trainings, and to consider language covering transfers in ownership where the workforce and operation remain substantially unchanged. The committee also asked sponsors to circulate substitutes to members earlier in the week when possible.
No formal vote or committee action on the bill was recorded in the hearing transcript.
