A bill requesting funding for a child care study in South Dakota has died on the Senate floor. But that study will still take place thanks to support from the Department of Social Services.
Senate Bill 125 would have required the Department of Social Services to conduct a statewide study on child care. The bill would also allocate state funds for the study.
Republican Sen. Tim Reed is the prime sponsor of the bill. He said the state’s estimated losses are over $300 million dollars a year due to lack of affordable and accessible child care.
"A South Dakota family pays on average eight percent of their income for each child. Unaffordable care along with a lack of supplies keeping those who want to work out of the workforce. At the same time, child care providers are facing financial and operational challenges. They are closing when we need that increased capacity,” said Reed.
Reed said the bill inspired cooperation with DSS, leading to the bill getting tabled. Tabling a bill effectively kills it.
“I am happy to report that we spent several weeks here working with the Department of Social Services because they do some of these reports and we came to a good understanding of other information that they could add to this report and request and how the process was going to happen," said Reed. "We’ve come to an agreement on this.”
He said by working closely with DSS they were able to come to an agreement without needing to allocate money toward the project. Even with the bill tabled, DSS will move forward with the study.
“The information will be used to identify innovative child care stabilization strategies to help parents remain or join the South Dakota workforce. This would include identifying pathways with potential partners to provide quality affordable child care,” said Reed.
The Senate tabled the bill in a 29 to four vote.
