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.
