Policy and Budget Analyses:
Read Schuyler Center’s assessments of each phase of the New York State 2025-26 Budget and how it advances priorities that improve the health and wellbeing of all New Yorkers, especially those living in poverty.
- First Look at the State Budget (Executive Budget Proposal)
- Next Look at the State Budget (One House Budget Proposal)
- Last Look (Enacted State Budget)
Top End of Session Policy Priorities
Child Care
Statewide childcare workforce living wage fund — A.492-A (Hevesi)/S.5533 (Brisport)
Creates a permanent child care fund to increase child care worker compensation. The child care workforce is among the lowest paid occupations in New York, contributing to high turnover and staffing shortages, and deepening the state’s child care capacity shortfall. The average wage for the child care workforce (94% women, and more than 53% people of color) is approximately $38,000. In contrast, the median annual salary for full-time New York workers is approximately $69,000 per year. The solution as recommended by the Governor’s Child Care Availability Task Force was for New York to “[i]mplement a permanent line of funding for the child care workforce,” because “[o]nly with permanent funding will child care programs be able to recruit and retain educators,” families be able to find care, and the goal of universal child care realized.
Mandating Waitlists for Child Care Assistance — A.7145 (Walker)/S.1926 (Persaud)
New York has made historic expansions to the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) in recent years, leading to a significant increase in the number of New York families receiving assistance – rising 35% last year alone. The increase in enrollment is outpacing funding for the program leading to shortfalls in many communities, yet many do not keep waitlists. This bill would require all counties to maintain waitlists, and collect basic information to inform future state efforts to ensure there are adequate resources reaching all communities to meet child care assistance needs.
Provide Automatic Rate Increases for Child Care Providers – A.1001-A (Clark)/S.4472-A(Ramos)
This law will require that all child care programs participating in the CCAP program automatically receive the market rate. This will result in an overdue rate hike to thousands of child care providers currently paid rates that are below the agreed upon market rate simply because they have not filed the required paperwork, or because they charge a lower than market rate because families cannot afford to pay market rate.
Education
Solutions Not Suspensions — A.118 (Solages)/S.134 (Jackson)
Across New York during the 2023-2024 school year, 137,511 students were suspended at least once – including 8,331 children in grades Pre-K to 3. This equates to 957,934 school days lost to suspension. This loss of learning impacts Black, Latino, disabled, low-income, LGBTQ+ students and students in foster care at higher rates than their peers. New York must commit to using solutions to student behavior that do not deprive young people of an education.
Child Welfare and Youth Justice
Family Miranda Rights — A.1234 (Walker)/S.551 (Brisport)
This legislation would require caseworkers to advise parents and caregivers of their rights at first contact with Child Protection Services (CPS). Ensuring that parents and caregivers are made aware of their rights at the beginning of a CPS investigation will empower parents to make informed decisions, making CPS investigations less traumatizing for the whole family.
Maternal Health and Dignity in Consent — A.860 (Rosenthal)/S.845 (Salazar)
This bill requires medical care providers to seek the informed consent of pregnant people and new mothers before they or their babies are drug tested. Black women are drug tested disproportionately, which leads to disproportionate calls to the State Central Register, and sometimes to family separation at or near birth. Informed consent is already in effect in New York City’s public hospitals.
Anti-Harassment in Reporting — A.66 (Hevesi)/S.550 (Brisport)
This bill requires reporters to the State Central Register (SCR) to provide their name and contact information, which would be confidential—only accessed by the Office of Children and Family Services and counties, to prevent reports being used as a form of harassment. Black children are nearly twice as likely as white children to be reported to the SCR. False anonymous reports are often used as a form of harassment.
End Automatic Referrals to Child Support Collection — A.1036 (Kim)/S.3660 (Hoylman-Sigal)
This bill prohibits automatically referring parents of children who enter foster care to child support collection, a practice already ended in New York City. This practice places undue financial burdens on families already experiencing separation, lengthens children’s stay in foster care for over 6 months. Notably, this practice, ostensibly designed to save state money actually costs the state about $56 million a year.
Health
Expands Where a Dental Hygienist Can Practice — S.3157 (May)/A. 2341 (Paulin)
This legislation would increase access to essential dental care by allowing dental hygienists to provide dental care in settings accessible to New Yorkers who often face barriers to oral health services such as federally qualified health centers, long-term care facilities, schools, domestic violence shelters, among other locations. By allowing dental hygienists to practice in these settings, fewer New Yorkers will be forced to endure the pain and health problems that come with poor oral health and untreated dental problems.
Allows Parents to Apply Fluoride Varnish Under Supervision of a Provider — S.6759 (Fernandez) A.8145 (Peoples-Stokes)
This legislation authorizes parents and legal guardians to apply fluoride varnish to a child’s teeth under the prescription and protocols of a licensed healthcare provider, expanding access to this safe and effective preventive service, particularly for children at highest risk of dental disease.
Child Poverty
New York For All – S.2235 (Gounardes)/A3506 (Reyes)
This legislation prohibits state and local agencies and employees from engaging in federal immigration enforcement, sharing personal information with immigration authorities, or cooperating with immigration authorities unless presented with a valid judicial warrant. By doing so, the bill aims to preserve and build the trust of immigrant New Yorkers with state and local law enforcement, schools and social services agencies so they feel they can safely call 911 or cooperate with criminal investigations in their communities, or access essential social services to which they or their children are entitled without being targeted by immigration enforcement. This legislation is particularly important for immigrant families with children, to encourage them to continue participating in public spaces and utilizing public programs for which they are eligible without fear of being separated from their families due to immigration enforcement or deportation.
Additional Priorities
Eliminate Minimum Earnings Requirements for CCAP Eligibility — A.2218 (Clark)/ S.1994 (Ramos)
Currently, parents and caretakers can be ineligible for child care assistance if they earn too little. Under this rule, many small business owners who are barely paying themselves – including many child care providers – are ineligible for child care assistance. These families are already enduring the consequences of earning low pay, working on the margins of the economy, and are being denied access to child care assistance because they are earning so little.
Right to Remain Silent Act — A.2620 (Hevesi)/S.878-A (Bailey)
This proposal requires that children and youth taken into custody must consult with an attorney before waiving their rights or being interrogated and strengthens requirements related to police notification of parents when a child is taken into custody, among other juvenile justice reforms.
Youth Justice and Opportunities Act — A.5293 (Walker)/S.4330 (Myrie)
This bill strengthens and expands alternatives to incarceration and record sealing for youthful offenders, allowing emerging adults, ages 19-25, to take responsibility for the commission of a crime while fostering their ability to enter the workforce, secure stable housing, and pursue education without the stigma of a criminal record.
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