Rep. Laurel Libby, R-Auburn, opposed LD 1955 and said it didn’t address the structural problems she sees and hears about from constituents. She said the state doesn’t have enough child care, but bureaucracy makes it hard to maintain and open a facility.
“We need to make sure we minimize those barriers so parents can access child care,” she said in an interview. “When more is available, prices will go down.”
Libby said the state needs to “think outside the box” by doing things like encouraging employer-sponsored child care and making it easier for smaller neighborhood family centers to open.
“We need to get the government out of the way so we can have more child care at a lower cost in our state,” she said.