A state Senate panel unanimously advanced legislation to invest around $100 million into the child care industry as Colorado struggles through an unprecedented child care shortage.

If enacted, Senate Bill 213 would use $50 million of economic recovery and relief money and another possible $50 million in federal funds to pay for staffing, training and expansion of child care facilities. The Senate Health and Human Services Committee approved the bill on Monday, sending it to the chamber’s Appropriations Committee.

“The purpose is all about making sure we’re addressing some of the issues that have happened since COVID-19,” said bill sponsor Sen. Rhonda Fields, D-Aurora. “Many families spend a huge amount of money on child care and others are remaining out of the workforce in order to care for their children.”

In Colorado, an average family with two young children spends $28,600 – or 14% of their income – on child care annually, according to federal data. Single parents fare even worse, paying on average 49.5% of their income on infant child care at Colorado centers, according to a Child Care Aware of America report.

Some families can’t find child care at all. In Colorado, 51% of residents live in “child care deserts” where there are more than three times as many children as there are licensed child care slots, according to Mile High United Way.

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic closed around 7% of licensed child care centers in Colorado, providers only had the capacity to serve 62% of the state’s 246,000 kids under 6 whose parents both work, according to a report that cited 2019 figures. That meant a shortage of more than 90,000 child care slots statewide.

“Unfortunately, most of that desert area is in rural parts of the state where we don’t have the ability to have this type of child care,” said bill sponsor Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg, R-Sterling. “The importance of this bill is how do we take care of kids that may not be taken care of.”

The bill received bipartisan support and sponsorship largely due to a portion that would delegate $7.5 million to train informal child care providers – such as babysitters, nannies and family members – on the best practices for teaching, fostering emotional development, nutrition and first aid. Sonnenberg said this informal child care is most common in rural, Republican areas of Colorado. 

The bill would also put $19 million towards opening new child care centers and expanding capacity at existing licensed child care facilities. Another $10 million would create employer-based child care facilities for business owners to provide employees with on-site child care, and $15 million would fund an existing grant program to train and recruit child care staff.

The potential $50 million in federal funds would be used to implement the Child Care Sustainability Grant Program, offering licensed child care providers between $2,100 and $31,500 to spend on employee pay, benefits, training or hiring additional staff.

“In this session, this may be one of the most important bills that is before us,” said Sen. Sonya Jaquez Lewis, D-Longmont. “Child care is so needed all over the state, it’s hurting us everywhere.”

During Monday’s committee meeting, seven people testified in support of the bill and no one testified in opposition. Organizations backing the bill include Parent Possible, Mile High United Way, the Colorado Statewide Parent Coalition and Executives Partnering to Invest in Children.