2023 Legislative Overview: Key themes focused on improving maternal health outcomes, alleviating financial pressures on parents and child care providers and strengthening availability and access to child care.
Category: Early Childhood Workforce
Historic Nebraska Child Care Tax Credit package signed into law
Governor Jim Pillen signed LB754 into law this week, an important piece of legislation that will help offset financial pressures on parents and child care providers and encourage private sector involvement in growing child care infrastructure. The bill includes...
Lawmakers score win for families, child care providers with passage of LB754
First Five Nebraska commends the members of the Nebraska Legislature who voted to pass LB754 (originally introduced as LB318), an important bill for working parents, child care providers and communities across the state. When signed into law by Governor Pillen, LB754...
First Five Nebraska leads impact study on child care subsidy eligibility changes
At First Five Nebraska, we value public policy that is grounded in research. It informs which policies we support. We stay apprised of research in the early childhood field to be a resource for policymakers in Nebraska. And we pursue research projects like The Bottom...
School Readiness Tax Credit would recognize, support child care providers
LB754, the Child Care Tax Credit Act (formerly LB318), is on Select File, the second of three rounds of debate in the Nebraska Legislature. It includes a provision to reinstate the School Readiness Tax Credit Act, which would provide tax credits for eligible child...
The ‘Iron Triangle’: Why child care programs struggle to break even
Given the high prices parents pay for child care, it is often assumed that child care programs must be very profitable. However, this is almost never the case. In fact, just to break even, a program must operate consistently within the constraints of what child care...
LB319 will help families, strengthen child care in Nebraska
Despite the critical need for child care, there are very few supports that make owning and operating a child care program a viable career for educators and entrepreneurs. High employee turnover, low profit margins and burdensome operating costs represent a serious...
WAGE$ Nebraska helps retain child care workers, boost quality of care
The quality of early care and education a child receives is directly linked to teacher quality and compensation. In Nebraska, many early educators earn less than $15/hour and would like the opportunity to build skills to improve the quality of their care. The Child...
LB318 helps preserve Nebraska’s workforce advantage
NOTE: LB318 has been amended into LB754 as AM906 Diane Temme Stinton is owner and CEO of TMCO based in Lincoln. She testified before the Nebraska Legislature’s Revenue Committee in support of LB318 on behalf of the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce, Lincoln Chamber of...
LB318 eases financial burden for parents, child care providers
UPDATE: LB318 has been incorporated into LB754 as AM906. Now more than ever, we know how heavily our state relies upon high-quality, affordable and accessible child care. Working parents depend upon it for the financial stability of their families. Employers depend...
First Five Nebraska’s 2023 legislative priorities
Bill introduction in the Nebraska Legislature has concluded, and state senators introduced 812 bills during this first session of the two-year biennium. Each bill will be referred to a committee and receive a public hearing, and then may be advanced for debate by the...
Sara Brady joins First Five Nebraska as Data Analyst
We welcome Dr. Sara Brady to First Five Nebraska as Data Analyst. She pivoted into policy research after 10 years in academia and research consulting. In her previous roles, Sara trained countless students in rigorous quantitative methods and data analysis and...