Minn. committee adopts camera requirement tied to maltreatment findings, rejects amendment shifting large operating funds to child-care scholarships

The House Children and Families Finance and Policy Committee on its final hearing adopted an amendment that requires closed‑circuit video cameras in licensed child‑care centers that are required to post a maltreatment investigation memorandum, and approved the DE1 package as amended before re‑referring House File 2436 to the Committee on Ways and Means.

The committee adopted the camera amendment, A25, by voice vote after nonpartisan staff outlined technical changes and fiscal adjustments. A separate amendment, A9 — offered by Representative Nadeau to reduce the department’s operational adjustment and redirect money into early‑learning scholarships — failed on a roll call, 6‑7.

The A25 amendment narrows the bill’s original camera mandate in several ways: it excludes outdoor space not located on the licensed center’s property; it requires cameras to be closed‑circuit; it applies the camera requirement only to centers that must post a maltreatment investigation memorandum; and it grandfathered centers with qualifying cameras already installed before July 1, 2025. The amendment also changes when parents may request footage, limiting requests to instances supported by a physician’s documentation of a child’s physical injury. Nonpartisan staff said the amendment also authorizes technology grants of up to $4,000 per licensed center to help cover camera and training costs.

“We have reached an agreed upon amendment,” Chair West said in presenting A25, adding, “my end goal would still be to put a camera across every center, but the legislature is the art of the possible.”

Nonpartisan staff…