Public Comments

As a practicing Speech-Language Pathologist with a background in hearing sciences, I fully support this bill. Audiological services and hearing aid coverage should be standard in all medical insurances. Please support this bill to ensure West Virginia citizens can receive access to appropriate audiological care.

Covering the cost of child care for child care program employees is a workforce strategy.  Child care programs are struggling to recruit and retain staff, not because people don’t want to work with children, but because they cannot afford to. Offering child care as a guaranteed benefit makes these positions far more competitive with retail, hospitality, and other entry-level jobs. It becomes a tangible incentive that attracts qualified candidates. When child care classrooms close due to staffing shortages, working parents across every industry are impacted. Supporting child care staff ensures programs stay open, which keeps other sectors functioning. Investing in child care employees is an economic safeguard. If we want a stable child care system, we must first stabilize the workforce that makes it possible.

For businesses like ours, access to reliable child care is not a side issue — it is a workforce issue. One of the biggest challenges we face in securing and retaining employees is the lack of available, affordable child care in our area. We have had potential workers turn down jobs or reduce their hours simply because they could not find dependable care for their children.

Agriculture and farm operations depend on a steady, reliable workforce. During planting, harvest, market season, and special events, we need employees who can consistently show up and work scheduled hours. When child care falls through, parents are forced to miss work, leave early, or decline employment altogether. That impacts productivity, revenue, and ultimately the sustainability of small family farms like ours.

HB 4517 is a practical solution. By expanding the employer child care tax credit to include employer-sponsored child care services — not just on-site facilities — this bill makes it possible for rural and small businesses to participate. Most small farms and businesses cannot build and operate their own child care center, but we could partner with or financially support existing licensed providers if the tax structure makes that investment feasible.

This bill recognizes that child care is essential infrastructure for our workforce. When businesses are empowered to support child care solutions in their communities, employees are more stable, businesses are stronger, and rural economies benefit.

For these reasons, I respectfully and strongly urge passage of HB 4517.

I am very much in favor of this bill.  Not hearing is a terrible sense to lose.  Hearing aids are very expensive., especially for children who are just learning.   These have to changed a lot also due to growth.  How are people going to exist in a quiet world.  Please pass this bill

As an early learning center director, I believe this bill is critical to sustaining high-quality child care. The heart of our center is the educators who show up every day to make a meaningful difference in children’s lives. When those same employees struggle to afford care for their own children, it directly impacts retention, morale, and the stability families depend on. Supporting them by helping cover the cost of their children’s care is an investment in the workforce that makes quality early education possible. I strongly urge passage of this bill.

In rural West Virginia, child care is not just a family issue — it is an economic survival issue. Agriculture, small businesses, tourism, and seasonal industries depend on a reliable workforce. When child care programs cannot retain staff, they reduce capacity or close classrooms. When that happens, parents cannot show up for work — and local businesses feel it immediately.

Many child care employees work 20 hours or more per week caring for other people’s children, yet struggle to afford care for their own. In small rural communities, wages are modest and options are limited. Without support, these employees often leave the field for other industries that offer better financial stability. Every time we lose a child care worker, we risk losing child care slots — and in rural areas, there are rarely backup options.

For agriculture and seasonal businesses especially, timing matters. Planting, harvest, farmers markets, festivals, tourism seasons, and local events require dependable labor. If parents cannot secure reliable child care, farms struggle to find workers, small businesses reduce hours, and community events suffer. The ripple effect is real and immediate.

HB 4067 is a workforce stabilization bill. Allowing child care employees to access a subsidy regardless of household income recognizes that child care is essential infrastructure that supports every other industry. Investing in the people who care for our children ensures that rural communities can keep their workforce engaged, their businesses operating, and their economies growing.

In rural West Virginia, we cannot afford to lose more child care providers. Supporting the child care workforce supports agriculture, small businesses, and the families who keep our communities strong.

For these reasons, I respectfully and strongly urge passage of HB 4067.

As a former child care provider, I strongly urge support of West Virginia House Bill 5345.

I made the difficult decision to stop providing child care because the pay was inconsistent and unpredictable. Under the current system, providers are only reimbursed based on daily attendance. If a child missed days due to illness, vacation, medical appointments, weather, or other unavoidable reasons, my pay was reduced. Yet my expenses — staffing, food, utilities, supplies, insurance, and maintaining a safe learning environment — did not decrease when a child was absent.

This system places the financial burden on providers for circumstances completely outside of our control. No worker should have to experience unpredictable income because someone else is sick or on vacation. That level of income instability is not sustainable and drives qualified, caring professionals out of the child care field.

HB 5345 would correct this by basing subsidy payments on monthly enrollment rather than daily attendance. This commonsense change would provide stability for providers, encourage more individuals to remain in or return to the profession, and strengthen West Virginia’s child care system for working families.

Reliable child care is essential for our workforce and our economy. If we want providers to stay in business and families to have dependable care options, we must create a payment structure that reflects how child care actually operates.

For these reasons, I respectfully and strongly urge the Legislature to pass HB 5345.

• Please vote yes on HB 5345

I am both a mother and an executive director with 14 employees. Without good childcare, my employees have difficulty working full time. I support any funding to help with childcare which I consider an important part of our infrastructure.

I support this bill!

This is so important for the children and families that I serve as a center director. We need this funding to keep our quality programs!

I am a 19 year old soon to be mother working in childcare. I make 12$ an hour and work 36-40 hour weeks I can barely make ends meet as is. This bill would benefit so many people in so many ways! Some childcare can be up to 300$ a week! That is my whole paycheck! This bill would be so beneficial to so many.