Download the PDF of Schuyler Center’s End of Session Policy Priorities.
In the remaining weeks of the current New York State Legislative Session, Schuyler Center will be advocating for the following policy priorities, most of which have active bills in both the Senate and Assembly. We are working with partner organizations and our legislative partners to move these important bills through both houses and to the Governor’s desk before New York’s Senators and Assemblymembers head home to their districts for the summer. These bills would benefit New York’s children and families, especially those impacted by poverty and inequity.
Child Care
Create a permanent child care fund to increase child care worker compensation. One-time “bonuses” or “retention grants” do not create a landscape where professionals can feel confident in the stability of this line of work.
A.8878 (Hevesi)/S.8152 (Brisport) — End New York’s rule of tying child care assistance to parents’ exact hours of work —This rule makes it difficult for many working parents with fluctuating schedules, including parents working in the gig economy or in retail, to access child care. This “decoupling” law was passed overwhelmingly by the Legislature in 2023, then vetoed by the Governor with a note that it would be “more appropriately considered in the context of the budget process.” The Legislature included this proposal in both of their one-house budgets; it was excluded from the final budget.
A.4099 (Clark)/S.4667 (Brouk) — Statewide presumptive eligibility — Allow families quick access to child care assistance while waiting for paperwork processing to be completed so parents do not lose job opportunities, and children experience more continuity of care. A recently-enacted federal rule (Improving Child Care Access, Affordability, and the Child Care and Development Fund), clarifies that federal funds can be used to cover the presumptive eligibility period, and encourages states to implement this and other policies that will ease enrollment burdens on families.
Child Welfare and Youth Justice
A.2479 (Hevesi)/S.902 (Brisport) —Anti-Harassment in Reporting — Requires reporters to the State Central Register to provide their name and contact information to prevent reports being used as a form of harassment. Reporters’ names could only be accessed by the Office of Children and Family Services and counties. 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.
A.9321 (Hevesi)/S.8724 (Hoylman-Sigal) —Safe Landings Act — Aims to protect and ensure support for young persons exiting foster care by authorizing the Family Court to enforce orders on behalf of children after they are discharged from, or age out of, foster care. For example, a young person (up to age 22, or older in certain cases) can return to the court and be appointed a lawyer if they are still in need of stable housing or other necessary services for their transition to adulthood.
A.4027 (Kim)/S.7054 (Hoylman-Sigal) —End automatic child support referrals upon foster care entry — Directs counties away from automatically referring parents of children who enter foster care to child support collections. For every $100 child welfare-involved parents pay toward foster care costs, their child’s duration in care lengthens for 6.6 months. States consistently spend more money trying to collect child support than they collect, typically at a 3:1 ratio. Some New York counties collect approximately $2.3 million a year on “foster care child support” cases, likely spending $6 million in child support administrative costs and delaying reunification.
A.8923-A (Hevesi)/S.1099-A (Bailey) — Right2RemainSilent — Prohibits police from engaging in custodial interrogation of a child under the age of 18 until the child has consulted with an attorney. It is well-understood by psychologists, sociologists, and neurologists that children lack the capacity to fully appreciate the meaning and significance of the right to remain silent, and to appreciate the repercussions of waiving that right. Data show that children falsely confess at three times the rate of adults.
Health
A.7402 (Peoples-Stokes) — Topical Fluoride Varnish — Amends the Education Law to permit dental assistants and licensed practical nurses to perform the application of topical fluoride varnish. Applying fluoride varnish to the teeth of young children is proven to reduce dental disease, but too few children in New York receive treatments. Allowing additional types of health providers to perform this service, as well as parents under the supervision of providers, would create more opportunities for children to receive this preventive service. This is an approach followed successfully in many other states.
A.8983 (Paulin)/S.7667-A (Cleare) — Adult Dental Benefits — This bill would codify dental implants, replacement dental prosthetic appliances, crowns and root canals as medically necessary and eligible for coverage under the Medicaid program.
Child Poverty
Urge the Legislature to monitor the State’s progress toward its child poverty reduction goals. In 2022, the State enacted the Child Poverty Reduction Act, thereby committing to reduce child poverty by 50% over the next decade. The Legislature should work with the Child Poverty Reduction Advisory Council to pursue a more ambitious timeline to reach this goal.
Additional Schuyler Center Priorities
A.1980 (Walker)/S.901 (Brisport) —Family Miranda Rights — Requires Child Protective Services (CPS) caseworkers to advise parents and caregivers of their rights at first contact.
A.109-B (Rosenthal)/S.320-B (Salazar) —Informed Consent for Drug Testing Parents and Babies — Requires medical care providers to seek the informed consent of pregnant people and new mothers before they or their babies are drug tested.
A.4238 (O’Donnell)/S.3426 (Myrie) — Youth Justice & Opportunities Act (YJ&O) — Expands alternatives to incarceration, diversion, and immediate record sealing for young people who are arrested in New York.
A.1885 (Clark)/S.3355 (Kennedy) — Implement a “cost estimation” method of setting child care assistance reimbursement rates — A cost estimation model is designed to better reflect the true cost of providing high-quality child care, including paying the child care workforce a thriving wage.
Recent Comments