Ista, Braunberger attend White House States Convening on Child Care
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
July 19, 2023
CONTACT:
Laura Dronen
Communications Director
(701) 566-0616
laura.dronen@demnpl.com
This morning, North Dakota House Minority Leader Zac Ista (D-Grand Forks) and State Senator Ryan Braunberger (D-Fargo) are attending the White House States Convening on Child Care.
Braunberger said, “It’s an honor to be included in this convening. We worked hard this legislative session to address North Dakota’s child care crisis, but there is much more to do if we’re going to truly solve it.”
Senate Minority Leader Kathy Hogan (D-Fargo) and Braunberger introduced a package of bills to combat North Dakota’s child care crisis. The bills sought to bolster the state’s childcare assistance program, modernize childcare employee background checks, establish stabilization grants for childcare providers struggling to stay in business, allot more funding for early childhood programs, and provide a direct childcare tax credit to working families.
Ista remarked, “The Biden-Harris Administration knows that it’s critical we do more federally and at the state level to ensure working families have quality, affordable, accessible child care. Nationwide–and especially in North Dakota–this is a major workforce issue. Senators Braunberger and Hogan put forward some great bills during the legislative session. I’m glad many of them were included in the final child care package signed into law. But that bill is just a first step towards solving the state’s child care crisis, and I wish more of what the Dem-NPL caucus proposed had been adopted. I’m thrilled to be able to learn about what’s working in other states and to see what we could implement back home.”
Over 90 legislators from 41 states are attending this event, which will include panels on improving access to child care and state budget investments in child care. Attendees will hear from First Lady Jill Biden, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, and Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan.
