Requires each social services district to maintain a waiting list of eligible families who have applied for child care assistance; requires the local districts to report such list to the office of children and family services who shall then compile such reports and issue one report to the legislature annually; requires the social services districts to collect data regarding the income of families who have applied, were denied and received child care assistance and issue a report to the office of children and family services who shall then compile such reports and issue one report to the legislature annually.
S01926 would require every New York social services district to maintain a waiting list of eligible families who apply for child care assistance but do not receive it. The list must track basic information such as the date assistance was requested, the date it was received if later approved, the ages of the children involved, and the number of families waiting each month. The bill also requires districts to report detailed monthly and annual data on waiting times, the age groups of children affected, the number of available subsidized child care slots by age category, and the number of families waiting because they are tied to a specific child care program with no open slots.
In addition to waiting-list reporting, the bill requires districts to collect and report income data for families who apply for child care assistance, including those denied and those approved. The income reporting is broken into state median income bands, allowing policymakers to see how many applicants fall below 50 percent of state median income, between 50 and 75 percent, and between 75 and 85 percent. The Office of Children and Family Services must compile all district reports into a county-by-county statewide report and deliver it to the governor and legislative leaders annually beginning in 2027. The bill also includes confidentiality protections prohibiting the use of identifying information.
The bill would amend Social Services Law section 410-z and expand the reporting obligations of local social services districts and OCFS. It does not create a new child care benefit or change eligibility standards directly, but it would impose new administrative duties on districts to track unmet demand, slot availability, and applicant income data. It also specifies that districts are not required to reconstruct waiting lists or collect retroactive data for periods before the law takes effect, and it becomes effective October 1, 2026.
Overall, the available voting history suggests broad support for the measure. It passed the Senate Children and Families Committee unanimously, then cleared the Senate floor by a wide margin and passed the Assembly unanimously. That pattern indicates the bill was generally viewed as a data-gathering and transparency measure rather than a controversial policy change.
The main point of discussion implicit in the bill is administrative burden versus improved oversight. Supporters are likely focused on better understanding child care shortages, wait times, and the income profile of families unable to access assistance, while any concerns would center on the reporting workload for local districts and the feasibility of maintaining accurate waiting lists across counties. The bill’s anonymity requirement and prospective-only data collection appear designed to address privacy and implementation concerns.
The bill would amend the Social Services Law to require local social services districts to maintain prospective waiting lists for child care assistance applicants and to collect and report detailed data on unmet demand, wait times, child age groups, slot availability, and applicant income levels. It would also require the Office of Children and Family Services to aggregate these district-level reports into a statewide county-by-county report for the executive and legislative branches. The measure increases reporting and administrative obligations for districts and OCFS, but it does not alter eligibility rules or funding levels for child care assistance.
The bill appears to have been received positively and with little opposition. It advanced unanimously in the Senate Children and Families Committee and passed both chambers by large margins, including unanimous Assembly approval. The voting record suggests broad bipartisan support for improving transparency around child care assistance access and shortages.
The likely areas of concern are practical implementation issues rather than policy disagreement. Local social services districts may face added administrative work to create and maintain waiting lists, track monthly data, and report income and slot information. Another possible concern is whether the required data collection can be done consistently across counties, especially where child care programs have different capacity constraints. The bill addresses privacy by requiring anonymized reporting and limits the mandate to prospective data, which appears intended to reduce objections about confidentiality and retroactive recordkeeping.