Bill > A4714

Introduced Session

This bill revises criteria to determine provider subsidy payments and applicant income eligibility regarding child care services for the 2020-2021 school year. As defined under the bill, "child care services" means those services provided to eligible children for which the Division of Family Development in the Department of Human Services receives and administers State and federal funding to provide subsidy payments to licensed child care providers. The effects of the coronavirus 2019 pandemic have caused hardship for the entire child care system. Providers face soaring overhead costs associated with smaller class sizes, new cleaning protocols, and mandates for personal protective equipment for child care staff, while working families of school-aged children struggle to afford unexpected child care expenses in the face of remote and hybrid learning. It is the sponsor's intent to provide financial relief to both providers and families and to help stabilize the child care system. Specifically, the bill directs the Division of Family Development in the Department of Human Services to ensure that all subsidy payments issued to a licensed child care provider over the period of a calendar month for child care services are equal to, at a minimum, the aggregate monthly subsidy payment issued to the provider in February 2020. As such, under the bill, subsidy payments to child care providers will be equivalent to pre-pandemic payments. The bill explicitly states that its provisions are not to prohibit the division from issuing a monthly subsidy payment in a larger amount, provided that the child care provider delivered such child care services to warrant the payment. The bill also directs the division to utilize the following tiers, which mirrors the current structure used by the division, to determine an applicant's initial income eligibility and subsequent placement on the department's co-payment schedule regarding child care services: 1) Tier A: annual gross family income, when adjusted for the family size, is at or below 250 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL); 2) Tier B: annual gross family income, when adjusted for the family size, is between 251 percent and 275 percent of FPL; and 3) Tier C: annual gross family income, when adjusted for the family size, is between 276 percent and 300 percent of FPL. An applicant is to be initially determined to be income ineligible for child care services if the applicant's annual gross family income, when adjusted for the family size, is above 300 percent of FPL. Under the bill, a child who has been initially determined as eligible to receive subsidized child care services is to remain income eligible and be allowed to continue to receive such services, under Tier D, until the annual gross family income, when adjusted for family size, exceeds 375 percent of FPL. In doing so, this bill increases the FPL thresholds for each existing Tier of income eligibility; thereby providing more low-income families with access to subsided child care. For example, a family of four would currently qualify for the subsidized child care program in Tier A, which offers the lowest co-payment amounts for families, with an annual gross income of $39,300 or less. Under the bill, this amount would increase to $65,500. Tier C, the highest tier for initial eligibility into the program, would increase from $52,500 to $78,600 for a family of four. The bill also appropriates such amounts as are necessary for the implementation of the bill, as determined by the Commissioner of Human Services. The amounts appropriated are to be funded first from assistance provided from the federal government to the extent not prohibited by federal law, such as those funds provided to the State via the Coronavirus Relief Fund established pursuant to the federal "Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act," also known as the CARES Act. The remaining amounts necessary to fund the provisions of the bill are to be appropriated from the General Fund. The provisions of the bill take effect immediately and expire on June 30, 2021, thereby applying to the entire 2020-2021 school year.

Committee Categories

Wayne DeAngelo (D)*, 

Introduced, Referred to Assembly Women and Children Committee (on 09/21/2020)