Capitol diary: Day-care bill lacked consensus

“My Name is Bill” was an animated cartoon that in musical fashion told how a bill became a law. It ended with: “I used to be a bill, and now I am a law.” In reality not all bills have that happy ending. There are many obstacles that a bill has to go through before it becomes law, making it easier to kill a bill than pass it. It takes a coalition of support from around our state to make any major policy change, and that is as it should be, since not all bills are good ideas.

Laws do have statewide impact, and in a state as diverse as ours, with many different interests and views, it is important that policy have broad statewide support. Getting such support may take years if the issue is one of general significance. It requires grass-roots efforts, industry- or association-wide cooperation, legislative bargaining and much more. Unless it is pushed by a powerful leadership group, it takes a great deal of work and collaboration to create a consensus that a majority will accept.

Case in point – the child care licensing bill I had before the Health and Welfare Committee this past week. This was legislation that many people from around the state have worked on for years. It tried to remedy what many saw as inadequate protection for children in day care. It was the third year I sponsored the bill to strengthen child care licensing standards. In spite of a major lobbying effort and last-minute changes to the bill, it died on a 6-5 vote in committee. It ran into a very conservative wall.

In the broader sense, I had not reached consensus from the varying geographic areas, and more particularly, the different philosophical views, about the proper way to provide safe and healthy care for children by someone other than their parents. Some on the committee felt children should always be under parental care. Others thought that was unrealistic in today’s world. The gap was not bridged, despite many efforts to do so.

In my first diary entry, I said the diversity of our state is part of its strength. I still believe that to be so, but it is also a source of great frustration at times to those who want to make policy. So who was right, the ayes or the nays? Ultimately it will be up to the voters to decide by whom they chose to represent them on this and so many other issues.