JBC votes to remove funding for childcare capital-grant program, leaves statute in place to accept donations

The Joint Budget Committee voted to eliminate funding for the capital grant portion of the childcare facility development program created by House Bill 24-1237 while leaving the statutory language in place so the program can accept gifts, grants and donations if they appear.

Andrea Ewell, JBC staff, told members the original bill anticipated larger capital grants but the enacted appropriation was much smaller than intended; DOLA has received $500,000 so far and has used that amount to stand up the toolkit and technical-assistance cohorts but lacks funds for capital grants. "They have received $500,000 so far," Ewell said, and staff recommended setting the appropriation to $0 and repealing the statutory program if the General Assembly will not fund the capital grant element.

Members debated whether to leave the program in statute to allow donations to pay for administration and whether eliminating funding would also remove the staff FTE administering the program. Representative Brown noted the statute allows gifts, grants and donations and asked whether DOLA had received any such contributions; one member said they had discussed potential gifts but no specific entity was identified. The committee adopted a compromise: leave the program in statute with no General Fund appropriation and not run legislation to repeal it, while authorizing staff to include a one-time balancing transfer into the transfer bill where appropriate. The motion passed with no objections and was recorded as five-zero.

Committee members asked staff to clarify how any incoming donations would be administered if the FTE is unfunded and how existing awardees could roll forward funds for final spending.

Next steps include drafting transfer language for a one-time balancing transfer and specifying roll-forward authority where needed for current awardees to spend appropriated funds in the next fiscal year.