Senate Bill S602

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S602

SPONSOR: GALLIVAN
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the social services law, in relation to providing relief
on statewide central register clearance fees for tax exempt organiza-
tions

 
PURPOSE:

To remove an unfunded state mandate on tax-exempt not-for-profit child-
care providers by exempting those fees charged for State Central Regis-
try clearances of facility staff.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Paragraph (f) of Subdivision 1 of section 424-a of the social services
law, as amended by section 1 of part R of chapter 58 of the laws of
2011, is amended to exempt not-for-profit child care providers from
having to pay fees of $25 per person for state required clearance checks
              

with the State Central Registry (SCR).

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Childcare providers classified as federal 501(C)(3) not-for-profit
organizations most often serve low income families, providing child care
services that permit parents to be employed. Under state law, all
employees of childcare facilities must be cleared through the State
Central Registry (SCR) to determine if the employee is the subject of an
indicated report of child abuse or maltreatment. Prior to 2011, facili-
ties were not charged for such clearances but in 2011 a fee of $25 for
each employee clearance was imposed.

Imposing the clearance fees on not-for-profit providers represents an
unfunded burden on providers and reduces the amount of funds spent on
the provision of services, Also, at a time when non-for-profit service
providers are being told they must hold their administrative costs and
overhead to less than 15% of total costs, state mandates that drive up
administrative costs make it increasingly more difficult for providers
to manage their budgets.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2017-18: S.2127/A.2161 Reported to Finance/Referred to Children and
Families
2015-16: S.544/A.3058 Passed Senate/Referred to Children and Families
2013-14: S.110/A.4969 Committed to Finance/Referred to Children and
Families
2011-12: S.6828/A.9947 Referred to Children and Families

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

Marginal loss of fee revenue to the Office of Children and Family
Services (OCFS).

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.