SB 281 North Carolina Senate · 2025-2026 Session

Essential Relief for Child Care Act.

SB 281, the Essential Relief for Child Care Act, appropriates $50 million in nonrecurring state funds for the 2024-2025 fiscal year to continue compensation grants for child care providers. This funding directly supports licensed child care facilities across North Carolina, helping them cover operational costs and prevent closures. The bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services to maintain these grants at current 2024-2025 funding levels through the fourth quarter. It aims to address ongoing financial pressures on providers, which the bill states could lead to 20% facility closures without continued support.

Issues: ✓ Budget & Taxes

Bill status died 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Mar 2025

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Mar 13, 2025 Last action Mar 17, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Filed → Edition 1 · 3 edits

MINOR

The document transitioned from a filed draft version to an official edition of Senate Bill 281, adding formal session headers, bill numbering, and committee referral information. No substantive policy changes were made to the bill's content regarding child care funding.

TECHNICAL

Added official session headers, bill number (S.B. 281), and committee referral to Rules and Operations of the Senate dated March 17, 2025.

Removed draft identification numbers (DRS45148-MCa-125) and placeholder text from the filed version.

Updated bill identifier from draft number to official edition number (S281-v-1).

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Mar 17, 2025

Committee

Re-ref Com On Appropriations/Base Budget

upper

Mar 17, 2025

Committee

Ref To Com On Rules and Operations of the Senate

upper

Mar 13, 2025

Introduced

Filed

upper

2 primary · 8 co-sponsors