BISMARCK - Child care operators should be allowed to form their own state licensing board and write their own rules and regulations, a Fargo legislator said Tuesday.
Rep. Rick Berg, R-Fargo, said that under his House Bill 1472, day care operators would police themselves just as dentists, accountants, real estate agents and many other professions do.
Berg presented the bill to the House Human Services Committee. But a lobbyist for the North Dakota Association for the Education of Young Children opposed the bill. JoAnn Brager told the committee the bill is confusing and appears to duplicate other advisory boards that already exist.
"It appears that HB 1472 intends to set up a committee to review child care licensing rules as written by the North Dakota Department of Human Services," she said. "While 'child care' is an early childhood service, not all early childhood services are 'child care.' "
