Roundup: The child care cliff, forever chemicals and onions vs. potatoes

It’s Saturday, June 24, and we’d like to welcome you to the weekly State and Local Roundup.

There’s plenty from this past week to keep tabs on, with a judge striking down Arkansas’ ban on gender-affirming care, CalPERS announcing it’s the latest agency to be affected by the MOVEit software hacking, and a new (controversial) state vegetable being named in Oregon. But first, we’ll start with the looming “child care cliff.”

For states, it has been a whirlwind of federal pandemic-era programs and funds winding down.?

The additional Medicaid money given to states to pause disenrollments ends in December. The funds for emergency rental assistance are drying up. The program that provided free universal school meals ended this school year. And now child care stabilization funds are set to run out, which states and advocates say the loss of could have major impacts for the greater economy.?

In 2021, the American Rescue Plan Act made nearly $40 billion in emergency aid available for child care. The funds went to helping providers pay for rent, lowering tuition rates and increasing wages for workers. But that support is set to end on Sept. 30, and researchers say that when that happens, 3.2 million children could lose their daycare spots as roughly 70,000 programs are expected to close and 232,000 caregivers are expected to lose their jobs, according to a new report from the left-leaning think tank The Century Foundation.?

Researchers predict that the loss in tax and business revenue from the so-called child care cliff will likely cost states $10.6 billion annually in economic activity as millions of parents would have to reduce their hours or leave the workforce altogether to care for their children. Those parents are projected to lose a collective $9 billion annually in earnings.

A huge share of those households are living paycheck-to-paycheck, the report noted, meaning any disruption to employment caused by the loss of child care could push families into food insecurity or housing instability.

Some states will be affected more than others, according to the report. Researchers predict that the number of licensed programs could reduce by half in Arkansas, Montana, Utah, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and West Virginia. In more than a dozen other states, the number of licensed programs could drop by a third.

New York and Texas are projected to see some of the greatest losses: The report says they could lose thousands of child care programs, leaving hundreds of thousands of children without daycare.

“When these resources swiftly and suddenly disappear,” the report noted, “this funding cliff will once again place the sector in danger, as it will be forced to contract, shedding caregivers and care slots in a cascade that will not only upend millions of families’ child care arrangements but also hurt regional economies.”

Read more about the child care cliff here .

News to Use

Trends, Common Challenges, Cool Ideas, FYIs, and Notable Events

• 3M agrees to a $10.3B settlement in 'forever chemicals' lawsuits. ?The chemical and manufacturing giant reached a $10.3 billion settlement on Thursday with U.S. cities and towns over their claims that the company contaminated drinking water with so-called forever chemicals used in everything from firefighting foam to nonstick coatings. Under the sweeping settlement, 3M said it would pay out the money over 13 years to any cities, counties and others to test for and clean up perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS, in public water supplies. 3M, which is facing about 4,000 lawsuits by states and municipalities for PFAS contamination, did not admit any liability. The settlement, which requires court approval, would put an end to those lawsuits.
• Tsk tsk: 3 states bar utilities from using customer dollars to pay for lobbying. ?The Maine Legislature passed a bill this week prohibiting investor-owned utilities from charging customers for lobbying, trade association and chambers of commerce dues, charitable contributions, and public relations expenses. The bill now heads to Democratic Gov. Janet Mills’ desk. Maine’s legislation follows similar bills passed in Connecticut and Colorado last month. Colorado’s law prohibits utilities from charging their customers for legislative lobbying. Connecticut’s law goes further by using a more expansive definition of lobbying, prohibiting utilities from charging customers for efforts to influence administrative action by executive agencies as well.
• Potato in, onion out. ?The Oregon State House on Thursday approved a resolution designating a new state vegetable—the potato. “While most may think of Idaho as the ‘potato state,’ Oregon does, in fact, put the ‘Ore’ in Ore-Ida, producing a large number of potatoes each year,” reports The Oregonian. The previous state vegetable had been the onion. Idaho, though, is the top potato producer in the country and produces around 13 billion pounds of potatoes each year.
• Arkansas ban on gender-affirming health care struck down. ?A federal judge struck down Arkansas’ ban on gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth Tuesday, nearly two years after blocking it from going into effect. The ban would have prohibited physicians from providing “gender transition” treatments like hormones, puberty blockers and surgeries to those under age 18. In his 80-page ruling, U.S. District Judge James Moody wrote that “the State offered no evidence to refute the decades of clinical experience demonstrating the efficacy of gender-affirming medical care. Additionally, the State’s experts offered no evidence-based treatment alternatives.” The trial was the first in the U.S. over a ban on gender-affirming health care for transgender youth.

Government in Numbers

77

The number of?bills that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has vetoed ?during the state’s 88th legislative session, the second most ever for a governor in one year in the state’s 178-year history. Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry holds that record with 83 during his first term as governor in 2001.

ICYMI

Five years after the Wayfair ruling, states' reliance on the sales tax grows

But while the sales tax has brought in billions of dollars for state and local governments, businesses find the patchwork of rules burdensome.

BY LIZ FARMER

Passwordless security gains ground

Government mandates on passwords and shifting authentication policy could accelerate the adoption of smartphone-enabled passkeys.

BY CHRIS TEALE

Congress Set to Weigh Whether State AGs Can Tackle Airline Complaints

State officials have not been allowed to pursue air carriers for violating consumer protection laws since 1978, but recent airline meltdowns have emboldened state AGs and advocates to ask for a change.

BY DANIEL C. VOCK

Thanks for reading and spending some of your weekend with us. This is an abbreviated version of our Roundup, but you can read the full newsletter here . While you're at it, sign up to get this or other Route Fifty newsletters delivered right to your inbox here .