Well.

Childcare is top of mind for one Western Kentucky lawmaker.

Research from the Kentucky Chamber says a stronger child care system could generate more than $1 billion in new wages and tax revenue for the state.

As our Emily Sisk reports, one Republican legislator says her sweeping bill would modernize the child care system.

You know, this bill probably should have been done 5 to 7 years ago, but we weren't to that point.

State Representative Samara Heffron of Litchfield says she believes the Kentucky General Assembly is now to the point of modernizing and restructuring its child care system after unsuccessful attempts to do so in past sessions.

In the 2024 budget session, there was no there is really no agreement of what we needed to do to fix child care in Kentucky.

Now, this is a national problem, but really, what we could do to help make this more affordable, accessible and create quality child care in Kentucky.

So the Kentucky Collaborative on Child Care was formed in 2024.

Founded by the Kentucky Chamber with the goal of assessing the state of child care and what future policies could be made.

This was a combination of far right, far left, in the middle, everywhere in between, of ways that we can help make child care better in the Commonwealth.

They've worked diligently for the last 18 months to come up with House Bill six.

Nothing went in the findings and recommendations that wasn't agreed upon by everybody.

And that's a lot of agreement for 40 people.

House Bill six.

And it's nearly 40 pages.

Looks for ways to slash red tape for childcare business owners and ensure education standards remain high.

The bill establishes the state's first child care micro Center program.

These are facilities that care for 4 to 24 children.

Heaven says they're ideal for areas where traditional facilities aren't viable.

The legislation also looks to modernize the early care and education rating system.

Right now, that system is known as the All Stars program.

It was established a decade ago and evaluates child care providers on things like classroom quality, family engagement, and more.

House Bill six also requires child care workers receive training to support children with special needs.

And House Joint Resolution 50 calls for an independent third party audit of all current child care regulations and policies.

Having further explained the establishment of child care micro centers, it's.

A specific type of licensure.

And actually Indiana does this.

What this would do is create allow Kentucky to create ten micro centers.

And so this would mean they're a little more flexible, in their licensure requirements.

We still have all the same regulations but allows for more innovation.

Child care micro centers would not be required to provide meals or transportation to enrolled children.

As another part of House Bill six, the cabinet for Health and Family Services would establish a database for any child care provider to register as a faith based program.

If you are a faith based organization, then you can share that.

And if families want a specific faith based denomination, they can go to that list and see what would be available for their family.

Heaven says child care is one of the greatest priorities of the House Majority Caucus.

But she says her legislation appeals to those on both sides of the aisle.

Whether it affects you or not, whether you have children or not, or whether your children are now aged out of child care.

It's an important issue for everybody in Kentucky, and I think it's a great bipartisan measure to make sure that we are helping families, whether you're in rural Kentucky or urban Kentucky.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm Emily Sisk.

Under House Bill six, the cabinet for Health and Family Services would begin accepting applications for child care.

Micro centers on July 1st, 2027.

No more than two micro centers would be allowed in a single county.