What's happening
This bill requires advance public notice to families and providers when social services districts plan to cut child care funding or increase parent co-payments.
Why it matters
Improves transparency and predictability. By requiring at least 90 days’ advance notice before eligibility cuts or co-payment increases take effect, the bill gives families and providers more time to adjust to potentially significant financial changes.
Supports child and family stability. Early notification helps families better plan for disruptions that could affect children’s safety, socialization, and emotional well-being if subsidies are reduced or costs go up.
Expands communication responsibilities. The bill mandates that the Office of Children and Family Services must notify not just parents, but also all licensed child care providers and relevant referral agencies, increasing the likelihood that affected families will actually receive timely information.
Enhances accountability for local agencies. By formalizing notification procedures and timelines, the bill makes it harder for local social services districts to implement funding or policy changes without public scrutiny or adequate warning to those impacted.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Notify Families of Funding Cuts
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
3 Co-sponsors
History
- Referred to social services
- Referred to social services
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
805
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE (Prefiled)
January 9, 2019
Introduced by Sens. MONTGOMERY, COMRIE, KRUEGER -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Social Services
AN ACT to amend the social services law, in relation to notice requirements to families and providers when funding cuts are made
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Section 34-a of the social services law is amended by adding a new subdivision 10 to read as follows:
10. (a) In order to allow families time to properly plan for their financial needs and for the safety, social and emotional needs of their children, in the event that a social services district proposes to amend its consolidated services plan, submits an annual plan update, or takes any other action that would lower the financial eligibility level for child care assistance so that families receiving subsidies would lose eligibility therefore, the local social services district shall notify the office of children and family services of that fact at least ninety days before the effective date of the proposed change in eligibility level. The office of children and family services shall post notice of the proposed change on the office's website within ten days of receiving said notice, and within thirty days of receiving said notice shall notify all licensed and registered child care providers in the affected district, the state child care resource and referral agency, as well as the local child care resource and referral agency. Said notice may be made by e-mail or regular mail in the form of a letter or postcard, and shall inform the recipient of the date of the proposed change and a description of the proposed change. The notice shall also request that child care providers that receive the notice immediately post the notice in a place which is likely to be seen by the families who have children
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03062-01-9
S. 805 2
in the provider's care. This notice shall not be considered as a substitute for any notice to parents which is required by law.
(b) In order to allow families time to properly plan for their financial needs and for the safety, social and emotional needs of their children, in the event that a social services district proposes to amend its consolidated services plan or to submit an annual plan update that increases the parental co-payment multiplier for child care assistance so that families receiving subsidies would pay an increased percentage of their income as a child care co-payment, the local social services district shall notify the office of children and family services of that fact at least ninety days before the effective date of the proposed change in eligibility level. The office of children and family services shall post notice of the proposed change on the office's website within ten days of receiving said notice, and within thirty days of receiving said notice shall notify all licensed and registered child care providers in the affected district, the state child care resource and referral agency, as well as the local child care resource and referral agency. Said notice may be made by e-mail or regular mail in the form of a letter or postcard, and shall inform the recipient of the date of the proposed change and a description of the proposed change. The notice shall also request that child care providers that receive the notice immediately post the notice in a place which is likely to be seen by the families who have children in the provider's care. This notice shall not be considered as a substitute for any notice to parents which is required by law.
§ 2. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeeding the date on which it shall have become a law.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the social services law, in relation to notice require- ments to families and providers when funding cuts are made
Purpose of bill
To ensure that parents have enough notice to plan for the unanticipated loss of child care services.
Summary of specific provisions
Section 1 adds a new subdivision to section 34-a of the social services. law, which requires a county to contact OCFS 90 days before they reduce access to child care services. OCFS is required to post a notice on their website within ten days, and shall send notice to Providers in the affected district within 30 days. Providers are required to post such notice, and parents will have at least two months to plan.
Justification
In February 2010, with only 10 days notice, the families of 1500 chil- dren in Erie County were notified that their child care subsidies would be terminated because the county was lowering its eligibility levels from 20096 to 125% of poverty. This short notice left many families in the lurch and required some to leave their jobs and others to remove their children from safe, secure and known child care providers with no time to arrange satisfactory alternatives. Families were left without adequate time to plan or react.
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 makes a dramatic change in child care eligibility levels or its co-payment structure. Counties receive their subsidy funding once a year and it is reasonable to expect that they project the number of families that can be served with the funding that the county is awarded. Such planning is fiscally responsible and is not unduly burdensome.
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 would need to notify all of the providers that it regulates, the state child care resource and referral organization and the child care resource and referral-organizations that serve the social services district that is making the change This notice would allow families that are losing a critical economic support to Plan for the significant chal- lenges that will be facing them when they lose their subsidy or their co-payment increases. It is drafted in such a way so that the notifica- tion can take place while the social services district is in the process of getting the approval of the Office of Children and Family Services for its state plan amendment. The State of Connecticut enacted legis- lation which provides that parents and providers receive 30 days notice if their subsidy will be ending in order to protect families from the
financial distress that results when parents lose their subsidies with very little notice.
Prior legislative history
2011-2012: S.819 - Died in Committee;
2013-2014: S.2275 - Referred and died in Social Services.
Fiscal implications for state and local governments
To be determined
Effective date
This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeeding the date on which it shall become a law.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.