Minimum Wage and Other Working Conditions.

The Minimum Wage Act (MWA) establishes a statewide minimum hourly wage, requires overtime pay for certain workers, provides for paid sick leave, and provides for other employment standards.  The current statewide hourly minimum wage is $16.66, which is adjusted annually for inflation by the Department of Labor and Industries (L&I).  Under the MWA, L&I may inspect places of business, investigate, and gather data regarding wages, hours, and other conditions and practices.

L&I administers other employment standards, including those affecting industrial welfare.  L&I rules require employees to be allowed paid rest periods of at least 10 minutes for every four hours worked, and at least 30 minutes for a meal period for every five hours worked.  An employee may waive the right to a meal break, but may not waive the rest period requirements.  Employees must also be provided reasonable access to bathroom facilities, and employers may not restrict bathroom breaks to time schedules or impose unreasonable time use restrictions.

Child Care Licensing and Regulations.

The Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) regulates child care licensing.  In general, it is unlawful for any person or business to provide child care services for a child outside the child's own home unless licensed by the DCYF.  The DCYF has also adopted core competencies for child care providers that describe the standards of knowledge and skills required to provide quality care and education to children and their families.

All child care providers subject to DCYF licensing must provide the DCYF, the Chief of the Washington State Patrol, and the Director of Fire Protection, or their designees, the right of entrance and the privilege of access to and inspection of records for determining compliance with legal requirements.

The Washington State Child Care Workforce Standards Board (Board) is established for purposes of making recommendations to enhance and improve the employment standards of child care workers.

The Board is composed of 10 members appointed by the Governor representing certain interests and agencies.  The Governor must make initial appointments no later than September 1, 2026.  L&I must provide administrative support staff to the Board, and may employ personnel to carry out its duties.  By October 1, 2026, L&I and the DCYF must enter into a formal data sharing agreement for purposes of implementing the bill. 

In developing recommendations, the Board must prioritize child care worker staffing, recruitment, retention, and staffing ratios, and must consider certain wage rate data, collective bargaining agreements, and local employment standards.  The Board may investigate certain factors, such as the adequacy of wage rates and other compensation policies to ensure the provision of quality services, the costs to workers for background checks and training, the impact of systemic racism and economic injustice on child care workers, and the adequacy of the state's payment practices and policies.

The Board must prepare a series of reports with findings and recommendations, and must make those reports publicly available on L&I's website.

(In support) Child care workers are critical to the wellbeing of children and the functioning of the economy.  High quality child care helps children to thrive and parents to stay in the workforce.  But child care workers need to be able to pay their bills and take care of their families too.  The state should recognize the importance of this work by establishing a workforce standards board, which can help raise standards for wages and conditions.  There are at least six other workforce standards boards operating in certain cities and states, which have improved wage, overtime, and leave standards, helping to reduce turnover and stabilize certain industries.  This model is particularly helpful for fractured industries with a high number of employers where organizing and collective bargaining can be challenging.  These boards can engage with workers and employers directly when developing standards, ensuring those standards are workable and fair.  This is good for children, workers, employers, and the economy.

(Opposed) This bill is not the right approach to solving problems in the child care industry.  The bill creates an unelected, independent board that will not be accountable to those it impacts. Businesses support increasing access to affordable, quality childcare, but it is important to take meaningful steps to address the underlying problems.  This bill ignores those problems; instead, it will significantly increase the costs of childcare through imposing more regulatory barriers.  These regulations will unnecessarily increase wages beyond what the Legislature or the people have established by law and initiative.   Given the state's fiscal issues, there are also concerns with the costs of implementing the bill.  There was a much narrower proposal that passed in California, but it cost over 10 million dollars just to get the program up and running. 

(In support) Children learn best with one-to-one attention, and the ratios of staff to children in child care settings are very important.  However, the correct ratios are hard to maintain when the supply of child care staff is low, sick days happen, and substitutes are harder to find.  Existing substitutes are spread too thin and the job is challenging and exhausting.  Child care providers have had to shut down due to lack of staff.  This bill would help establish new rules for improving child care settings and would support children.

People need child care in order to work, and access to child care can help people complete apprenticeships in the trades.  The child care system needs help, and creating this workforce board would help improve the system.  The workforce board would create a structured forum for parents, providers, and the Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) to discuss ways to improve the system for child care employees.

This board has representation from both child care employees and child care employers.  The proposed second substitute bill has been trimmed down in order to reduce the fiscal impact.  There have been federal cuts to child care programs recently, and there is fear within this community due to recent fraud allegations.  Creating the workforce board will be helpful to support the child care workforce.

(Opposed) This bill is redundant and would introduce unfunded mandates for child care providers, which would also increase costs for the state.  It is not a good use of funds from L&I.  The state should prioritize investments in the child care industry that are predictable.  The state should not reduce funding for the child care system and then also add this unnecessary cost to the same system.  The state should instead prioritize current funding for the child care industry.  Advocates are hopeful that amendments may be adopted to change some of the bill's impacts.

There is existing work being done through the Cost of Quality Child Care model which makes the work in this bill duplicative.  The Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) is already working through these questions through that work, which is a better way to do this.  The workforce board within this bill is uncoordinated compared to that work, and there are parts of the bill, like section 5, which are redundant and are already required for child care providers to become licensed facilities.

Child care providers are not afraid of accountability or of creating higher standards for the industry.  However, this bill creates a new board that will do nothing to help the community.  The DCYF is already doing this work with the Cost of Quality Care and Design Team, which includes lots of community-based partners and providers.  The state should instead be required to consult with the Cost of Quality Care rate model team and the people that are already doing this work.

The bill does not contemplate family affordability at all, and many of the possible rule changes would lead to higher costs for providers which would lead to higher costs for families and for the state's Working Connections Child Care program.  Other states provide targeted funding when there are changes to required compensation levels, and this bill does not do that.

(In support) Representative Mary Fosse, prime sponsor; Maya Washington, MomsRising; Mara Cartner, child care teacher, Small Faces; Heather Kinney, former lead teacher, Cadence Academy; Joe Kendo, Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO; Diana Llanes, Owner, Once Upon a Time Bilingual Child Care Center; David Madland, Center for American Progress; and Heather Kinney.

(In support) Gina Malagon, SEIU 925 and Child care teacher; Sumaiya Iman, SEIU 925 and child care owner; Dora Poqui; Heather Kurtenbach, Washington State Building and Construction Trades; and Erin Haick, SEIU 925.