Lawmakers came into the special session aware of the state’s child care crisis. West Virginia needs more than 20,000 child care spots. Meanwhile, hundreds of providers have closed down this year — despite waitlists for families — due to financial strain and uncertain state funding.

Gov. Jim Justice put two child care focused bills on his special session call. He focused on affordability, and lawmakers approved his plan for a state level Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit.

Eligible West Virginia families, who already claim the federal child care tax credit, would on average receive around $250 through the state level credit, according to lawmakers. Most families are paying $600 to $700 a month for day care. 

The House of Delegates opted to punt on Justice’s other child care bill, which would have given $5 million in funds for a pilot program with an outside company to open five new day care centers and help connect providers with children who could fill spots. 

On Wednesday, after the special session concluded, Justice told reporters that the state should have put more money into child care. Justice said he included bills that he thought would be approved. 

“When we decide that child care is a real problem and it warrants absolute consideration and concern, then we’ll do something about it and we’ll do something about it in a profound way,” he said. “We didn’t do as much as I wanted to in regards to child care, but we did something.”

House Bill 229, which allocated surplus money for Justice’s pilot program idea, didn’t include the details on how it would be used. Lawmakers said the money would likely go to Wonderschool, a California-based company focused on child care. 

“Instead of pouring millions into an out-of-state program, let’s focus on tweaking these programs in West Virginia,” said Del. Wayne Clark, R-Jefferson. 

Several lawmakers noted that child care providers had already told lawmakers what they needed, including increased subsidies for day care centers that serve more than 15,000 low-income children in the state.

“Honestly, I don’t know who worked for this other than maybe a lobbyist,” said Del. Joey Garcia, D-Marion. “We have heard from the people on the ground that are running these businesses that there are certain things they need. I don’t see [how] giving $5 million to some recruitment agency or some app … how is that not money that’s just going down the drain?” 

At Garcia’s suggestion, the House voted 47-40 to table the bill indefinitely. The House and Senate adjourned sine die late Tuesday evening, concluding the special session. 

Justice said he had tried to put $20 million into child care but it got whittled down to a $5 million ask for his pilot program.

“Lobbyists were up there going crazy, trying to grab the cheese. The Legislature got tired of it, and said we’re done, we’re not going to do that,” he said.

The Senate signed off on the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit on Tuesday, sending the bill to the governor’s desk on the final day of the special session. It would allow eligible families to claim a credit equal to 50% of the allowable federal child and dependent care credit.

It will cost $4.2 million to implement, according to the bill’s fiscal note. 

“The first-ever for working families in West Virginia,” Justice said. “It’s a good start. We’ve got to do more.”

Lawmakers and the state Chamber of Commerce urged Justice to add other child care bills to the special session call. Bills during the regular session, which failed to get up for a vote, had included ideas like helping child care workers pay for daycare and giving businesses an increased tax credit for providing child care.

“We worked hand-in-hand with the leadership and agreed on what’s got a shot and what’s not,” Justice said. 

Del. Kayla Young, D-Kanawha, said that she was glad that the special session resulted in some relief for families. “We know every little bit helps,” she said. 

Young, who has led child care legislation efforts in the House, continued, “I was disappointed but not surprised to see the governor not follow through on this promise to allocate $20 million to child care providers. I look forward to meaningful work in the regular session. Solving child care means bringing providers, parents, employers, tech solutions and our state agencies to the table.”