Opening a home-based child care program is on the path to becoming easier for providers.
The House Committee on Municipal and County Government heard testimony Tuesday on legislation that would tackle a small piece of New Hampshire’s child care availability issue. House Bill 1195 seeks to address local zoning issues affecting family child care and family group child care programs, as well as child care centers operating in commercially zoned areas.
The two-part bill would require the local government bodies in cities, towns, or counties to allow home-based care in a provider’s home or a pre-existing accessory dwelling on their property by right, as long as the program meets the state’s child care licensing standards. It would also exempt small child care centers — centers in a business or facility that do not care for more than 12 children and that operate in commercial zones — from local regulations that may conflict with child care licensing.
State law defines family child care, also known as home-based care, as child care that is being provided for up to 12 children in someone’s primary residence.
While not as prominent as center-based care, it helps fill “child care deserts” in rural areas and provides child care for parents who work nontraditional hours. As of December 2025, there are 103 licensed family and family group child care programs in New Hampshire and 614 licensed child care centers.
Rep. David Paige, a Conway Democrat and bill’s prime sponsor, said that while there is not one “single solution” to increasing the state’s capacity for licensed child care, his bill would help providers in a system that is “truly stacked against them.”
“This bill is not trying to pretend to fix everything that’s broken in our child care system,” he said. “But it does aim to resolve a couple of very real, very practical barriers to new child care formation.”
Currently, home-based child care is subject to both state child care licensing rules and local government zoning regulations, which are oftentimes at odds with each other. Paige and others testified that providers have been unable to open new programs because the process is extremely difficult.
Paige argued that because of how rigorous and regulated New Hampshire’s child care system is, municipalities can be confident that programs are meeting high standards.
“It’s important to understand that the goal here is not deregulation. We all want safe child care,” Paige said. “The goal is simply to eliminate conflicting requirements. What we’re trying to achieve is one clear, predictable code for child care … which is a public good.”
Members of the committee pushed back against the bill, which would increase child care-related traffic and visitors in their neighborhoods.
Rep. Deborah Aylward, a Danbury Republican, said she was “troubled” by the idea of allowing more traffic and unknown individuals into an area and “expose properties to a risk of casing.”
“It’s posing or causing privacy rights issues, is my concern,” she said.
Paige said the bill would not override landlords, homeowners’ associations, or private covenants, and emphasized that because home-based child care offers a very small quantity of care, neighbors of a business would not experience those issues.
The New Hampshire Municipal Association testified against the bill, believing it would take away from local zoning control. Towns would still be able to manage community impacts from large centers.
An amendment to the bill will be made in the coming weeks to address concerns from committee members and provide greater clarity on how the bill would be enforced.