Hochul vetoes 2 child care bills, drawing advocates' ire

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEXSTAR) — Gov. Kathy Hochul shot down two child care bills last week, citing fiscal concerns and the need for more budget planning. Although she did sign a third bill, critics said that the vetoes leave New York’s most vulnerable families without necessary support.

Childcare and childhood hunger advocates who backed the suite of bills said it was inconsistent of Hochul to sign just one of the three. In her veto messages, which you can read at the bottom of this story, Hochul pointed out that $7 billion was already allocated for child care programs. But she's also willing to revisit these bills during the budget process, she said.

The first bill, S4924A/A1303A, would have removed a state requirement that parents make above a certain amount of money to qualify for financial aid. And the second, S8152A/A8878A, would have decoupled child care assistance from parents’ work schedules. Although both passed with bipartisan support in the legislature, Hochul said they represent unaccounted costs that should be addressed during budget negotiations.

The third bill, S4667A/A4099A, automatically presumes that kids are eligible to receive state aid whenever the family applies for benefits, cutting out a delay between when they sign up and when they get the money. Still, the law leaves implementation up to individual counties, which creates inconsistent access across the state.

"Parents shouldn’t have to pay out-of-pocket or scramble to cover childcare needs while paperwork is processed," said Assemblymember Sarah Clark, who sponsored the bill that passed. “Ensuring all families have access to child care assistance is essential to a thriving economy. Allowing families who have met a presumptive eligibility standard to receive temporary childcare subsidies is essential when starting a new job or higher education opportunity."

Clark also sponsored the vetoed S4924A/A1303A. Without its passing, parents or caregivers receiving public funds for child care have to earn at least minimum wage in New York, making the state an outlier. Federal law does not have such requirements, nor do comparable states.

Critics said that the vetoes hurt families who already struggle with low wages and unstable hours. The Alliance for Quality Education (AQE), for example, said that vetoing the decoupling and earnings requirement bills keeps reliable child care away from families who work in industries with irregular schedules or limited hours, like gig work and retail. They said that the vetoes mean that the lowest-income families—disproportionately from Black, brown, immigrant, and rural communities—get left behind.

"Hochul has shown how out of touch she is with the daily realities of many families across the state," read a joint statement from AQE Co-Executive Directors Marina Marcou-O'Malley and Zakiyah Shaakir-Ansari when the governor vetoed the minimum wage earnings requirement bill. And after she vetoed the decoupling bill shortly thereafter, they added, "Her actions reveal a leader unwilling to fight for the very people she claims to represent. Let’s all remember how easy it was for the governor to find billions for sports teams owned by billionaires."

The Empire State Campaign for Child Care and EdTrust-NY said they will keep lobbying for these reforms in the next legislative session, which official starts January 8. They agreed that supporting working families by expanding child care access can lift New Yorkers out of poverty.

Lawmakers already reworked S8152A/A8878A—which decouples child care assistance payments from a parent's exact work hours—after Hochul vetoed it last year. This year's version expanded the scope of the last version and would not have taken effect until May 30, 2025, leaving room for budget negotiations.

“The excuses Governor Hochul made last year for vetoing this important bill have been addressed; the legislature has engaged with her in an over-abundance of good faith," said Sen. Jabari Brisport, who sponsored S8152A/A8878A. "Hochul has waged quiet opposition to every effort at reversing the collapse of New York’s child care sector. She will stop only when the public outcry becomes loud enough to politically inconvenience her.”

Check out the veto messages below: