Provides for the local social services district to notify the office of children and family services when there is a change in the eligibility level

1 Co-sponsor

• Velmanette Montgomery

BILL NUMBER:S6806

Title of bill

An act to amend the social services law, in relation to notice requirements to families and providers when funding cuts are made

Purpose of bill

To afford families the time necessary to plan should they experience a disruption in child care services due to a reduction in financial eligibility in relation to child care subsidies.

Summary of specific provisions

Section 1 adds a new subdivision to section 34-a of the social services law, which requires a county social services district to notify the office of children and family services GO days prior to a proposed reduction in the financial eligibility level for childcare assistance or an increase in the parental co-payment. The office would be required to post a notice on their website within 5 days, and must send notice to child care providers, the applicable child care resource and referral agency and the certified employee organization representing said child care providers within 20 days. Child care providers, including the certified employee organization representing the providers, are required to post such notice.

Section 2 of the bill establishes the effective date.

Justification

In February 2010, with only 10 days notice, the families of 1500 children in Erie County were notified that their child care subsidies would be terminated because the county was lowering its eligibility levels from 200% to 1253 of the poverty level. This short notice left many families in a compromised situation and required some to leave their jobs and others to remove their children from safe, secure and quality child care with little to no time to arrange satisfactory alternatives. These families experienced undue hardship as a result of this inadequate notice timeframe.

State regulations require that an individual be given 10 days notice of a reduction or discontinuance of social services benefits. That notice provision makes sense if the adverse action is caused by a change in the individual's income or resources. However, it does not make sense when a county adjusts their child care eligibility levels or its co-payment structure.

This bill would require that counties notify the Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) when the social services district plans to lower eligibility levels or lower its co-payment structure. OCFS would in turn notify all of the providers that it regulates, including legally-exempt caregivers, the state child care resource and referral agency and the applicable local child care resource and referral agency, as well as the certified employee organization representing child care providers, that it is proposing to make such an adjustment. This notice will provide families the time needed to make alternative plans.

Prior legislative history

Similar to Veto #236 of 2013

Fiscal implications for state and local governments

Minimal

Effective date

This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeeding the date on which it shall become a law.