During the 2025 National Association for Regulatory Administration (NARA) Annual Licensing Seminar, September 14-17, Alicia Gardiner, Director of Oregon’s Child Care Licensing Division at the Oregon Department of Early Learning and Care (DELC), shared the division’s rulemaking guiding principles. DELC recently undertook a comprehensive revision of the rules that govern all licensed child care facility types. “As we approached this rule revision project,” says Gardiner, “we grounded our work in a clear set of guiding principles for every single rule set that we updated.”
These guidelines include using plan language to improve understanding, aligning with best practices where applicable and identifying and removing barriers based on field feedback. Oregon established DELC in 2023; agency responsibilities include child care licensing and investigations, comprehensive background checks, as well as child care subsidy payments.
GL Solutions attended the NARA conference in Norfolk, Virginia, and spoke on the topic—Beyond Provider Licensing: Efficiency Impact and Improving Lives. In addition, GL Solutions serves as a proud member of NARA. According to their website, NARA works to “promote the health and safety of children and adults in regulated settings.”
GovRAMP shared their roadmap highlights, including their AI initiatives in a recent webinar. During GovRAMP’s Working Group Session 5 on September 19, Executive Director Leah McGrath highlighted recommendations from the GovRAMP AI Security Task Force. McGrath explained they aim to help their participating governments think about how AI impacts government data, as well as the potential risk. She explained the recommendations of the task force.
Task force drafting recommendations for:
When available, GovRAMP evaluates NIST recommendations for the AI overlay; McGrath explains that GovRAMP leverages the NIST AI Risk Management Framework definition of AI.
According to NIST, the framework, released on January 26, 2023, evolved through a consensus-based and transparent process involving public feedback, workshops and other input opportunities. This aims to complement and support others’ AI risk management initiatives.
State and local associations in a September 17 letter urged congressional leaders to pass a reauthorization of the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program; organizations signing the letter included the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO), the National Governors Association and The Council of State Governments. The letter stated, “as the collective voice of state and local governments, we urge you to reauthorize the State and Local Cyber Security Grant Program (SLCGP). This critical program has provided states and local governments with the resources they need to bolster their cybersecurity defenses and assisted in modernizing technology systems across the country.”
NASCIO offers an explanation of the grant program, along with benefits to states, on their 2025 Federal Advocacy Priorities page.
State may have put children in homes where registered sex offenders lived
The state of Maryland’s Social Services Administration may have approved homes for children in state care where sex offenders lived and did not identify a convicted sex offender working in a foster group home who was later charged with offenses involving children.
Barriers remain between physicians and needed mental health care
Physicians face increased mental health challenges but often encounter obstacles to getting help, affecting their well-being and patient care.
Texas Regulatory Efficiency Office Gets Its First Director
Gov. Greg Abbott named Jerome Greener as the first director of the Texas Regulatory Efficiency Office, a new agency focused on reducing bureaucracy and simplifying state regulations.
Book Review: The Licensing Racket: How We Decide Who Is Allowed to Work, & Why It Goes Wrong
Some scholars and activists argue that professional licensing regulated by governments limits competition among professionals; Vanderbilt law professor Rebecca Haw Allensworth examines this in her new book, The Licensing Racket.
