Directs the office of children and family services to study, make recommendations on and report on child day care and child care assistance and the availability of funding therefor.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A1852
SPONSOR: Jean-Pierre TITLE OF BILL:
An act to direct the office of children and family services to examine,
evaluate and make recommendations on the availability of child day care
and child care assistance, and determine the unmet need of child care
subsidies; and providing for the repeal of such provisions upon expira-
tion thereof
PURPOSE:
The purpose of this bill is to have the Office of Children and Family
Services (OCFS) examine, evaluate and make recommendations concerning
the availability of day care for children in this State. OCFS shall pay
particular attention to the impact of the necessary child day care upon
the ability of working families to achieve self-sufficiency and a better
standard of living. This legislation will aid the Child Care Availabili-
ty Task Force by collecting much needed data and information, which will
inform the impending recommendations of the task force to the Governor
and Legislature.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1: Adds a new section to direct the Office of Children and Fami-
ly Services to conduct a study that includes an evaluation and recommen-
dations for the availability of child care services in New York State.
OCFS shall review the impact of the lack of childcare upon the ability
of working families striving to achieve self-sufficiency.
Specifically, this section directs OCFS, when conducting this study, to:
*Establish an inventory of child daycare for working families and those
in or near poverty;
*Identify child day care shortage, on a regional basis and provide
projections of the future demand for the next five to ten years, based
on regional birth rates, employment rates and population growth;
*Compare, on a statewide and regional basis, the demand for Daycare over
the next five to ten years, analyzing whether the current projected
growth rate of child day care industry is sufficient to meet the future
projected need;
*Offer recommendations to the Department of Labor and any other relevant
agencies as to how the labor force can help meet the projected shortage
*Identify policies that would both encourage the establishment and oper-
ation of more child day care center providers and increase the number
and capacity of childcare providers;
*Assess the cost of daycare to parents and guardians on a regional
Basis, including the availability of government funds for parents and
guardians towards child care costs;
*Identify which social services districts have insufficient funding to
serve all eligible families and determine whether they are receiving no
new cases or restricting eligibility based upon set income levels;
*Identify which social services districts maintain waiting lists for
eligible families seeking child care subsidies;
*Calculate the total sum of families across the state that are awaiting
child care subsidies and the projected fiscal impact to the state if all
eligible families are served;
*Compare the income levels of families receiving child care subsidies on
a regional basis to determine what inequities exist statewide;
*Examine the use of child care funding by local social services
districts to provide transportation to child care and determine the
unmet need for this service;
*Identify policies that would encourage and facilitate expansion of
quality child day care services by neighbors and in communities where
the working poor live and/or work and identify and quantify the factors
that contribute to establishing quality day care in communities with the
greatest need; and
*Examine the feasibility of implementing a standard family share
percentage for child care cost co-payments across the state.
This section directs each local social services district to submit data
regarding the income of families who applied for child care assistance,
specifying the number of families who were denied, the number of fami-
lies who received assistance, and a listing of the incomes of the fami-
lies who applied. Each social services district shall submit data
regarding the number of families who applied for and were denied child
care assistance whose income falls with various ranges related to the
federal poverty level.
Section 2: Authorizes OCFS to request and receive any additional infor-
mation from any state agency it deems relevant and material to the
study.
Section 3: Directs the Commissioner of OCFS to submit a report to the
Governor, Legislature and the Child Care Availability Task Force, within
one year of this act becoming law, on the study's findings, conclusions
and recommendations. The Commissioner shall also submit proposed legis-
lation to implement the recommendations. The report is to be made
publicly available on the OCFS website.
Section 4: Provides the effective date and repeal of such act after the
report required under this act had been completed and filed. 2
JUSTIFICATION:
Childcare subsidies are designed to help low-income families pay for
childcare while parents work or seek viable employment. Even though
these subsidies pay a portion of childcare costs for families at certain
income levels, only 22% of income-eligible families are receiving subsi-
dies.
Lack of access to affordable, quality childcare is a major impediment
for many low to moderate income families, especially for single parents.
Coupled with a discrete supply of licensed providers across the state,
parents are sometimes forced to choose between placing their children
with less reliable options or leaving them home alone. Sadly, some
parents are forced to reduce work hours or quit jobs altogether to
remain home and care for their children.
This study is an important step in quantifying the existing need in New
York State by region and examining future demand for quality child day
care. This study will not only look at the current number of providers,
but also the cost, quality, labor force, waiting lists and transporta-
tion barriers across the state.
The study will review the number and percentage of eligible families
receiving subsidy, .assistance in New York as compared to other states,
and report on any policy approaches in use in other states that could be
useful for consideration in New York State. To help low to moderate
families obtain a better standard of living and provide their children
with the best start in life possible, availability of quality affordable
child care is one of the most vital components.
This legislation will complement the work of the recently enacted Child
Care Availability Task Force by providing much needed data to inform the
various workgroups as to-the current state of child care on both a
statewide and regional basis, and providing legislative recommendations
and well-formed policy solutions for low-to-moderate income families.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately, and shall expire and be deemed
repealed one year after it shall have become law after such study has
been issued.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1852
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 23, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. JEAN-PIERRE, COOK, DICKENS, FAHY, JOYNER, VANEL,
WALSH, WILLIAMS, OTIS, SIMON, RAMOS, THIELE, REYES, L. ROSENTHAL, RA,
CRUZ, BUTTENSCHON -- read once and referred to the Committee on Chil-
dren and Families
AN ACT to direct the office of children and family services to examine,
evaluate and make recommendations on the availability of child day
care and child care assistance, and determine the unmet need of child
care subsidies; and providing for the repeal of such provisions upon
expiration thereof
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. 1. The office of children and family services shall exam-
2 ine, evaluate and make recommendations concerning the availability of
3 funding for day care for children in the state. Such office shall pay
4 particular attention to the impact of the lack of necessary child day
5 care upon the ability of working families to achieve self-sufficiency
6 and a better standard of living.
7 The office of children and family services shall direct its attention
8 to:
9 (a) establishing an inventory of child day care for working families
10 and those at or near poverty;
11 (b) identifying child day care shortage areas on a regional basis and
12 providing projections of the future demand of the next five to ten years
13 for child day care based on the regional birth rates, employment and
14 population growth rates;
15 (c) comparing on a statewide and regional basis, the demand for child
16 day care services over the succeeding five to ten years, including
17 whether the projected growth rate in the child day care industry will be
18 sufficient to meet such future needs;
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02948-01-3
A. 1852 2
1 (d) offering recommendations to the department of labor and any other
2 relevant agencies as to how the labor force can help meet the projected
3 shortage;
4 (e) identifying policies that would encourage the establishment and
5 operation of more child day care center providers, and increasing the
6 capacity of existing child day care providers;
7 (f) assessing the cost to parents and guardians of day care for chil-
8 dren on a regional basis, including the availability of government funds
9 for parents and guardians toward child care costs;
10 (g) identifying which social services districts have insufficient
11 funding to serve all eligible families and determining whether they are
12 receiving no new cases or restricting eligibility based upon set income
13 levels;
14 (h) reviewing the number and percentage of eligible families receiving
15 child care subsidies in this state, as compared to other states, and
16 report on any policy approaches in use in other states that could be
17 useful for consideration in this state;
18 (i) identifying which social services districts maintain waiting lists
19 for eligible families seeking child care subsidies;
20 (j) calculating the total sum of families statewide that are awaiting
21 child care subsidies and the projected fiscal impact to the state if all
22 eligible families are served;
23 (k) comparing the income levels of families receiving child care
24 subsidies on a regional basis to determine what inequities exist across
25 the state;
26 (l) examining the use of child care funding by local social services
27 districts to provide transportation to child care and determining the
28 unmet need for this service;
29 (m) identifying policies that would encourage and facilitate expansion
30 of quality child day care services by neighbors and in communities where
31 the working poor live and/or work; and identifying and quantifying those
32 factors that contribute to establishing quality child day care in commu-
33 nities with the greatest need; and
34 (n) examining the feasibility of implementing a standard family share
35 percentage for child care cost co-payments across the state.
36 2. (a) Each social services district shall submit data regarding the
37 income of families who applied for child care assistance pursuant to
38 this act to the department, specifying:
39 (i) the number of families who were denied;
40 (ii) the number of families who received such assistance; and
41 (iii) a listing of the incomes pursuant to subparagraph (ii) of para-
42 graph (b) of this subdivision of the families who applied for such
43 assistance.
44 (b) Each social services district shall submit data regarding the
45 number of all families who applied for and received child care assist-
46 ance pursuant to this act whose:
47 (i) incomes were under one hundred one percent of the federal poverty
48 level for their family size;
49 (ii) incomes were between one hundred one percent and one hundred
50 fifty percent of the federal poverty level for their family size; and
51 (iii) incomes were between one hundred fifty-one percent and two
52 hundred percent of the federal poverty level for their family size.
53 (c) Each social services district shall submit data regarding the
54 number of all families who applied for and were denied child care
55 assistance pursuant to this act whose:
A. 1852 3
1 (i) incomes were under one hundred one percent of the federal poverty
2 level for their family size;
3 (ii) incomes were between one hundred one percent and one hundred
4 fifty percent of the federal poverty level for their family size; and
5 (iii) incomes were between one hundred fifty-one percent and two
6 hundred percent of the federal poverty level for their family size.
7 § 2. The office of children and family services may request and shall
8 receive any available information from state agencies that is relevant
9 and material to the study required by section one of this act.
10 § 3. Within twelve months of the effective date of this act, the
11 commissioner of children and family services shall submit a report, to
12 the governor, the temporary president of the senate, the speaker of the
13 assembly, the minority leader of the senate, the minority leader of the
14 assembly, and the child care availability task force established pursu-
15 ant to section 390-k of the social services law, on the office's find-
16 ings, conclusions and recommendations, and shall submit therewith such
17 legislative proposals as the office of children and family services
18 shall deem necessary to implement its recommendations. In addition, such
19 office shall make such report available to the public and post it on the
20 internet website operated by the office.
21 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately, and shall expire and be
22 deemed repealed one year after such date.
