Panel hears repeal push for HB2 childcare expansion; advocates warn of workforce impacts
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Summary
Representative Lehi Turcotte introduced HB 15 15 to repeal expansion provisions added to HB2 related to childcare workforce recruitment and retention grants. Speaker and witnesses debated the program's scope, federal TANF funding uncertainty, and estimates of program costs and economic benefits. Committee closed the hearing and scheduled Division 3 follow-up.
Representative Lehi Turcotte introduced House Bill 15 15 to the Finance Committee, saying the measure would repeal the HB2 expansions that would have broadened eligibility and added workforce retention and recruitment grants. "Taxpayers are already funding childcare centers $40,000,000 a year," Turcotte said, describing the HB2 additions as an expansion of entitlement‑style spending and expressing concern about presumptive eligibility and broad income thresholds.
Nut graf: Turcotte argued the HB2 expansions—he said they would make up to 85% of median income eligible and create presumptive eligibility—could increase costs by hundreds of millions of dollars if broadly used. Witnesses including Jackie Cowell (Executive Director, Early Learning New Hampshire) and David Trumbull countered that the workforce grants were enacted to stabilize and expand childcare supply and that research links childcare shortages to large economic losses.
Key issues covered
- Scope and funding: Turcotte said the existing scholarship program (about $40 million) would remain; HB 15 15 would repeal only the HB2 expansion provisions. He said HB2 also proposed $7.5 million per year in grants contingent on federal TANF approval and that federal guidance on that use was unresolved.
- Employer-directed workforce grants: Testimony from Early Learning New Hampshire explained that the grants are awarded to employers and may be used in flexible ways (sign-on bonuses, tuition help, health insurance contributions, student loan repayment and other allowable uses) to recruit and retain staff.
- Economic evidence and public testimony: David Trumbull and other witnesses cited studies estimating hundreds of millions in lost earnings and business revenue tied to childcare shortages and argued a modest state investment in workforce incentives would pay returns in tax revenue and labor force participation.
- Process and outstanding questions: Members asked whether the expanded eligibility and tuition assistance language in HB2 would, in practice, expand the pool of children served or only support employer retention. Several members asked DHHS and fiscal staff to clarify whether TANF funds are available for the proposed uses.
Outcome and next steps
The committee closed the hearing without a vote. Members agreed to schedule HB 15 15 with Division 3 for further review; they requested additional materials, explicit DHHS clarifications about federal TANF approval, and more precise fiscal estimates before any committee action.
