Requires licensed day care facilities to contact a child's parent or guardian if they are absent from day care, with no prior notice given, within thirty minutes after such child is recorded as absent.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A3190
SPONSOR: Rosenthal (MS) TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the social services law, in relation to requiring
licensed day care facilities to contact a child's parent or guardian if
they are absent
PURPOSE:
This legislation will require child daycare facilities to promptly noti-
fy parents when their child has not been dropped off at daycare within
30 minutes of their scheduled arrival time.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section one amends the social services law by adding a new section 390-
aa.
Section two sets forth the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
In July of 2019, a pair of one-year-old twins tragically died after
being forgotten in the back seat of a hot car. Their father reported to
work, not realizing he had not dropped the children off at daycare, only
realizing his mistake upon leaving work later that day. Horrendous
accidents such as this one are unfortunately not uncommon, with an aver-
age of 38 deaths occurring nationwide under these circumstances each
year.
These memory lapses may occur with anyone but can become even more
common when a person drives the same route each day, allowing their mind
to go on "autopilot" and forget stops along the way. Increased stress
and a lack of sleep may also contribute to a person forgetting to
complete certain tasks, no matter how important they may be. Promptly
notifying parents when a child has not been dropped off to daycare will
help to prevent future tragedies.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023-24: A.950 - Referred to Children and Families
2021-22: A.3404 - Referred to Children and Families
2019-20: A.8591 - Referred to Children and Families
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None to the State.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
3190
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 23, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. ROSENTHAL, PAULIN, MILLER -- Multi-Sponsored by
-- M. of A. COOK -- read once and referred to the Committee on Chil-
dren and Families
AN ACT to amend the social services law, in relation to requiring
licensed day care facilities to contact a child's parent or guardian
if they are absent
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The social services law is amended by adding a new section
2 390-aa to read as follows:
3 § 390-aa. Child absence confirmation. 1. For purposes of this section,
4 the following terms shall have the following meanings:
5 (a) "Absent" or "absence" shall mean any child who is expected to be
6 present for day care services who has not arrived at the scheduled drop-
7 off time.
8 (b) "Child day care provider" shall have the same meaning as defined
9 in paragraph (b) of subdivision one of section three hundred ninety of
10 this title.
11 (c) "Group family day care home" shall have the same meaning as
12 defined in paragraph (d) of subdivision one of section three hundred
13 ninety of this title.
14 (d) "Family day care home" shall have the same meaning as defined in
15 paragraph (e) of subdivision one of section three hundred ninety of this
16 title.
17 (e) "School age child care" shall have the same meaning as defined in
18 paragraph (f) of subdivision one of section three hundred ninety of this
19 title.
20 2. (a) All child day care providers, school age child care programs,
21 group family day care homes and family day care homes within the state
22 shall be required to contact a child's parent or guardian in the event
23 such child is absent on a given day, when prior notice of such child's
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD05641-01-5
A. 3190 2
1 absence has not been provided, to confirm such child's absence is
2 expected and the parent or guardian is aware of such absence.
3 (b) Such day care providers, programs or homes shall contact such
4 parent or guardian by phone within thirty minutes after recording that a
5 child is absent on such day.
6 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
