NY State Senate Bill 2011-S819

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Rules Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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Actions

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Mar 12, 2012	committee discharged and committed to rules
Feb 21, 2012	notice of committee consideration - requested
Jan 04, 2012	referred to social services
Jan 05, 2011	referred to social services

co-Sponsors

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2011-S819 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A509
Current Committee:: Senate Rules
Law Section:: Social Services Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §34-a, Soc Serv L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2009-2010: S8137, A11532
2013-2014: S2275, A3498
2015-2016: S986
2017-2018: S4444
2019-2020: S805

2011-S819 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Relates to notice requirements to families and providers when funding cuts are made.

2011-S819 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                BILL NUMBER:S819

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 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
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 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 challenges 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
notification 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 legislation 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.
Connecticut Mirror, June 2, 2010, See
HTTP://WWW.CTMIRROR.ORG/STORV/6266/CARE-4-KIDS

New York must protect its families as well.

PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New Bill.

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.

2011-S819 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
                    S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

    S. 819                                                    A. 509

                       2011-2012 Regular Sessions

                      S E N A T E - A S S E M B L Y

                               (PREFILED)

                             January 5, 2011
                               ___________

IN SENATE -- Introduced by Sens. MONTGOMERY, BRESLIN, OPPENHEIMER, SQUA-
  DRON,  STAVISKY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to
  be committed to the Committee on Social Services

IN ASSEMBLY -- Introduced by M. of A. PEOPLES-STOKES --  read  once  and
  referred to the Committee on Children and Families

AN  ACT to amend the social services law, in relation to notice require-
  ments to families and providers when funding cuts are made

  THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section  1.  Section  34-a  of  the  social services law is amended by
adding a new subdivision 9 to read as follows:
  9. (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 NOTI-
FY  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

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                           LBD02386-01-1

S. 819                              2                             A. 509

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 SUBSTI-
TUTE FOR ANY NOTICE TO PARENTS WHICH IS REQUIRED BY LAW.
  (B)  IN ORDER TO ALLOW FAMILIES TIME TO PROPERLY PLAN FOR THEIR FINAN-
CIAL NEEDS AND FOR THE SAFETY, SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL NEEDS OF THEIR CHIL-
DREN, 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  PROVID-
ERS 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.
  S  2. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeed-
ing the date on which it shall have become a law.

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Senate Bill S819

Sponsored By

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Rules Committee

co-Sponsors

2011-S819 (ACTIVE) - Details

2011-S819 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2011-S819 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2011-S819 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments

Senate Bill S819

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Sponsored By

Velmanette Montgomery

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Rules Committee

co-Sponsors

Joseph P. Addabbo Jr.

Neil D. Breslin

Suzi Oppenheimer

Daniel L. Squadron

2011-S819 (ACTIVE) - Details

2011-S819 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2011-S819 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2011-S819 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments