Texas restaurants, businesses reveal child care reform demands for upcoming session
Private employers across the state are calling on lawmakers to mend existing gaps in the child care sector that are preventing businesses and the state economy from reaching their full potential at an annual price tag of about $9.4 billion.
A task force of almost 70 businesses and organizations announced the specific actions they want to be taken in the upcoming Texas legislative session, which focus on creating partnership models, harnessing relevant data and simplifying the existing array of regulations.
The Employers for Childcare Task Force — founded by the Texas Restaurant Association, Early Matters Texas, Texas Association of Business and Texas 2036 — revealed its legislative agenda on Wednesday, Nov. 13, in a virtual press conference about a year after its formation in late 2023.
The task force was created in response to the lack of affordable, accessible and quality child care that limits — or fully prevents — some parents’ ability to participate in the workforce. The resulting turnover and understaffing seen by employers has prompted them to take action toward building a better economic foundation for the state. A recent U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation study showed Texas is estimated to be losing out on roughly $9.4 billion annually because of child care woes.
State lawmakers in both chambers have been assigned to study the issues impacting the child care sector, and proposed solutions, ahead of the legislative session that begins Jan. 14. House Speaker Dade Phelan last month announced eight work groups for House members to voluntarily join, one of which is focused on child care accessibility and affordability.
The group laid out the following six policy recommendations:
Pass legislation to help employers, no matter their size, help their employees find affordable, quality child care through partnerships.
Require Texas Workforce Commission and Texas Health and Human Services Commission to collaboratively streamline child care regulations.
Improve data sharing across agencies to better inform state officials on child care opportunities and outcomes.
Maintain existing sunset scheduling dates for the Texas Workforce Commission and Texas Health and Human Services Commission so the legislature can evaluate the proper regulatory structure for child care in a timely manner.
Strengthen child care workforce by helping eligible workers obtain child care subsidies for themselves.
Remove costly local regulation barriers (such as zoning) for home-based child care operations, which are already regulated extensively by the state.
The fourth recommendation refers to a non-legislative goal to keep the state’s “performance audit” of these agencies on track, according to Kelsey Erickson Streufert of the Texas Restaurant Association. It’s an opportunity for child care stakeholders to take a deep dive into how those agencies are regulating child care and whether their current roles are still appropriate or could be improved upon.
“If their current schedule stays in place, then as soon as this current legislative session ends, they will start that process. So the sunset staff will come in, they’ll look at everything these agencies are doing, they’ll write a report with their findings. Then there’s a panel of lawmakers from the House and the Senate and two public members called the sunset commission. They’ll review that report, they’ll make modifications, they’ll make additions. All those findings will then go to the full Texas Legislature in the following (90th) session,” Erickson Streufert said.
During the virtual press conference, Texas Restaurant Association CEO and President Emily Knight noted how child care is a significant issue for the food service industry, which is the largest private sector employer in the state, with more than 1.4 million employees.
“I think what I have learned through the process, especially with the work of this task force, is that there is not a silver bullet. This is incredibly complex (and) multi-layered,” Knight said. “These priorities are going to show the momentum and movement that we need, but this is going to be a multi-session effort.”
Wendy Uptain, executive director of Early Matters Texas, said the needs of employees became more pronounced after the COVID-19 pandemic, prompting employers to evolve their benefits and workplace expectations to families looking for a work-life balance. Child care hits some industries harder than others, especially “desk-less workers” in health care, construction, retail, manufacturing and hospitality, she added.
“We’ve got about 60% of our non-working parents saying that child care is the reason, their top reason, for why they’re not working. Our incoming Gen Z workers, about 30% of them are rating child care benefits even above health care and health insurance,” Uptain said.
Kyle Citrano, operator of George’s restaurants in Waco, spoke during the virtual press conference on examples of how his business has been impacted by obstacles his roughly 500 employees encounter with child care. This includes daily call-ins of workers notifying managers they’re unable to come into work because of lack of child care. Another obstacle is workers making themselves available for more lucrative shifts, such as Friday nights, while most child care operations are only open during traditional business hours.
“Finding consistent babysitters or family to help watch children can be subject to the same call-in issues we experience in the mornings. You lose your sitter, you lose your shift, you lose your money. Developing child care for non-traditional hours would tremendously help mothers in hospitality,” Citrano said.
Employers for Childcare revealed its legislative agenda less than 24 hours before the Texas Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Economic Development meets to discuss a related interim charge: enhancing workforce productivity by increasing child care access and availability.
On Sept. 10, the House Committee on International Relations and Economic Development heard testimony about the current early childhood education landscape, which included sounding alarms of a lengthy state waiting list for subsidies for families who qualify for financial assistance, in addition to state and local budget constraints.
