Ohio lawmakers are attempting to clear the way for military families to be able to access child care, amid overall struggles with access to child care for families across the state and nation.

Ohio Senate Bill 218 has been working its way through the Senate via the chamber’s Armed Services, Veterans Affairs, and Public Safety Committee.

The most recent hearing on the bill occurred last week with no action, but the bill remains active in the committee.

The bill seeks to exempt child care facilities licensed through the U.S. Department of Defense from what the bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Kristina Roegner, R-Hudson, calls duplicative state license requirements.

She said the collaboration with the federal department on this bill has highlighted hardships that military families face, and which unique struggles, particularly in the area of child care.

“Many of these hardships stem from the fact that, on average, military families usually move every two or three years, making it difficult for spouses to secure employment and for families to access quality child care,” Roegner said when introducing the bill in October of last year.

According to the federal agency, only 814 child care providers were certified through the department as of June 2024, though that number was up from September 2023, when only 793 providers were federally certified.

In order to be certified through the Department of War, providers are limited to eight children between the ages of six and 12, or six children total if two are under the age of two.

The department requires background checks for those older than 18 in the facilities, a minimum amount of liability insurance, 40 hours of orientation, and 24 hours of training per year, along with unannounced monthly home visits, and yearly unannounced safety inspections.

Ohio’s licensure requirements from the Department of Children and Youth are similar, with background checks for those over 18, and liability insurance minimums required.

The state requires a “self-paced” online training, and a certificate of occupancy as well.

There are multiple types of child care facilities in Ohio, with different requirements for each.

Type A child care only allows seven to 12 children at a time, unless at least four of the children are younger than two. If so, four to 12 children are allowed.

In Type B family child care homes, one to six children are allowed, with no more than three under the age of two. Type B facilities are not required to hold a license from the Department of Children and Youth unless they provide state-funded Publicly Funded Child Care.

The new bill would add family child care providers certified by any branch of the United States Armed Forces, including the U.S. Coast Guard, to a list of providers exempt from state child care licensure requirements.

The bill has the support of the Department of Defense, with a member of the agency praising the bill in a previous committee hearing.

Shane Preston, department liaison for the Great Lakes region, said the agency “recognizes the importance of providing these families with access to quality, affordable child development programs,” and pledged to meet increased demand.

The increase in demand in child care for military families mirrors a general need to improve access and affordability for child care, along with boosting recruitment and retention of child care workers, who are often paid less than a living wage.

The demand comes as funding in the state and nationwide faces considerable gaps, which child care advocates say will only add to an already crisis-level issue.

S.B. 218 is one of several bills in the Ohio General Assembly attempting to address the child care issues at the legislative level.

The need to help child care facilities respond to demand includes military spouses who also act as leaders of child care facilities themselves, to provide a service and support their household.

“As military spouses relocate every to to three years, with their families, due to housing availability, they may end up living off base at their new duty station and unable to continue with their business until they obtain a state license,” Preston told the committee.

“Many of our families rely on two incomes, and spousal unemployment is among the leading causes of decreased mission readiness and retention for the department.”

Roegner said similar legislation has passed in 21 other states, with pending legislation not only working through the Ohio legislature, but also those in California, Texas, Illinois, Florida, North Carolina, Delaware, and New York.