Advocates for working families say the child-care crisis is undermining the stability of many households in Ohio.

At this week's meeting of the Ohio Children's Legislative Caucus this week, Chelsea Kiene, director of communications and stakeholder engagement for the group Groundwork Ohio, shared polling that confirmed that child-care challenges have disrupted the jobs of one in three working parents, affecting their workplace attendance and performance. Among those with kids age 5 and younger, Kiene said one in four parents had to cut back on work hours to care for them.

"If the pandemic of the last two years has been a tipping point, then the omicron variant of the past month has really been a breaking point," she said, "especially for parents of children under the age of 5 who aren't in school and aren't able to get vaccinated."

In the poll, 80% of Ohio voters said child care is expensive in their community. Currently, center-based infant care is roughly $10,000 a year, 43% of a single parent's income.

Availability is another challenge. Last year, one in eight child-care jobs was lost in the pandemic.

Lois Rosenberry, president of Children's Discovery Center, with six locations in northwest Ohio, said they've had to turn families away because of severe staffing shortages. Rosenberry said some end up not returning to work, while others juggle telecommuting and caregiving.

"When parents can't find child care and work from home," she said, "many times these young children are losing years by not being stimulated with age-appropriate activities that provide the foundation for learning and later success in life."

Ohio lawmakers appropriated more than $700 million from the American Rescue Plan, specifically to stabilize the child-care system, which Kiene contended is just a start. Beyond today's workforce, she said, longer-term investments are needed in the future.

"Children, when they are in quality early-learning settings, they are more prepared for kindergarten, which is the biggest predictors in how they perform," she said, "not just throughout their academic careers and their post-secondary attainment, but also how they do in their careers and in life."

It's estimated that child-care challenges cost Ohio's economy $1.7 billion a year.

Advocates and stakeholders have solutions for the Virginia Employment Commission to get through its backlog of unemployment appeal cases.

According to the commission, during the first year of the pandemic, unemployment claims reached historic levels.

In 2020, more than 1 million claims were filed. Although the number of claims filed has declined since then, appeals are still facing longer processing time.

The agency's issues stem from underfunding, short staffing, and lacking technology, according to a 2021 report from the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission.

Pat Levy-Lavelle, senior intake attorney at the Legal Aid Justice Center, said one way to fix the issue is hiring more staff for first-level appeals. However, pandemic-era decisions are having a ripple effect now.

"Earlier in the pandemic, the former Secretary of Labor for Virginia basically said we had focused on folks to answer the telephones, and we forgot about staffing up in terms of having enough hearing officers," Levy-Lavelle recounted.

He added while work has begun to get more people in, there have been some hiring challenges.

Other recommendations are the commission having notices written so they are easier to understand. But, Levy-Lavelle feels having stakeholders come together to review recommendations to determine their necessity, will be a good first step to improving the agency.

Recently, a bill came to a vote in the House of Delegates to cut down the number of days a person has to file an appeal on unemployment claims. Although the bill failed, some are worried strategies to aid the employment commission are not heading in the right direction.

Flannery O'Rourke, staff attorney at the Virginia Poverty Law Center, described the challenges with implementing policy recommendations.

"Any kind of legislative fix, I think, is more complicated to implement," O'Rourke contended "I think we will still see if the governor's proposed budget amendment to fund current appeals staff will go through, and there's also the governor's proposed budget amendment that will help improve the claimant self-service system."

O'Rourke added stakeholder and legislative action needs to be taken quickly. With the commission still struggling to meet current needs, she hopes things will be resolved in a timely manner, so it can better assist people with appeals.

A Utah lawmaker has proposed a bill which could impose stricter restrictions and regulations for public employees.

Passage of House Bill 241, sponsored by Rep. Jordan Teuscher, R-South Jordan, would mean union stewards and leaders would not be allowed paid time to engage in union work. It would also prohibit a public employer from deducting union dues from a public employee's wages and prohibit public money or public property to be used for union organizing or administration.

Shelley Bilbrey, court clerk for Salt Lake City for almost two decades, has been a member of her union for the last 16 years and has been a union steward the last eight. She said in her opinion, the provisions mean Utah labor unions are in for the fight of their lives.

"A union member cannot do any union business whatsoever in a public building," Bilbrey explained. "That, right there, pretty much puts a kibosh on the union."

Teuscher has said it is an issue of using taxpayer money to process payroll deduction for union dues. Bilbrey countered she is shocked and confused because public employees have other deductions being taken out of their paycheck, and she does not see how union deduction fees are different.

Bilbrey added the measures proposed in the bill would heavily complicate helping union members. Bilbrey explained she joined her union to have a voice. As a union steward, Bilbrey emphasized she has a specific number of hours covered to handle union issues. If the bill were passed, Bilbrey stressed union issues would have to be resolved on one's own time.

"I don't know how to figure out how we would go around that," Bilbrey admitted. "What am I supposed to say to someone? 'Oh yeah, hey, meet me at Denny's.' "

Bilbrey added being part of a union is all about leveling the playing field and about giving individuals a voice at the workplace. She sees the bill not only as perplexing, but as an attack on public employees and Utah unions.

Researchers have said rural communities face a host of unique challenges, and access to paid leave is one of them. Advocates hope the needs of rural families are part of the debate, as discussion ramps up for a statewide program in Minnesota.

Gov. Tim Walz has included a paid family- and medical-leave program in his proposed budget.

Leota Goodney, activist and retired accounting firm operator from Northfield, said creating pathways for such a benefit could be helpful to small businesses in rural areas. She said it is a struggle everywhere, but is more profound in Greater Minnesota, where smaller firms and the self-employed are considered key drivers of local economies.

"There are not large employers like there are in the urban areas, and many of the large employers in the urban areas already offer some kind of paid family leave," Goodney pointed out.

A report by the think tank New America said only 61 % of women in rural communities have paid time off of any kind to care for a new child or an ill loved one.

The Walz plan calls for nearly $670 million to get the program started, with a less than 1% payroll tax to maintain funding. The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce argued it would place too much financial stress on small businesses.

The organization estimates the plan would cost Minnesota businesses $1 billion, but Goodney countered having employers and their staff pitch in is a small sacrifice in establishing a benefit which can help recruit workers for rural areas.

"I definitely think that it makes living more attractive in rural areas," Goodney asserted. "This is a way to keep people from leaving rural areas to go somewhere else where they can actually make a living."

Nearly a dozen states have adopted paid-leave laws. Minnesota's plan would cover up to 12 weeks of medical leave and up to 12 weeks of family leave.

The state has a $17 billion surplus and Democrats feel optimistic about pushing proposals such as paid leave through because of their majorities. It remains unclear what will be in the final spending plans with several priorities announced in recent weeks.