Great news! Recent legislation reduces barriers to early education and child care providers.
Individuals wanting to become licensed child care providers, and community organizations, such as churches, seeking to use existing facilities for child care programs, can benefit from local siting and zoning changes aimed to expand places where child care can be made available.
Three new laws, that are effective July 27, 2025, were created to ease the burden to do business in Washington state for child care providers, or prospective child care providers. Further, the legislature funded DCYF to provide technical assistance to individuals and organizations that want to become a provider or expand their early learning child care facilities.
The following is a summary of the law changes:
Senate Bill 5509:
Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5509 requires cities and towns to allow outright permitting of child care centers for all zones except industrial zones, light industrial zones, and open space zones.
Conditional use of onsite child care centers in light industrial and industrial zones will be allowed.
Reasonable restrictions on permits, including pickup and drop-off areas, are allowed.
Senate Bill 5655:
The Washington State Legislature passed Substitute Senate Bill 5655 out of recognition that a quicker way to provide more high-quality child care services to working families is by maximizing the use of already existing buildings.
This change clarifies existing laws so that building owners, and popular child care locations like churches, can use existing spaces for child care services and not be overly burdened by building occupancy load requirements.
For example, the occupancy load of a child care center within an existing building will be calculated based only on the area where the early learning child care services are provided.
Senate Bill 5545:
Substitute Senate Bill 5545 expands early learning child care capacity by partnering with the military, as an option in specific locations, for becoming a child care provider. While DCYF retains its safety enforcement and investigating authority, the military will certify child care providers within the surrounding metropolitan areas of Washington military bases.
Senate Bill 5195:
Substitute Senate Bill 5195, effective May 20, 2025, provides funding to DCYF, over the next biennium, to provide technical assistance to existing child care providers or individuals wanting to become a provider. This work is done in collaboration and partnership with the Department of Commerce, which is the agency that administers the Early Learning Facilities (ELF) loan and grant program.
Grants may also now include awards for converting ECEAP part day slots to full day or extended day.
Tribal compact schools are now eligible. Project funding matching is no longer considered as criteria for grant scoring. And applicants are no longer required to declare project funding matching, which will provide more opportunity to applicants who are experiencing financial hardship.