Child care workforce bill on hold despite strong support as lawmakers seek clarity on federal funds

The New Hampshire Senate Finance Committee meets in the State House on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, to discuss Senate Bill 483, which proposes $15 million in state general funds for child care workforce retention and recruitment. From left are committee members Sens. James Gray, Regina Birdsell, Timothy Lang, and Cindy Rosenwald. (Photo by Maya Mitchell/New Hampshire Bulletin)

The New Hampshire Senate Finance Committee put a “critical” child care workforce funding bill on hold due to lawmakers’ confusion over why federal funding could not be used instead of state funds. 

The committee met Tuesday for a handful of hearings, including one for Senate Bill 483, which would appropriate $15 million in state general funds over two years to help child care employers with employee recruitment and retention. 

The bill aims to resolve a funding issue that arose from the state’s biennial budget signed in June. Legislators sought to fund the $15 million using extra federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families money, knowing the appropriation was “contingent” on approval from the federal government. TANF is a federal program that helps low-income families achieve economic stability by giving states grants to operate programs that fall under one of its specific statutory purposes. 

SB 483 proposes that if the federal government denies the use of TANF funds for child care workforce recruitment and retention, or does not respond to state officials by July 1, 2026, state general funds would be used for the initiative. 

In October, the Administration for Children and Families sent the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services a contradictory response regarding the allowable use of funds. 

First, state officials were told that once TANF funding was transferred to the Child Care Development Fund, the main fund New Hampshire uses for child care purposes, “CCDF funds can be used for child care worker bonuses and other retention activities.” 

Later in the email, the Administration for Children and Families wrote, “it is not clear to the Office of Family Assistance how recruitment and retention bonuses for New Hampshire child care employers meet a TANF purpose — especially in the absence of information about other TANF expenditures related to child care.”

While the language of the email is murky, state Health and Human Services officials told the Bulletin in November that the federal government said using TANF money for child care workforce retention and recruitment was “not an allowable use” under federal regulations, and the development fund dollars were already budgeted for the New Hampshire Child Care Scholarship Program. 

“Funding child care recruitment and retention initiatives does not fall into one of the four purposes of the TANF program specified in federal law,” Jake Leon, communications director for Health and Human Services, said. 

Karen Hebert, director of the Division of Economic Stability, testified to the same multiple times during Tuesday’s hearing and the executive session that followed.

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“What this bill does is it adds $7.5 million per fiscal year, with the intent of it being TANF funding to use for the child care workforce,” Hebert said. “It is the department’s interpretation, based on the response from the Administration for Children and Families, that [for] the TANF grant [to] directly pay for the child care workforce is not an allowable use of TANF funds.” 

However, members of the committee expressed confusion not only about the situation with TANF funding, but also about how federal funding for New Hampshire child care works in general. Sen. David Watters, a Dover Democrat, apologized for being “hopelessly confused” about how money could or could not be used.

Sen. Timothy Lang, a Sanbornton Republican, requested the department “aggressively pursue” a clear yes or no from the federal government before discussing the use of state dollars. 

“This is an issue that’s extremely important for working-class families,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll get some sort of answer back by being aggressive and letting them know this is an important issue for the state of New Hampshire.”

Sen. James Gray, a Rochester Republican and chairman of the Finance Committee, said he would not call for a vote on the bill because “some of these discussions would probably be better offline.” 

The appropriation was passed in 2023 using state general funds, but due to a series of state spending reductions, legislators attempted to use federal funds for the 2025-2027 budget. 

Despite the committee making no recommendation on the bill, providers and advocates said they are “hopeful” about the outcome because legislators have shown an interest in finding a solution and in funding recruitment and retention efforts. 

At least 20 child care providers and advocates gathered at the State House before the hearing to show support for the bill. When it came time for public testimony, the room filled to capacity as child care teachers, program directors, and advocates lined up to speak in support of the bill. 

According to the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute, the median hourly wage for a New Hampshire child care worker in 2023 was $15.62, while the median wage of a retail salesperson was $16.71, and the median wage for all New Hampshire occupations was $24.03. Granite State families are also spending more than three times as much on child care than the federal government recommends due to high child care costs statewide. Both could be addressed if SB 483 passes. 

Child care providers also testified about some of the ways they used the last state appropriation: increasing staff wages, maintaining classroom capacity, providing staff benefits such as health care and retirement, and stabilizing tuition costs. 

While the Senate bill is on hold, a hearing for the House counterpart, House Bill 1566, has not yet been scheduled.