Committee pushes DHS on child-care licensing modernization; lawmakers adopt amendments and press for timeline and provider protections

The Senate Health and Human Services Committee heard a status update on Minnesota’s child-care regulation modernization project and then considered related bills and amendments on March 26, 2025.

DHS presentation and draft changes: Larry Hausch of the Office of Inspector General (DHS) summarized draft 2 of revised licensing standards. He said the modernization project — created by 2021 legislation — has three parts: a risk‑based, tiered violation system; a key-indicator system to allow abbreviated inspections; and revised licensing standards. Draft 2 removed some prescriptive cleaning frequencies, rescinded a blanket ban on scents and aerosols in response to provider concerns, clarified language about pets and pest documentation, removed a requirement to test exposed soils for lead (citing cost and implementation impracticality), retained a radon-testing requirement while seeking flexibility on mitigation costs, and reduced specificity around fall-zone materials for family child care. The draft also proposed new family‑child‑care license classes (a B3 allowing up to 10 children with two adults, and a C3 allowing up to 18 with two adults, contingent on additional training) and a department-developed “child care basics” onboarding training for centers.

Stakeholder engagement and data: Hausch told the committee the department held 23 in-person listening sessions with roughly 950…