Senate Bill S9853

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   9853
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                               June 5, 2024
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by Sen. BRISPORT -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules
 
 AN ACT to establish a universal child  care  pilot  program  to  provide
   child care at twenty locations throughout the state
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   Section 1. Legislative findings. New York state is currently facing  a
 child  care  crisis.  Child care is unaffordable and unavailable for too
 many New Yorkers, and the child care  workforce  has  been  historically
 underpaid and undervalued. Moreover, there is a troubling lack of capac-
 ity,  with  3.4  children  under  the age of six years old for every one
 child care slot available within the state. In  order  to  address  this
 child  care  crisis,  the  Child  Care  Availability Task Force issued a
 report in April 2024, subject to its mandate to assist in "developing  a
 framework  leading  to  phased-in  rollout of universal child care." The
 final report advised that the state of New York should "launch and eval-
 uate a state-run child  care  assistance  pilot  program"  in  order  to
 address these significant gaps, and move New York state towards a system
 of  truly universal and high-quality child care. New York has one of the
 wealthiest economies in the world, and it is more than capable of devel-
 oping a system  of  universal  child  care  that  provides  high-quality
 programming,  pays  its  educators  wages at parity with those of public
 school educators, and is free at the point  of  service  just  like  our
 public school system.
   § 2. Universal child care pilot program. The commissioner of education
 and  the  commissioner of the office of children and family services are
 hereby directed to  jointly  establish  a  universal  child  care  pilot
 program, within amounts appropriated therefor, in up to twenty locations
 throughout the state in accordance with the provisions of this act.
   §  3.  Definitions.  For the purposes of this act, the following terms
 shall have the following meanings:
   (a) "education commissioner" shall mean the commissioner of education.
   (b) "OCFS commissioner" shall mean the commissioner of the  office  of
 children and family services.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
              

                                                            LBD15416-01-4
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   (c)  "universal child care pilot program" shall mean the pilot program
 established pursuant to this act.
   §  4.  Administration. The universal child care pilot program shall be
 jointly administered by the education commissioner and the OCFS  commis-
 sioner.  The education commissioner and the OCFS commissioner shall hold
 a series of public hearings, consult with all members of the child  care
 availability  task  force  established under section 390-k of the social
 services law, consult with all unions that represent child care  workers
 in  New  York state, and jointly publish an implementation plan no later
 than December 2025 outlining a path to  begin  implementing  this  pilot
 program in conjunction with the fiscal year 2025-26 budget.
   §  5.  Selection of locations. The education commissioner and the OCFS
 commissioner shall jointly select twenty locations throughout  New  York
 state  to  establish  new  child care programs. These locations shall be
 selected based on factors that include, but are not limited to, the need
 for high-quality child care and the lack of availability of high-quality
 child care in the region.  Existing child care providers who are  finan-
 cially  struggling due to a lack of state support, or who are capable of
 expanding their operations to provide further high-quality  care,  shall
 be  given  the option of opting in to participate in the universal child
 care pilot program, provided that they can offer  expanded  high-quality
 care with state supports under the program.
   §  6.  Universal  admissions.  The  universal child care pilot program
 shall not discriminate in its admissions, and shall provide  child  care
 regardless  of  age, race, creed, color, national origin, citizenship or
 immigration  status,  sexual  orientation,   or   gender   identity   or
 expression, military status, sex, disability, predisposing genetic char-
 acteristics, familial status, or marital status. There shall be no means
 testing  for  admission, and care shall be provided free at the point of
 service.
   § 7. Pay parity for child care educators.  The  universal  child  care
 pilot program shall establish high quality pay for high quality program-
 ming.    The universal child care pilot program shall pay staff adequate
 wages and benefits at parity with public school  teachers  with  similar
 experience and qualifications.
   §  8.  Employee  protections.  Prior  to submitting its implementation
 plan, the education commissioner and the OCFS commissioner shall consult
 with all unions that represent child care  workers  in  New  York  state
 regarding matters of compensation and representation, in order to ensure
 that  the  child care workforce employed pursuant to the universal child
 care pilot program is properly represented and can collectively bargain.
   § 9. Facilitated enrollment and assistance for applicants. In addition
 to establishing twenty new universal child care program  locations,  the
 universal  child  care  pilot  program  shall also assist in serving the
 needs of applicants that it is unable to accommodate within  the  twenty
 new  locations  that  are  to be established under the program. Once the
 twenty new locations reach their maximum capacity, the  universal  child
 care  pilot program shall assist in placing additional applicants, work-
 ing in connection with existing child care resource and  referral  agen-
 cies  as  well  as existing facilitated enrollment programs, at existing
 child care facilities, and shall provide further  financial  assistance,
 subject to appropriations in the annual budget.
   § 10. Annual reporting. In order to evaluate the implementation of the
 universal  child  care pilot program, the education commissioner and the
 OCFS commissioner shall jointly publish an annual report that  includes,
 but is not limited to, the number of children and families served by the
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 program,  the  wages  of the workforce, the number of applicants for the
 program, and areas where further expansion of the program  or  financial
 assistance would be beneficial.
   § 11. This act shall take effect immediately.