Enacted Legislation by Category
Child Care
At least 26 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico passed laws relating to child care: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. Many states were responding to the recent federal reauthorization of the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), which included new requirements for states related to health and safety, quality, equal access, and consumer choices and access to information.
Background Checks and Inspections: According to the CCDBG law, states are now required to conduct comprehensive background checks and conduct annual monitoring on all providers including license-exempt providers to ensure they are meeting health and safety standards. Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Tennessee all enacted legislation that addressed criminal background checks for child care personnel. Examples include Connecticut HB 5466 that amends existing law to require that within a family child care setting each household member who is 16 years of age or older must submit to state and national criminal history record checks, and a check of the state child abuse registry. Maine LD 1169 requires child care facilities and family child care providers to have a criminal background check for each child care staff member whose activities involve the care or supervision of children, and by each adult who has unsupervised access to children who are cared for by a child care facility or home; New Hampshire SB 453 requires a comprehensive criminal background check for individuals in registered and licensed child day care agencies and child care institutions; and Tennessee SB 2554 requires child care personnel to submit a fingerprint sample and go through a fingerprint-based background review of criminal history records, and juvenile records to be conducted and reviewed by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI).
Eligibility: Colorado SB 212 and Florida HB 7053 align state statutes with changes made to eligibility requirements for the federal child care and assistance program. Both bills contain language that addresses the 12-month eligibility redetermination requirement for a child care subsidy and requires child care transitional assistance for three months after a parent’s job loss or cessation of education or job training to enable the parent to obtain employment. Florida HB 7053 states that the state is responsible for coordination and dissemination of information on child care to the community through electronic means. It also requires the state to develop and implement strategies to increase the supply and improve the quality of child care and to establish pre-service and in-service training requirements for providers.
Other bills of note include Oklahoma’s SB 1554 which requires all directors of child care centers to have either a bachelor degree in early childhood education or child development, or a bachelor degree and at least three years of experience working with children from newborn to 12 years of age. Minnesota SB 3208 creates a legislative task force on child care to review the shortage of child care providers in the state, assess affordability issues for providers and parents, and identify areas that need to be addressed by the legislature.
The box allows you to conduct a full text search or use the dropdown menu option to select a state.
Early Childhood Workforce
Research indicates that high-quality early care and education programs can produce positive educational and social-emotional outcomes for young children. An essential component of a high-quality program is a highly qualified workforce. Three states—Missouri, Oklahoma and Virginia—passed bills this session addressing the education and training of the early childhood workforce, which can include employees in child care centers and child care homes as well as in prekindergarten programs.
Early Childhood Workforce Legislation
STATE
|
LEGISLATION
|
Missouri
|
HB 2002: Provides grants to higher education institutions for the Child Development Associate Certificate Program.
|
Oklahoma
|
SB 1554: Requires all directors of child care centers to have either a bachelor degree in early childhood education or child development, or a bachelor degree and at least three years of experience working with children from newborn to 12 years of age.
|
Virginia
|
HB 46: Establishes the School Readiness Committee to address the development and alignment of an effective professional development and credentialing system for the early childhood education workforce. The committee will consider articulation agreements between associate and baccalaureate degree programs, review of teacher licensure and education programs, including programs offered at comprehensive community colleges, alignment of existing professional development funding streams, and development of innovative approaches to increasing accessibility, availability, affordability of the workforce development system.
|
Prekindergarten and School Readiness
Numerous states and the District of Columbia passed legislation aimed at improving school readiness for children. Minnesota HB 2749 creates a universal voluntary prekindergarten program. New Hampshire (HB 1145) and New Jersey (SB 2081) lawmakers enacted bills addressing preschool suspension and expulsion policy. Tennessee SB 1899 requires that prekindergarten programs must be coordinated with instruction in the early elementary grades with the goal of ensuring that instruction builds upon prekindergarten classroom experiences. Virginia HB 47 establishes the Mixed-Delivery Preschool Services Fund and Grant Program to field-test innovative strategies and evidence-based practices that support a robust system of mixed-delivery preschool services.
Prekindergarten and School Readiness
State
|
LEGISLATION
|
California
|
AB 2799: Creates the Student Online Personal Information Protection Act. Prohibits the operator of an internet website, online service, online application, or mobile application that is designed, marketed and used for preschool or prekindergarten purposes, to knowingly engage in specified activities with respect to their site, service or application.
|
Florida
|
HB 7029: A child who has attained 4 years of age on or before Sept. 1 of the school year is eligible for the Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) Education Program and remains eligible until kindergarten entry. The Office of Early Learning may assign a kindergarten readiness rate for the Voluntary Prekindergarten Education Program. The kindergarten readiness rate measures how well a Voluntary Prekindergarten provider prepares 4-year-olds for kindergarten. Any private prekindergarten provider or public school that was on probation for the 2013-2014 program year will remain on probation until the provider or school meets the minimum rate adopted by the office.
|
Georgia
|
HB 750: Appropriates funding to provide training, technical assistance and oversight of a prekindergarten program operated by public and private providers throughout the state and to improve the quality of early learning and increase school readiness.
|
Indiana
|
HB 1330: Adds to the list of eligible providers for the prekindergarten pilot program any school that is accredited to provide qualified early education services by an accrediting agency approved by the Office of the Secretary.
|
Maryland
|
SB 369: Requires a local department of social services or health to notify a parent or guardian that their child may be eligible for publicly funded prekindergarten programs if the family has applied for economic services and has a child who will be 4 years old on Sept. 1 of the next academic year. The notice must include contact and enrollment information.
|
Minnesota
|
HB 2749 (Article 27, Sec. 6): Creates the universal voluntary prekindergarten program that includes, but is not limited to:
- Instruction through play-based learning.
- Use of a formative assessment aligned with early learning standards.
- At least 350 hours of instruction per school year.
- Staff with salaries comparable to those of local K-12 staff.
- Coordination of appropriate kindergarten transition with families, community-based prekindergarten programs, and school district kindergarten programs.
- Parent engagement strategies that are culturally and linguistically appropriate.
- Coordination with community-based services.
- High-quality professional development, training and coaching that is informed by a measure of adult-child interactions.
Includes rules for eligibility, mixed delivery of services, and qualification for high poverty areas.
|
New Hampshire
|
HB 1145: Establishes a committee to study suspensions and expulsions of children in licensed preschools and in kindergarten through grade three.
|
New Jersey
|
SB 2081: Limits expulsions and suspensions for students in preschool through second grade with certain exceptions. Requires early detection and prevention programs for behavioral issues in preschool through second grade.
|
Oklahoma
|
HB 2404: All children who are at least 4 years old, but not more than 5 years old, on or before Sept. 1, and who have not attended a public school kindergarten are entitled to attend half-day or full-day early childhood programs at any public school in the state where such programs are offered. The state Board of Education will develop rules that create exemptions relating to the maximum age at which a child may attend half-day or full-day early childhood programs.
|
Tennessee
|
SB 1899: Changes requirements for voluntary prekindergarten programs to ensure that the programs are high quality, meeting the criteria for a highly qualified program and meeting standards for kindergarten readiness.
Prekindergarten programs must:
- Coordinate with instruction in elementary schools with the goal of ensuring that elementary grade instruction builds upon prekindergarten classroom experiences.
- Engage parents and families of prekindergarten students throughout the year.
- Deliver relevant and meaningful professional development to voluntary prekindergarten teachers.
Requires approved prekindergarten programs to utilize the prekindergarten/kindergarten growth portfolio model approved by the Board of Education in the evaluation of prekindergarten and kindergarten teachers.
The state must approve a kindergarten entry screening tool that will be administered to all students entering kindergarten to provide educators with baseline information about where their students are when the students enter kindergarten and to provide usable data concerning how well students have been prepared in their preschool experience.
|
Utah
|
SB 101: Expands access to high quality school readiness programs.
Requires the Department of Workforce Services to determine eligibility for an Intergenerational Poverty School Readiness Scholarship.
Creates the Student Access to High Quality School Readiness Programs Act which establishes a grant program to expand access to high quality school readiness programs for eligible students.
Allows the State Board of Education to administer a home-based technology school readiness program for eligible students;
Requires training to early childhood teachers through scholarships and consulting services to assist individuals to complete a Child Development Associate Credential.
Requires an independent evaluator to conduct an ongoing evaluation of the effectiveness of high quality school readiness programs. Provides an appropriation to carry out the terms of this bill.
|
Virginia
|
HB 47: Establishes the Mixed-Delivery Preschool Services Fund and Grant Program for the purpose of awarding grants on a competitive basis to urban, suburban, and rural community applicants to field-test innovative strategies and evidence-based practices that support a robust system of mixed-delivery preschool services in the Commonwealth.
|
Early Childhood Governance and Systems
Lawmakers in four states passed legislation to establish task forces or committees to address specific early childhood issues ranging from school readiness, to child care, to early childhood development, to systems coordination with health care organizations. Bills of note include Minnesota’s legislation (SB 3208) that created a task force to review the shortage of child care in state along with other issues that impact affordability and quality and Virginia HB 46 establishes a school readiness committee to address alignment of their professional development system as well as articulation agreements between associate and baccalaureate programs with the intention to increase accessibility and affordability of the workforce development system.
Governors in Alabama, Idaho and Michigan signed early childhood related executive orders.
Early Childhood Governance and Systems
STATE
|
LEGISLATION
|
Minnesota
|
SB 3208: Creates a legislative task force on child care to review the shortage of child care providers in the state, assess affordability issues for providers and parents, and identifies areas that need to be addressed by the legislature. Duties may include a review of the current pre-service and in-service training requirements for family child care providers and child care center staff, the availability of training and review the time it takes for the department to provide Child Care Assistance Program reimbursement to providers among other things.
|
Tennessee |
SB 2172: Local Education Agencies and schools are authorized and encouraged to form community consortiums with a variety of community partners to establish communities of schools with an integrated focus on academics, health and social services, youth and community development and community engagement that will lead to improved student learning, stronger families and healthier communities. |
Virginia
|
HB 46: Establishes the School Readiness Committee to address the development and alignment of an effective professional development and credentialing system for the early childhood education workforce. The committee will consider articulation agreements between associate and baccalaureate degree programs, review of teacher licensure and education programs, including programs offered at comprehensive community colleges, alignment of existing professional development funding streams and development of innovative approaches to increasing accessibility, availability, affordability of the workforce development system.
SJR 88: Directs the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission to study specific early childhood development programs, prenatal to age five, in order for the General Assembly to determine the best strategy for future early childhood development investments.
|
Several Executive Orders
Executive Orders
STATE
|
LEGISLATION
|
Alabama
|
EO 16: Establishes the State Every Student Succeeds Act Implementation Committee. Includes an early childhood subcommittee.
EO 17: Establishes the Alabama Children's Cabinet to advise the Governor on issues related to Alabama's children.
|
Idaho
|
EO 1: Establishes the Early Childhood Coordinating Council.
|
Michigan |
EO 18: Creates the PreK-12 Literacy Commission. |
Multi-Generational / Early Childhood Services
Legislation included in this category can cover a myriad of early childhood related policies and programs. During the 2016 session Connecticut passed legislation to address the implementation of a two-generation strategy to improve outcomes for children and families, and Delaware passed legislation related to the administering of medical marijuana oil.
Multi-Generational / Early Childhood Services
STATE
|
LEGISLATION
|
Connecticut
|
SB 5069: Establishes a two-generational school readiness and workforce development pilot program to foster family economic self-sufficiency in low-income households by delivering academic and job readiness support services that include early learning, adult education, child care, housing, job training, transportation, mental health services and financial literacy.
|
Delaware
|
SB 181: Allows designated caregivers to possess and administer medical marijuana oil for minor qualifying patients on school buses and on the grounds of the preschool, primary, or secondary school in which the minor qualifying patient is enrolled.
|
Early Childhood Data Strategies
Over the last decade, states have been developing coordinated state early care and education data systems to help legislators understand and improve the quality of early childhood programs. Five states passed early childhood data bills during the 2016 legislative session. California AB 2799 created a Student Online Personal Information Protected Act to protect student data and limit use of pupil data. Iowa SB 2324 provided an appropriation to develop an integrated data system for various family health and early childhood programs. Washington HB 1541 requires the Department of Early Learning and Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to create a community information and involvement plan to inform home-based, tribal, and family early learning providers of the early achievers program.
Early Childhood Data Strategies
STATE
|
LEGISLATION
|
California
|
AB 1712: Authorizes the Superintendent of Public Instruction to enter into and execute local contractual agreements with any public or private entity or agency for the delivery of child care and development services and allows these contractors to maintain records electronically, and allows the contractors to use a digital signature.
AB 2799: Creates the Student Online Personal Information Protection Act. Prohibits the operator of an internet website, online service, online application, or mobile application that is designed, marketed and used for preschool or prekindergarten purposes, to knowingly engage in specified activities such as engaging in targeted advertising, to amass a student profile or sell or disclose student information with respect to their site, service, or application. The bill also requires an operator to implement and maintain reasonable security procedures and practices.
|
Iowa
|
SB 2324: Appropriates $500,000 for the development of an integrated data system for maternal health, child health, oral health, family planning, the maternal, infant, and early childhood home visiting program, the healthy opportunities for parents to experience success program, the school-based dental sealant program and the First Five program.
|
Maryland
|
HB 657 (SB 794): Allows the administration of prekindergarten and kindergarten assessments. Requires that statewide assessments be limited to a representative sample of students from within each local school system, and allows for the evaluation of certain skills, knowledge and development.
|
Missouri
|
SB 607: Requires the Department of Social Services to procure and enter into a competitively bid contract with a contractor to provide verification of initial and ongoing eligibility data for assistance under the supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP), temporary assistance for needy families (TANF) program, child care assistance program and MO HealthNet program. The contractor will conduct quarterly eligibility data matches using the name, date of birth, address and Social Security number of each recipient and on a monthly basis a check for any program participants who have died, moved out of state, or have been incarcerated longer than 90 days. The contractor, upon completing an eligibility data verification, will notify the department of the results.
Establishes a Joint Committee on Public Assistance. The purpose of the committee is for: (1) Studying, monitoring and reviewing the efficacy of the public assistance programs within the state. (2) Determining the level and adequacy of resources needed to continue and improve public assistance programs within the state. (3) Developing recommendations to the general assembly on the public assistance programs within the state and on promoting independence from safety net programs among participants as appropriate. Information collected will be used to project enrollment growth, budgetary matters, trends in childhood poverty and hunger.
|
Washington
|
HB 1541: Adds the Department of Social and Health Services to the list of departments working with the education data center to develop data-sharing and research agreements. Requires the Department of Early Learning, in collaboration with the office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, to create a community information and involvement plan to inform home-based, tribal and family early learning providers of the early achievers program.
|
Home Visiting and Parenting Education
Research points to the value of supporting good parenting during children’s early years. High-quality home visiting programs have been shown to improve outcomes for children and families, particularly those that face added challenges, such as teen or single parenthood, maternal depression and lack of social and financial supports. Over the last several years states have introduced legislation or provided funding to support home visiting programs. Notable is Rhode Island HB 7220 which establishes the Rhode Island Family Home Visiting Act that requires development of a statewide home visiting system.
Home Visiting and Parenting Education
STATE
|
LEGISLATION
|
Iowa |
SB 2299: Replaces home visiting programs with evidence-based family support programs for funding priorities for the Early Childhood Iowa Initiative. |
New Mexico
|
SB 6: Appropriates $1.5 million from the general fund to the Children, Youth and Families department for expenditure in fiscal year 2017 and subsequent fiscal years to support home visiting services for the prevention of child abuse.
|
Rhode Island
|
HB 7220: Establishes the Rhode Island Family Home Visiting Act. Requires the Department of Health to coordinate the system of early childhood home visiting services, implement a statewide home visiting system that uses evidence-based models proven to improve child and family outcomes, and implement a system to identify and refer families before the child is born or as early after the birth of a child as possible. Requires a state home visiting report to be made available electronically.
|
Appropriations and Financing
Lawmakers appropriated state and federal funds for existing programs ranging from child care, early literacy, state prekindergarten programs, home visiting and others. Illinois SB 2324 targets funding to programs for children ages birth to three. Nebraska’s legislation (LB 889) creates the School Readiness Tax Credit that benefits early education providers.
This report does not report on all appropriations bills. However, it does highlight those that contain substantive policy language or focus on a specific program model. NCSL will publish a summary of FY 2016-17 expenditures on early childhood programs including child care, prekindergarten, home visiting, support for infants and toddlers, and other early childhood services. The report is due out at the end of March 2017.
Appropriations and Financing
STATE
|
LEGISLATION
|
Georgia
|
HB 750: Appropriates funding to provide training, technical assistance and oversight of a prekindergarten program operated by public and private providers throughout the state and to improve the quality of early learning and increase school readiness.
|
Iowa
|
SB 2324: Appropriates $500,000 in funding for the development of an integrated data system for maternal health, child health, oral health, family planning, the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program, the Healthy Opportunities for Parents to Experience Success Program, the school-based dental sealant program and the First Five Program.
|
Illinois
|
SB 238: Beginning in fiscal year 2016, at least 25 percent of any additional Early Childhood Education Block Grant funding over and above the previous fiscal year's allocation will be used to fund programs for children ages birth to three. Once the percentage of Early Childhood Education Block Grant funding allocated to programs for children ages birth to three reaches 20 percent of the overall Early Childhood Education Block Grant allocation for a full fiscal year, thereafter in subsequent fiscal years the percentage of Early Childhood Education Block Grant funding allocated to programs for children ages birth to 3 each fiscal year will remain at least 20 percent of the overall Block Grant allocation.
|
Mississippi
|
HB 1787: Authorizes the Board of Supervisors of Tunica County to contribute funds to the Tunica Head Start Center to operate and maintain a comprehensive early childhood development program. Allows the funds to be used for promoting school readiness including: influencing early learning through planned and spontaneous instruction, implementing learning structures that produce growth in literacy and language, early math and science concepts, and social and emotional development. Provides parental and family support in housing stability, continued education, and financial security.
|
Nebraska
|
LB 889: Creates the School Readiness Tax Credit. Allows certain early care and education providers to receive a refundable credit, and allows certain early care and education programs to receive a non-refundable credit. Eligibility for the tax credit applies to early care and education staff who are employed, for at least six months, at an eligible program and who are listed in the Nebraska Early Childhood Professional Record System. Eligible early care and education programs are defined as programs that participate in Step Up to Quality, the state's quality rating and improvement system.
LA 889: Appropriates funds to carry out the provisions of the School Readiness Tax Credit Act (LB 889).
|
New Mexico
|
SB 6: Appropriates $1,500,000 from the general fund to the Children, Youth and Families department for expenditure in fiscal year 2017 and subsequent fiscal years to support home visiting services for the prevention of child abuse.
|
Oklahoma
|
SB 1605: Amends the date from Jan. 1, 2017 to Jan. 1, 2016, for an allowable credit against the tax for eligible expenses incurred by entities primarily engaged in the business of providing child care services. No credit otherwise authorized may be claimed for any event, transaction, investment, expenditure or other act occurring on or after Jan. 1, 2016, for which the credit would otherwise be allowable.
|
This report was prepared using StateNet, a legislative tracking database, to perform bill searches and analysis. Summaries provided in this document and in the 50-state, online searchable database are provided by StateNet and updated and revised by NCSL. This report is intended to provide an overview of significant enacted legislation in each state. It does not represent a comprehensive list of enacted bills and does not include all early care and education legislative enactments.
This document does not contain bills with technical changes or all state budget appropriations bills. Appropriation bills are included when the bill includes policy language or funding for a specific type of program. Please note that the total number of enacted bills does not add up to what is listed here due to bills that address multiple topics and bills that are not included here.

LexisNexis Terms and Conditions
Additional Resources