While things are quiet at the Capitol, I’m taking this opportunity to explain some bills I’ve previously worked on, since there was not enough time to go through each of them in depth during the busyness of session.
While things are quiet at the Capitol, I’m taking this opportunity to explain some bills I’ve previously worked on, since there was not enough time to go through each of them in depth during the busyness of session.
I drafted a bill for the 2021 legislative session in response to the COVID outbreak when many daycares were shut down. Research indicated that because daycares did not have children attending during the pandemic, they lost much of their funding and a number of them had to close their doors for good.
This was traumatic for parents in our House district as well as other districts around the state and across the nation. As parents or caretakers began returning to work, many found they had no one to watch their children. A large group of daycare and Head Start workers came to the Capitol and discussed this issue with me and others on the House Appropriations & Budget Committee to work for a solution.
Afterward, I scheduled meetings with the Oklahoma Child Care Association and other similar organizations. These groups spent a lot of time meeting with me and other legislators. As a result of these conversations, I drafted House Bill 1613 with a plan developed by Gus Blackwell from the Oklahoma Child Care Association to make sure child care facilities could stay open in another disruption like a pandemic.
I met with Justin Brown, the Director of DHS, as well as Samantha Galloway, his chief of staff, and presented the plan to establish a system by which daycares would be paid based on a combination of attendance and enrollment.
The plan would allow daycares to receive half of their normal appropriation for each child enrolled. The other half would be given as the child attended. If a child was absent due to them or a family member having COVID, the daycares would still have enough funding from enrollments to continue operating.
DHS Director Brown agreed this was a good option, and his staff worked on crunching the numbers to make this plan feasible. The agency actually found a way with existing funds to sufficiently provide for childcare facilities through this year. So, they asked me to hold off on running the bill.
HB 1613 is still on my desk, to be utilized if monies going forward are not available. This would ensure our childcare facilities could stay open and provide services for our children and families.
In future weekly updates, I will describe additional legislation I have authored that has benefited the people of House District 15. Currently I’m working on a bill that would make it easier for our judicial system to manage foster care placements and to provide safety for our foster children.
If you or someone you know would like to receive my updates via email every week, please email me so I can add you to my list. As always, you can contact me with any questions or concerns at (405) 557-7375 or Randy.Randleman@ OKHouse.gov.
Randy Randleman serves District 15 in the Oklahoma House of Representatives. His district includes parts of Haskell, LeFlore, McIntosh, Muskogee, Pittsburg and Sequoyah counties.
