Bill Text: NJ A1920 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Extends child care subsidies to families earning up to 300 percent of federal poverty level; appropriates funds.
Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Democrat 11-1)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-09 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Children, Families and Food Security Committee [A1920 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-A1920-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2024 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman ELLEN J. PARK
District 37 (Bergen)
Assemblywoman PAMELA R. LAMPITT
District 6 (Burlington and Camden)
Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman Reynolds-Jackson
SYNOPSIS
Extends child care subsidies to families earning up to 300 percent of federal poverty level; appropriates funds.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act concerning child care services, supplementing P.L.1993, c.46 (C.30:5B-31), and making an appropriation.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. As used in this act:
"Child care services" means those services provided to eligible children for which the Division of Family Development in the Department of Human Services receives and administers State and federal funding to provide subsidy payments to licensed child care providers.
"Child Care Tuition Assistance Program" means the program, established by the Division of Family Development in the Department of Human Services, which makes direct payments to a licensed child care provider for care provided to an enrolled child, ages birth through 13 years, from a qualifying family. The State provides tuition assistance payments on a sliding scale, based on annual income, for a child from a qualifying family.
"Full time child care" means child care services provided for a minimum of 6.25 hours of care per day, and a maximum of ten hours per day for a child enrolled with a licensed child care provider.
"Part time child care" means child care services provided for a maximum of six hours of care per day for a child enrolled with a licensed child care provider.
"School-aged child" means a child, ages five through 13 years, who is enrolled in public, private, or parochial school.
"Qualifying family" means a family, consisting of at least one child, aged 13 years or younger, and the child's parent or legal guardian, that earns an annual gross family income of up to $175,000, and meets all other eligibility criteria for the Child Care Tuition Assistance Program, as established by the Commissioner of Human Services pursuant to this act.
2. a. Notwithstanding any law, rule, or regulation to the contrary, the Division of Family Development in the Department of Human Services shall provide child care services through the State's subsidized child care assistance program for a family with a maximum annual gross family income, when adjusted for family size, that is at or below 300 percent of the federal poverty level.
b. The Commissioner of Human Services shall establish and utilize no less than four tiers, with the highest income tier being 300 percent of the federal poverty level, to determine initial income eligibility and subsequent redetermination, as well as placement on the division's co-payment schedule, regarding child care services provided under the State's subsidized child care assistance program.
c. The provisions of this section shall not preclude the commissioner from establishing a tier that provides for a maximum income prior to exit from the State's subsidized child care assistance program in which a family's maximum annual gross family income, when adjusted for family size, is permitted to be higher than 300 percent of the federal poverty level.
3. a. Notwithstanding any law, rule, or regulation to the contrary, and in accordance with federal statute and regulations concerning state expenditure of federal funds, the Commissioner of Human Services shall establish the Child Care Tuition Assistance Program, under which the State shall provide tuition payments to a licensed child care provider for full-time or part-time care provided to the child, ages birth through 13 years, of a qualifying family.
b. The amount of tuition assistance payments issued to a child care provider, pursuant to subsection a. of this section, shall be determined on a sliding scale, based on the annual gross family income of the qualifying family.
c. Tuition assistance payments may be made for the school-aged child of a qualifying family for child care provided before the start of the school day, after the end of the school day, and for any week day during which the child's school is closed.
d. Under no circumstances shall the tuition assistance payment rates, provided under this program for full-time or part-time child care, be lower than the rates paid under the provisional program, operated under the Department of Human Services between September 2020 and June 2021, to provide tuition assistance for child care for a school-aged child during periods of school closure or remote instruction due to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.
4. There are hereby appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Human Services such sums as may be necessary for the implementation of the provisions of this act, as determined by the Commissioner of Human Services subject to approval by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget in the Department of the Treasury.
5. The Commissioner of Human Services shall apply for such State plan amendments or waivers as may be necessary to implement the provisions of this act and to continue to secure any available federal financial participation for the applicable child care programs.
6. The Commissioner of
Human Services, pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968,
c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), shall adopt rules and regulations necessary to
effectuate the purposes of this act.
7. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill raises the annual household income limit for determining initial income eligibility under the State's subsidized child care assistance program.
Currently, initial eligibility determination in the State's subsidized child care assistance program is limited to families that report a maximum annual gross family income of 200 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL), which is $55,500 for a family of four in 2022. However, according to the most recent ALICE Report by the United Ways of New Jersey, the average ALICE - Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed - Household Survival Budget in the State was $88,224 for a family of four in 2018. In 2018, 37 percent of New Jersey's 3.2 million households struggled to make ends meet, with 27 percent of these households categorized as ALICE households.
This bill raises the maximum initial income eligibility, and subsequent redetermination income eligibility, for the State's subsidized child care assistance program to 300 percent of the FPL, which is $83,250 for a family of four in 2022. The Commissioner of Human Services will be required to establish and utilize at least four tiers to determine initial income eligibility and placement on the Division of Family Development's co-payment schedule for child care services under the State's subsidized child care assistance program. The bill specifies that nothing in its provisions precludes the commissioner from establishing a child care assistance income threshold that is higher than 300 percent of the FPL.
The bill additionally appropriates such sums as may be necessary to implement the provisions of the bill, which appropriation will be in an amount determined by the Commissioner of Human Services, subject to approval by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget in the Department of the Treasury.
