Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Assembly passes legislation to make childcare more affordable

              Assemblywoman Addie J. Russell (D-Theresa) announced the legislation she authored to cap out of pocket childcare expenses passed the Assembly today. The bill, which was passed along with several other pieces of legislation aimed at making childcare more affordable, limits a family’s co-payment to 20% of their income above the poverty line and will be accompanied by state appropriations to offset any increase in costs faced by county social service agencies (A.8928).

            “The high cost of child care places an enormous financial burden on parents that are already struggling to make ends meet,” Assemblywoman Russell said.  “In order for these families to survive, the parents must work, making child care an absolute necessity. Enhancing the state’s child care subsidy program will help working families by putting affordable, quality child care within their reach and help local childcare providers grow their businesses.”

            Assemblywoman Russell is a member of the Assembly Childcare Workgroup that developed the package of legislation. The workgroup formed in May of last year to study child care issues in New York State and better understand the challenges faced by working parents. The workgroup sought feedback from representatives of the child care industry including providers, parents, advocates and evidence-based researchers to explore potential measures for increasing availability and access to child care.
           
      As part of the package, the Assembly also passed several measures aimed at supporting child care providers:

·       A. 8924 creates a task force to review burdensome regulations placed on child care providers that are duplicative or unnecessary and create administrative burdens for child care providers.

·       A. 8926 requires social service districts to reimburse providers for at least 6 absences per child in 3 months, reducing uncertainty for childcare providers and stabilizing their reimbursements; accompanied by state appropriation;

·       A. 8927 harmonizes subsidy requirements and state regulations by defining an infant as a child under two years old. The current inconsistency results in a 6 month gap in reimbursements to childcare providers; accompanied by state appropriation;

“A crucial aspect of ensuring families have access to quality affordable childcare is supporting our local childcare providers and finding ways to simplify unnecessary and burdensome regulations,” Assemblywoman Russell said. “It’s not enough to simply ask more of our local providers, we have to provide meaningful regulatory relief so they can effectively run their businesses.”


-30-