BOISE, ID – The Idaho Senate on Thursday rejected a bill that would’ve significantly lowered the income eligibility threshold for families to qualify for a child care subsidy program.
Senate Bill 1419 called to shift the federally-funded Idaho Child Care Program from state agency rules to state law, implement a range of fraud-prevention measures and limit eligibility for the program. But the bill failed in the Senate on an 11-23 vote.
The opposition was an unusual coalition of more than a dozen Republican lawmakers, some of whom worried the state shouldn’t even be involved in helping low-income families with child care, and the Senate’s six Democrats.
The co-chair of the Legislature’s powerful budget committee, Sen. Scott Grow, a Republican from Eagle, said the program should be ended instead of being laid out in state law.
“This makes the state dependent on a highly indebted federal government for child care. This is unsustainable,” Grow told senators. “The contention is that the Idaho Child Care Program will help our children and grandchildren. What it really does is foot them with a future bill.”
Sen. Kevin Cook, an Idaho Falls Republican who also serves on the budget committee, pointed out the irony of the debate. Just moments earlier, the Senate passed a budget bill, Senate Bill 1435, that would set aside $64 million for the program next fiscal year, which starts in July.
“The money is already spent. That vote has already been taken,” Cook told senators.
What the bill would’ve done
The bill that would set policy for the Idaho Child Care Program, Senate Bill 1419, proposed a lengthy slate of changes. It came on the heels of concerns about fraud in Idaho’s program after viral allegations in Minnesota prompted the Trump administration to crack down on child care funds.
For a family of four, the bill would lower the income cutoff for the Idaho Child Care Program to $44,550 each year, down from the current cutoff of $57,750 a year. In percentage rates, the change would be from 175% of the federal poverty level down to 135% of the level. The bill would effectively kick people off the program, and make it harder to qualify, advocates with the nonprofit group Idaho Voices for Children say.
The bill would set the program to end in two years — in July 2028 — unless the Legislature extends it.
And it would shore up fraud-prevention measures.
The Idaho Attorney General’s Office would have jurisdiction to prosecute fraud cases in the program. And the Department of Health and Welfare could penalize families or providers that intentionally break program rules, including barring them from being part of the program temporarily or permanently, depending on how many violations occur.
In opening the debate, bill sponsor Sen. Julie VanOrden, a Republican from Pingree, said she wasn’t sure she agreed with the program. But after hearing a wave of opposition to the bill, she tried to plead with lawmakers about the struggles parents face.
“That is my priority — is a mother and a father and a family taking care of their loved ones. If one of them has to work, great. Then the other one would take care of them. … But the reality in our world is — that doesn’t happen for everybody,” she said. “And if we can give them a hand up in getting to where they need to be, then maybe it’s our responsibility to be able to do that for a little bit.”
State health officials froze grant funds to expand child care providers after lawmakers’ request, records show
Since the allegations in Minnesota, Idaho’s program has been thrust into the controversy by state lawmakers. In December, two Republican lawmakers, including Rep. Josh Tanner, the co-chair of the Legislature’s powerful budget committee, asked the state to freeze funds in the program meant to expand child care provider access.
Public records obtained by the Idaho Capital Sun show that the letter appeared to prompt state health officials to indefinitely pause their plans to post applications for the grant opportunities, which were set to open in January.
In August 2024, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare paused new enrollments for parents to receive subsidies through the program for months as the agency anticipated the program would face a budget shortfall. At the time, state officials said the projected shortfall was caused by rising costs of child care and expanded program eligibility, the Idaho Capital Sun previously reported.
But child care providers said the budget cuts compounded financial troubles that providers and parents face.
This story first appeared on Idaho Capital Sun.
