COLUMBUS, Ohio – The availability of child care for Ohio parents to work outside the home is one of the largest issues looming in the General Assembly, a panel of lawmakers from both political parties said, but how to increase accessibility isn’t easily agreed-upon.
Lawmakers from each chamber and party discussed child care Thursday at the Impact Ohio post-election political conference in Columbus. The conference was hosted by the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, which has been lobbying for solutions to a lack of child care options that it says has become a statewide workforce issue.
Ohio Senate Republicans in 2023 tried to eliminate paperwork for child care centers that qualify for government child care subsidies, by eliminating a program called Step Up to Quality, said Sen. Rob McColley, a Northwest Ohio Republican who is in line to be elected Senate president for the two-year session that begins in January…