Bill Text: NJ S4187 | 2026-2027 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Creates emergency closure prevention fund for child care programs at risk of closure; appropriates $10 million.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)
Status: (Introduced) 2026-05-11 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee [S4187 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2026-S4187-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator ANGELA V. MCKNIGHT
District 31 (Hudson)
SYNOPSIS
Creates emergency closure prevention fund for child care programs at risk of closure; appropriates $10 million.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning child care, supplementing Title 30 of the Revised Statutes, and making an appropriation.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. There is established in the Department of the Treasury a nonlapsing, revolving emergency fund to prevent the closure of child care programs resulting from decreases in enrollment. This fund shall be the repository for monies appropriated pursuant to section 2 of this act and any available federal funding sources, such as the Child Care and Development Block Grant of 1990, Pub.L.97-35 (42 U.S.C. s.9857 et seq.). The State Treasurer shall be the custodian of the fund and all disbursements from the fund shall be made by the State Treasurer upon requests made by the Commissioner of Human Services. The monies in the fund shall be invested and reinvested by the Director of the Division of Investment in the Department of the Treasury in the same manner as other trust funds in the custody of the State Treasurer, in the manner provided by law. Interest received on the monies in the fund shall be credited to the fund.
b. The Commissioner of Human Services shall develop an application process for the distribution of monies from the fund to the owners of child care programs licensed pursuant to P.L.1983, c.492 (C.30:5B-1 et seq.), or family day care providers registered pursuant to P.L.1987, c.27 (C.30:5B-16 et seq.), by the Department of Children and Families that are at risk of closure and document an enrollment decrease of 30 percent or more from the previous calendar year.
c. Monies from the fund shall be disbursed annually to owners of licensed or registered child care programs with approved applications for assistance, pursuant to subsection b. of this section, on a rolling basis until the fund is depleted. A grant shall not exceed $60,000 to any one entity in a calendar year.
d. The Commissioner of Human Services may impose any additional application requirements on the owners of licensed or registered child care programs who receive grant monies from a federal funding source as necessary for compliance with applicable federal and State law.
2. There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Human Services the sum of $10,000,000 to be credited to the fund established pursuant to section 1 of this act to effectuate the provisions of this act.
3. This act shall take effect immediately; however, it shall remain inoperative until funds are deposited into the emergency fund, and the Commissioner of Human Services may take any anticipatory administrative action in advance as shall be necessary for the implementation of the act.
STATEMENT
This bill creates an emergency fund for the owners of licensed or registered child care programs that are at risk of closure because of a decrease, at least 30 percent, in enrollment based on the program's enrollment numbers from the previous year. The fund would be established in the Department of the Treasury and the State Treasurer would disburse the monies from the fund upon request by the Commissioner of Human Services.
The Commissioner of Human Services (commissioner) would develop an application process, and child care providers who meet the criteria would be able submit for a grant on a rolling basis until funds are depleted for the year. A grant to any one child care program cannot be more than $60,000 per year. Additionally, if federal funds are deposited into the fund, the commissioner may impose additional requirements as necessary to comply with the relevant law for the source of the federal funds and with any applicable State law.
Additionally, the bill appropriates $10 million from the General Fund.
