NY State Senate Bill 2015-S986

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Social Services 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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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 06, 2016	referred to social services
Jan 07, 2015	referred to social services

co-Sponsors

2015-S986 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Social Services
Law Section:: Social Services Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §34-a, Soc Serv L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2009-2010: S8137
2011-2012: S819
2013-2014: S2275
2017-2018: S4444
2019-2020: S805

2015-S986 (ACTIVE) - Summary

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

2015-S986 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                BILL NUMBER:S986

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 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 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/6265/CARE-4-KIDS New York must protect its families as well.

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.

2015-S986 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

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

                                   986

                       2015-2016 Regular Sessions

                            I N  S E N A T E

                             January 7, 2015
                               ___________

Introduced  by  Sen.  MONTGOMERY  -- 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  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 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 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
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.

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD02991-02-5

S. 986                              2

  (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 S986

Sponsored By

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Social Services Committee

co-Sponsors

2015-S986 (ACTIVE) - Details

2015-S986 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2015-S986 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2015-S986 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments

Senate Bill S986

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Sponsored By

Velmanette Montgomery

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Social Services Committee

co-Sponsors

Leroy Comrie

Liz Krueger

Daniel L. Squadron

2015-S986 (ACTIVE) - Details

2015-S986 (ACTIVE) - Summary

2015-S986 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2015-S986 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments