Policy experts are sounding off about proposed legislation heard by the Ohio House Children and Human Services committee recetly to address potential fraud in the child care sector.

The Republican-introduced would establish rules for surveillance of child care facilities and expand state monitoring of Publicly Funded Child Care programs.

“Ohio has a responsibility to ensure that children in publicly funded child care centers are safe and that taxpayer dollars are being used honestly,” said Rep. Josh Williams, R-Sylvania Township, who sponsored HB 649.

In order to ensure that safety, his bill would require all child care centers to obtain camera systems. Those cameras would monitor both the entrances and exits to child care facilities as well as the areas in which children are taught and cared for, excluding bathrooms and changing rooms.

The centers would, under the proposal, be required to record daily and provide that footage to the state upon request.

“The state needs to possess adequate tools to fully audit these centers and to guarantee child safety in a meaningful and appropriate way,” said Williams. “This legislation closes that gap.”

Policy Matters Ohio, a progressive think tank, has argued that the bill goes too far in its scope while relying on systems that aren’t secure.

“This is a level of surveillance that does not exist in any other state, with no guardrails to ensure the security of sensitive content,” said Policy Matters Ohio’s Senior Project Coordinator Ali Smith. “The bill allows hundreds of hours of footage to be sent, received, and saved using systems with cybersecurity levels determined by individual programs’ internet connections.”

The group added that the cost of buying and maintaining surveillance systems would be daunting for child care centers already struggling to stay afloat.

“Child care providers – who operate on razor-thin margins – will be required to foot the bill for this misguided law, even as legislators ignore their advocacy for simple, concrete policies that will lower costs for families and increase access to high-quality care statewide,” said Smith.

The committee heard testimony on another bill, HB 647, which would employ data analytics to monitor attendance at publicly-funded child care programs. The legislation would authorize the attorney general’s office to pursue child care fraud while allowing the Department of Children and Youth to suspend providers’ licenses for suspicion of fraud.

The department showed support for the legislation at a press conference in January, where Director Kara Wente said, “Good providers will feel supported by these changes, while bad actors will continue to face consequences. And Ohio families will continue to have access to safe, high-quality child care driven by strong oversight and accountability.”

“A key aspect of this bill is there are 5,200 child care centers being monitored and over 100,000 children a day,” said Rep. Tom Young, R-Washington Township. “This bill will help create a system of advanced analytics to aid in the detection and the protection of taxpayers’ dollars.”

Despite Young’s assertions that the legislation would “(1) reduce eligibility for families currently receiving care, (2) eliminate transitional child care, (3) target providers who are operating safely and lawfully, or (4) reduce child care for working families,” advocates remain wary.

“Instead of addressing real needs like affordable child care, adequate funding, and options for families who work nontraditional hours, lawmakers are pouring resources into untested surveillance systems that will further deepen the child care crisis.”