HB 2510: Increases the minimum wage to $18 by 2028, from $10.10 currently. This also makes the state Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) permanent, and improves the EITC to make it fully available to the lowest-income families.
SB 2700: Authorizes the Department of Human Services to require the staff of licensed and registered early childhood programs to annually provide specific information to the Department’s Early Childhood Workforce Registry.
HB 1600: In 2021, the Preschool Open Doors subsidy was cut by $7 million. This year, that funding was restored, providing greater access to preschool programs for children the year before kindergarten.
HB 1600: Provides funding to reinstate the basic package of diagnostic, preventive, and restorative dental benefits to adult Medicaid enrollees. Also provides funding to extend Medicaid postpartum coverage to 12 months following the end of pregnancy. 50% of the state’s maternal deaths between 2015-2016 were between 43 days to one year after delivery, when many women previously lost their Medicaid coverage.
HCR 69 / HR 62, SR 48: September 2022 will be recognized as Child Care Provider Appreciation Month in Hawaiʻi.
A pilot project to retain and recruit early childhood educators made it to the final stages of the legislative session, but ultimately did not pass. SB 2701 would have created a one-year pilot project to increase wages to a minimum of $17 for 5% of the state’s child care workers. Increasing compensation has been cited as the number one way to increase retention and recruitment for early childhood educators in Hawaiʻi.