Legislation pending before Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon would require new oversight of some unlicensed child care centers.
The legislation would require state workers to visit unlicensed facilities that receive federal money. It also would require the development of quality indicators that parents could use to evaluate the safety and caliber of child care centers.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports the legislation was prompted by changes in federal regulations. Missouri could lose more than $100 million in federal funding if it doesn't increase oversight. It says the monitoring visits would apply to all child care centers, including about 3,900 in homes, churches and schools that are not currently inspected by state child care regulators.
The Missouri provisions would take effect no sooner than October 2015.
