When she announced her $227 billion state budget for the coming year on Wednesday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) vowed not to raise existing taxes and to boost transportation spending while pledging some investments in struggling children and families. Those include serving more than 113,000 additional kids through subsidized child care programs and investing hundreds of millions of dollars in gun violence prevention.
“Our agenda focuses on affordability, livability, safety, and includes groundbreaking proposals dealing with housing, mental health, child care, public safety, and even a minimum wage increase during these difficult times,” Hochul said at a Wednesday press conference. “All this just to make it a little bit easier to be a family living here in New York.”
She described a child care system that would be “fairer, more affordable and easier to access” as one of her top priorities. Hochul proposes spending an additional $600 million on child care in addition to the “historic” $7 billion investment pledged in last year’s budget to be spent over four years.
Under her proposal, eligibility for child care assistance would be expanded by raising the annual income ceiling to the maximum allowed under federal law, which in New York is roughly $93,200 for a family of four. Hochul’s plan said this would make an additional 113,000 children eligible for day care.
The governor’s Executive Budget proposes to streamline the often-onerous application process for child care assistance and to create uniform eligibility rules among counties. She noted that burdensome paperwork requirements and long processing times create barriers that make help difficult to access for the working poor.
In addition, a new, refundable tax credit would allow child care providers to increase the number of children they are able to serve.
The State Legislature and the governor’s office have until April 1 to finalize the budget. The legislature will hold budget hearings later this month and introduce its counterproposals in March. But some advocates have already weighed in: It does not go far enough for the most vulnerable New York families.
A spokesperson for the Albany-based Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy — which works to improve human services for New York children and families — said her group was pleased to see the governor seeking to expand child care offerings in the state for low-income families.
But Nicole Correia said the governor’s $389 million investment in the child care workforce is not enough, particularly after the devastation in the industry caused by the pandemic.
“New York’s early childhood educators, 96% of whom are women and 56% who identify as people of color, are paid such low wages they live in poverty at more than twice the rate of New York workers in general,” the center’s statement read. “Many cannot afford to remain in the field.”
Michaelle Solage, chair of the Senate Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic, and Asian Legislative Caucus, tweeted Wednesday: “A big thanks Governor for supporting families, children, and child care providers.”
Hochul also proposed increased funding to address the ongoing mental health crisis among youth. First announced in early January, the $1 billion package includes several provisions to expand mental health services in schools and prohibit insurance companies from denying access to services for children experiencing acute mental health crises.
Ron Richter, CEO of JCCA, a child and family services nonprofit, said in an emailed statement that his organization supports the proposed investments, which they hope “will provide support for children with the most acute needs.” He added, however, that there need to be additional regulatory reforms and increased funding to fully meet these children’s needs.
“A truly comprehensive package of investments and policy changes must ensure all New Yorkers, including children with the most acute needs, get the help they need,” Richter said.
Under Hochul’s proposed budget, the Office of Children and Families (OCFS) — which oversees the juvenile justice and child welfare systems — would receive $16 million “to renovate and maintain vital infrastructure at OCFS youth facilities.” The agency declined to elaborate on those plans, but Hochul’s proposal states the changes are “aimed at providing quality space and resources while ensuring the safety and security of the youth.”
Many children’s advocates were still analyzing the budget’s impacts late in the day. But initial responses expressed concern.
“Governor Hochul’s Executive Budget proposal is a large and complex document, and we will have additional thoughts and reactions as we continue to analyze the document,” said Eugene White, a spokesperson for the Albany-based Northern Rivers Family of Services, a nonprofit that provides foster care and adoption services. “But our first reaction is one of concern.”
White said representatives of the human services sector have called for an 8.5% cost-of-living adjustment in the coming budget, far higher than the 2.5% bump the governor is proposing.
“We did not pull this number out of thin air,” White said in an email. “We’re pushing for 8.5% because that’s how much the cost of living has gone up in our society. In other words, we haven’t been asking for more — we’ve just been asking for help to not fall any further behind.”
On the community safety front, Gov. Hochul’s budget proposal includes $337 million for gun violence prevention strategies. Among them is continued investment in the program known as SNUG (Should Not Use Guns) which is active in cities including Buffalo and Albany. The organization employs people with lived experience and a large number of their clients are teens and young adults. Last year, the state approved $24.9 million in funding for SNUG programs, which tripled from the year before that. This year’s investment, under Hochul’s plan, will remain at roughly $25 million.
“We’re going to keep investing in our communities, those that are most under siege from gun violence, and redeploying our state police to be that extra help on the ground that the cities are asking us for,” Hochul said Wednesday.
The budget would also invest in summer youth employment programs to prevent gun violence, adding $1 million to the $47 million statewide offerings. Hochul also hopes to start a year-round part-time employment program for 2,500 New York youth, at an annual cost of $37 million.
To the dismay of justice advocates, however, there was no mention in Hochul’s proposed budget of raising the pay for notoriously under-resourced lawyers for low-income children and families.
“We are extremely disappointed that Governor Hochul failed to include any proposed allocation in her Fiscal Year 2024 budget for public defender and legal services organizations to address staffing and operational demands, instead prioritizing the needs of prosecutors and others in law enforcement,” a press statement by the Legal Aid Society read. “Funding that favors one side of the legal system over all others reinforces bias and erodes efforts to further public safety.”
Michael Fitzgerald contributed to this report.
