A 5154: 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.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 5154 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN ASSEMBLY February 12, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. SIMON, COOK, VANEL, WALSH, WILLIAMS, OTIS, RAMOS, REYES, ROSENTHAL, RA, CRUZ, BUTTENSCHON -- read once and referred to the Committee on Children 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; 19 (d) offering recommendations to the department of labor and any other 20 relevant agencies as to how the labor force can help meet the projected 21 shortage; EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD06211-01-5 
 A. 5154 2 1 (e) identifying policies that would encourage the establishment and 2 operation of more child day care center providers, and increasing the 3 capacity of existing child day care providers; 4 (f) assessing the cost to parents and guardians of day care for chil- 5 dren on a regional basis, including the availability of government funds 6 for parents and guardians toward child care costs; 7 (g) identifying which social services districts have insufficient 8 funding to serve all eligible families and determining whether they are 9 receiving no new cases or restricting eligibility based upon set income 10 levels; 11 (h) reviewing the number and percentage of eligible families receiving 12 child care subsidies in this state, as compared to other states, and 13 report on any policy approaches in use in other states that could be 14 useful for consideration in this state; 15 (i) identifying which social services districts maintain waiting lists 16 for eligible families seeking child care subsidies; 17 (j) calculating the total sum of families statewide that are awaiting 18 child care subsidies and the projected fiscal impact to the state if all 19 eligible families are served; 20 (k) comparing the income levels of families receiving child care 21 subsidies on a regional basis to determine what inequities exist across 22 the state; 23 (l) examining the use of child care funding by local social services 24 districts to provide transportation to child care and determining the 25 unmet need for this service; 26 (m) identifying policies that would encourage and facilitate expansion 27 of quality child day care services by neighbors and in communities where 28 the working poor live and/or work; and identifying and quantifying those 29 factors that contribute to establishing quality child day care in commu- 30 nities with the greatest need; and 31 (n) examining the feasibility of implementing a standard family share 32 percentage for child care cost co-payments across the state. 33 2. (a) Each social services district shall submit data regarding the 34 income of families who applied for child care assistance pursuant to 35 this act to the department, specifying: 36 (i) the number of families who were denied; 37 (ii) the number of families who received such assistance; and 38 (iii) a listing of the incomes pursuant to subparagraph (ii) of para- 39 graph (b) of this subdivision of the families who applied for such 40 assistance. 41 (b) Each social services district shall submit data regarding the 42 number of all families who applied for and received child care assist- 43 ance pursuant to this act whose: 44 (i) incomes were under one hundred one percent of the federal poverty 45 level for their family size; 46 (ii) incomes were between one hundred one percent and one hundred 47 fifty percent of the federal poverty level for their family size; and 48 (iii) incomes were between one hundred fifty-one percent and two 49 hundred percent of the federal poverty level for their family size. 50 (c) Each social services district shall submit data regarding the 51 number of all families who applied for and were denied child care 52 assistance pursuant to this act whose: 53 (i) incomes were under one hundred one percent of the federal poverty 54 level for their family size; 55 (ii) incomes were between one hundred one percent and one hundred 56 fifty percent of the federal poverty level for their family size; and 
 A. 5154 3 1 (iii) incomes were between one hundred fifty-one percent and two 2 hundred percent of the federal poverty level for their family size. 3 § 2. The office of children and family services may request and shall 4 receive any available information from state agencies that is relevant 5 and material to the study required by section one of this act. 6 § 3. Within twelve months of the effective date of this act, the 7 commissioner of children and family services shall submit a report, to 8 the governor, the temporary president of the senate, the speaker of the 9 assembly, the minority leader of the senate, and the minority leader of 10 the assembly, on the office's findings, conclusions and recommendations, 11 and shall submit therewith such legislative proposals as the office of 12 children and family services shall deem necessary to implement its 13 recommendations. In addition, such office shall make such report avail- 14 able to the public and post it on the internet website operated by the 15 office. 16 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately, and shall expire and be 17 deemed repealed one year after such date.