Fair Start for Kids Act signed into law in Washington state

Expanding accessible, affordable child care and early childhood development programs.

Photo: Gov. Inslee signs SB 5237. Source: Twitter GovInslee

Great news for Washington state parents. Child care is now more accessible and affordable. May 7, 2021 Governor Jay Inslee signed SB 5237 the Fair Start for Kids Act.

“This legislation will help build a better child care system for workers, families, and the whole state of Washington,” said Gov. Inslee.

The bill was sponsored by Democratic Senators Claire Wilson, Manka Dhingra, Mona Das, Jeannie Darneille, Karen Keiser, Patty Kuderer, Liz Lovelett, T'wina Nobles, Rebecca Saldaña, a group of women who were joined by male, Senator Democrats Andy Billig, Steve Conway, Bob Hasegawa, Sam Hunt, Marko Liias, Joe Nguyen, Jamie Pedersen, and Jesse Salomon.

The Fair Start for Kids Act is meant to ease the child care crisis in Washington state by:

  • Expanding eligibility for assistance programs and reducing copays

  • Building new child care facilities and expanding existing ones

  • Providing support services, such as mental health consultations, dual language support, more

  • Increasing subsidy rates for child care businesses and recruiting new ones

  • Expanding access for child care providers to health insurance

  • Providing professional development resources for child care providers

Proclamation

Inslee added a fantastic proclamation, claiming May 7 as Child Care Providers Day.

The rest of the story - read the rest of the story on the governor's Medium page.

More info

Details on the new program can be found on Child Care Aware.

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