BILL NUMBER: S5533
SPONSOR: BRISPORT
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the state finance law and the social services law, in
relation to establishing a permanent child care workforce pay equity
fund and the distribution of such fund; and making an appropriation
therefor
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 of the bill amends the state finance law by adding a new
section 97-bbbbb to establish the permanent child care workforce pay
equity fund.
Section 2 requires the OCFS to establish rules and regulations for the
distribution of funds from the permanent child care workforce pay equity
fund, under certain guidelines.
Section 3 appropriates $1.2 billion for the permanent child care work-
force pay equity fund.
Section 4 sets forth the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
New York State is very deep in a child care crisis. New York's child
care prices are among the highest in the nation, and our wages are among
the lowest. This legislation seeks to put New York on the path towards
universal child care by establishing a permanent child care workforce
pay equity fund.
It has for a long time been the consensus among all experts, observers,
and advocates has been that the low wages for child care sector is
precisely what is driving the current crisis. On February 6, 2025, the
Office of the New York State Comptroller released a report to further
illustrate this point. The Comptroller notes that, "(d)espite demanding
work requirements, child care workers on average earn significantly less
than the state median wage, and many do not have access to other bene-
fits, such as employer-provided health insurance, paid time off or
pensions." In fact, "the median wage for those working in the sector was
$38,234 annually, more than $20,000 less than the median wage for all
New Yorkers." Because of our shameful treatment of child care workers,
"between 26 to 40 percent of the child care workforce leave their jobs
each year, with many reporting high levels of burnout and stress."
The Comptroller's report is just the latest in a string of reports that
have come to the same conclusions, year after year. In fact, even the
Governor's own Child Care Availability Task Force recommended in an
April 2024 report that a permanent workforce wage supplement be insti-
tuted in New York State. This report stated bluntly that " 
The main
driver of the state's capacity crisis is the workforce shortage," and
that "(c)hild care providers have repeatedly raised at Task Force meet-
ings that the top concern is their inability to recruit and retain child
care educators because they cannot afford to compensate them adequate-
ly." Accordingly, "the Task Force recommends New York State act with
urgency to . . . (i)mplement a permanent line of funding for the child
care workforce." To make the point perfectly clear, the Task Force wrote
that "this workforce investment must be permanent" and that "(o)nly with
permanent funding will child care programs be able to recruit and retain
educators."
This legislation simply seeks to implement the most important recommen-
dation from the Governor's own child care task force.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New Bill
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS: $1.2 billion
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the 90th day after it shall have become a
law.

Statutes affected:
S5533: 153-k social services law