Childcare issues to be addressed in West Virginia special session

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WOWK) — Help with childcare will be a topic in a special session of the West Virginia Legislature later in May.

This was after lawmakers failed to get anything done in the regular session. We know the top priority of this special session is to fund the new three-agency DHHR fully, but childcare will get attention.

Gov. Jim Justice (R-WV) said the state needs to help, because thousands of new jobs are coming here, and some employers are having difficulty finding workers.

One reason is that, in many two-parent families, one parent has to stay home to watch the kids. There have been bills to provide childcare tax credits for families, or daycare subsidies to help get more adults back in the workforce.

So far, nothing has passed, so now it will be addressed in the special session.

“A lot of times people are working like crazy, to just be able to pay for the daycare. So, it’s a real problem. We need to address it. And we need to pass on any kind of tax incentives and breaks,” said Gov. Jim Justice, (R) West Virginia.

While the special session has not been officially called yet, the most likely dates are May 19 through May 21. That’s because many legislators will already be in town for the monthly interim committee meetings, so there would be cost savings.

Many lawmakers are frustrated this did not get fixed in the regular session, because there was bipartisan support to do something on childcare.

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