Committee adopts substitutes advancing National Guard child-care assistance, renames member benefits fund

The Michigan House Appropriations Committee on a committee call adopted H-2 substitutes to Senate Bill 540 and Senate Bill 542, advancing a package that would create a National Guard Child Care Assistance program and fold the existing tuition-assistance fund into a broader member benefits fund.

The bills are budget-implementation measures tied to House Bill 4962 and are intended to expand member benefits administered through the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (DMVA). Matt Black, chief of staff to Senator Hertel, summarized the measures as “budget implementation bills” that create the childcare assistance program and expand the scope of the tuition assistance program. He said the new childcare assistance “must be provided for up to 12 hours a day, for weekends and annual…