PANHANDLE -- Representatives from local child care centers in the Nebraska Panhandle visited the Capitol last week to express their support of LB304: Child Care Assistance for Working Families. 

LB304 is a bill that will keep child care assistance within the reach of more Nebraska families. It would make current income eligibility requirements permanent, ensuring more working families can afford quality care and stay in the workforce. 

Among those who visited the Capitol were Angie Luppen, Director of Upside Down Childcare in Kimball, Denita Julius who runs an in-home child care facility in Chadron, and Grassroots and Advocacy Advisor Jodi-Renee Giron with First Five Nebraska. 

The group wanted to talk face-to-face with senators to share facts about the bill and to express the importance and impact the bill will have on families and communities. 

They spoke with senators on the Health and Human Services Committee who will be the ones to vote to either move the bill forward to the entire legislative assembly or drop the bill. They also spoke with other senators and legislative assistants so that if the bill moves forward, they will have an idea of the importance of it. 

In 2021, state lawmakers passed legislation that temporarily expanded child care subsidy access for families from 130% to 185% of the Federal Poverty Level. Should LB304 not pass, that eligibility will return to 130% FPL on July 1, 2026, making Nebraska the 48th state in the nation for access to child care assistance. 

For example, if a family of four makes $59,000 or less, then they would qualify for subsidy eligibility; however, should the threshold return to 130% FPL again, a family of 4 would need to make less than $42,000 to qualify for subsidy. 

“If we lower subsidy, there is a group of families in the workforce that sits in that gap who won't have access to child care, so that then changes the economic landscape of the state,” Giron said. “We forget that child care is often the backbone of the community. My colleague has a saying ‘everybody depends on somebody who depends on childcare.’ 

Julius said child care subsidy is crucial in supporting families so that they can stay in the workforce in order to provide for their families. 

“The tough thing right now is the state doesn’t have a lot of extra money, but something to keep in mind is if they don’t pass this bill and families have to choose between paying childcare and paying rent, they’re probably going to end up quitting their jobs, and they’re going to end up on all kinds of other assistance,” Julius said. “In the long run, it’s going to end up costing the state either the same or more money.” 

The bill not passing could mean that child care facilities will be forced to close as they lose families on subsidy. 

Luppen said more than 50% of the children at her facility receive subsidy, and someone she knows in Scottsbluff, who owns two facilities, has 85% of her children on subsidy. 

“If LB304 does not pass, we will lose more children – not because families do not value child care, but because parents in our area simply do not earn enough to afford it,” Luppen said. “This will not only impact families, but also other businesses in our town. Employees will face workforce shortages as parents reduce their hours or leave jobs entirely due to lack of affordable childcare. They will then be forced to rely more heavily on public assistance pogroms such as SNAP, housing assistance, ADC and Medicaid. This is not just a child care bill, this is a work force bill, a family stability bill, and a community sustainability bill.” 

They are urging the public to educate themselves on the bill, learn about the impact it will have, then reach out to senators to express their support. 

You can either write to your senator directly or submit a comment online by visiting the Nebraska Legislative page, click on the “Bills & Law” tab, search LB304, then click on the tab “Submit comments online.” 

“By listening to the hearing last year, there were a lot of things that would come up to the committee, and they only had 10 people write in, so it doesn’t look like much of a priority,” Julius said. “When looking at a bill, the senators do consider how much of the public showed their support for it.”