Bill To Help Low-Income Hoosiers With Child Care Moves To Senate

INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana families struggling to make ends meet, even as their incomes rise, could get some extra help when it comes to one of the most burdensome expenses of raising children: childcare.

House Bill 1616, authored by Rep. Ed Clere, R-New Albany, unanimously passed the House 94-0 on Tuesday.

The bill seeks to help Hoosiers who risk losing their child care vouchers when their incomes rise just beyond the eligibility limit but not high enough to provide wiggle room to budget for the full cost of daycare.

Clere said the bill “is an opportunity to help some families climb into the middle class.”

Under the bill, families would remain eligible to participate in the child care program until their incomes exceed 250 percent of the federal income poverty level or 85 percent of the median state income – whichever is greater. For a family of three, that would be a maximum income of roughly $50,000.

Current law cuts off funding at 170 percent of the federal income poverty level, which is about $33,650 for the same size family.

Clere said the bill will protect families who are “working hard to do better” but “they end up doing worse.”

The bill moves to the Senate.

Aubrey Helms is the broadcast coordinator for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.