BILL NUMBER: S6424
SPONSOR: ASHBY
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the military law, in relation to establishing a weekend
child day care assistance program for New York army and air national
guard members
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To provide free childcare for New York National Guard members who are in
need of childcare during weekend drill.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 directs the division of military and naval affairs, in
conjunction with the office of children and family services, to develop
and implement a "weekend child day care assistance program" for the
families of National Guard members. The program would include an initial
registration process, as well as a monthly childcare reservation system.
The program will provide free hourly care during scheduled weekend drill
periods for up to 12 hours. An eligible child would need to be enrolled
in the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS).
Payments will be made directly from the program to the childcare provid-
er.
Section 2 provides that this act shall take effect on the 90th day after
it becomes law, but allows for immediate development of rules and regu-
lations necessary to implement.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
In order to both retain and attract more New York Army and Air National
Guard members, NYS needs to address one of the many deterrents for
National Guard families- finding quality child care during weekend drill
period hours. Family dynamics may range from dual-military spouses to
single parent households or married households with a spouse who works
or goes to school on the weekend, but the dilemma of finding childcare
for weekend drill remains. With no on-base child care options, National
Guard members are sometimes forced to miss drill weekends all together,
or they attend but are worried about whether their childcare is adequate
or falling through.
If New York State wants dedicated soldiers who are trained and ready to
deploy, they must provide this free childcare. No-cost child care will
allow a soldier to be 100% focused on training because they know their
family is being taken care of.
While the National Guard Bureau on the federal level has tried to estab-
lish two pilot programs to provide weekend childcare (2022 and 2024),
neither one of them offered this benefit to New York. The first one
failed due to few weekend childcare providers, and a cumbersome regis-
tration process. Thus, this is the perfect opportunity for New York
State to step up and fill a need.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
None.
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have
become a law.