Denver City Council passed an ordinance to eliminate its own childcare license process, bringing the city into alignment with the state’s licensing process and removing associated redundancies for childcare providers.

Streamlining the Process

Denver Office of Children’s Affairs Policy Director Rhett Gutierrez said the move isn’t a “silver bullet” that will solve the city and state’s childcare cost and availability crisis. However, regulators saw expensive redundancies between the city licensure process and the state one.

Denver’s repeal of its licensing laws for childcare providers aims to eliminate one barrier to companies entering the market. The city offered two types of licenses: childcare center licenses and licenses for childcare in private residences.

The process didn’t add any real value to what was already covered by the state, according to Gutierrez. “Really, all we were doing was charging an extra fee to not add anything for providers or add anything for the city in terms of oversight or insurance of security and safety for kids and providers,” he said.

Impact on Providers

Childcare center licensing fees in Denver ranged from $25 to $200 based on how many children a center serves. Most fees are waived for nonprofit centers. In 2025, licensing fees brought in $31,450 in revenue for the city’s general fund.

Gutierrez believes the revenue loss could be offset by workforce time saved from eliminating the local licensing process. “Part of the rationale behind even pursuing some of this work is those providers have really narrow margins,” he said.

Original reporting: Denverite — read the source article.