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S4294
SENATE, No. 4294
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
222nd LEGISLATURE
�
INTRODUCED MAY 14, 2026
Sponsored by:
Senator� M. TERESA RUIZ
District 29 (Essex and Hudson)
SYNOPSIS
���� Requires Division of Family Development to establish
and maintain registration system for persons applying for State's child care
assistance program.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
���� As introduced.
��
An Act
concerning the State�s child care assistance
program and supplementing Title 30 of the Revised Statutes.
����
Be It
Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:
���� 1.� The Legislature finds and
declares that:
���� a.� Every year, based on
available funding, the Division of Family Development in the Department of
Human Services determines how many families will be served by the State�s child
care assistance program.
���� b.� However, the true demand
for child care assistance exceeds what is provided on a yearly basis, a fact
which became apparent when in August 2025, the State�s child care assistance
program received an increased number of applications prior to the program
implementing a freeze on such applications.
���� c.� A September 2025 brief by
the Rutgers Child Care Research Collaborative found that 76 percent of New
Jersey children under the age of five are in non-parental care, with half of
those families spending more than seven percent of their annual income on child
care.
���� d.� For many of the most
vulnerable families in the State, the child care assistance program is the only
path to affordable, quality child care, highlighting the importance of the
program in helping low-income families remain active participants in the State�s
workforce.
���� e.� The implementation of the
freeze on applications to the State child care assistance program also had a
negative impact on child care providers who rely on the subsidies provided by
the State to continue operating their businesses.
���� f.� Under the State�s child
care assistance program, families pay their share of the cost of child care
services directly to the child care provider, while the State pays the provider
for the balance of the cost of care.� The loss of subsidy payments from
eligible families has led to decreased enrollment in child care programs and
financial instability for child care providers, reinforcing the need for better
data collection to inform State policy and funding decisions concerning the
provision of child care services.
���� g.� Therefore, it is in the
best interest of the State to establish a system to register and track all
applications for the State�s child care assistance program to improve
transparency and data collection relating to the State�s child care assistance
program and to quantify and respond to the unmet child care needs of, and the
program�s role in supporting, the State�s working families.
���� 2.� a.� The Division of Family
Development in the Department of Human Services shall establish and maintain,
on an ongoing basis, a system for registering and tracking all applicants and
prospective applicants to the State�s child care assistance program.� The
registration system shall:
���� (1) maintain a waiting list of
persons who wish to apply to receive assistance through the State�s child care
assistance program;
���� (2) implement procedures by
which such persons shall be invited to apply for assistance through the State�s
child care assistance program as determined by the division; and
���� (3) establish methods for
notifying persons on the waiting list when they can submit their applications
for the State�s child care assistance program and when the division shall
process their applications, including, but not limited to, posting such
information on its Internet website; and
���� (4) designate child care
resource and referral agencies contracted with the division to provide persons
who have been invited to apply for assistance with help in completing and
submitting applications for the State�s child care assistance program.
���� b.� The division shall publish,
at least semi-annually, a report, to be made available on the Department of
Human Services� website and submitted to the Governor and the Legislature,
pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1), containing
non-identifying aggregate data about persons on the waiting list, persons who
were invited to apply, and persons who did in fact apply to receive assistance
through the State�s child care assistance program pursuant to subsection a. of
this section.� The report shall, at a minimum, include the number of:
���� (1) applications received for
the State�s child care assistance program;
���� (2) applications received from
persons who were invited to apply to receive services through the State�s child
care assistance program;
���� (3) persons who were invited
to apply to receive services through the program and who applied to receive
such services, were determined eligible, and approved for enrollment in the
program;
���� (4) persons who wish to apply
to receive assistance through the program2 on the waiting list; and
���� (5) persons who were invited
to apply to receive services through the program determined ineligible for the
program, including aggregate reason categories for ineligibility, such as
income exceeding eligibility limits, incomplete applications, or failure to
meet activity requirements or other program criteria.
���� c.� The report published
pursuant to subsection b. of this section shall also include, to the extent
practicable, information on:
���� (1) average processing time
for applications;
���� (2) average length of time
persons wish to apply to receive services through the State�s child care
assistance program remain on the waiting list;
���� (3) geographic distribution of
persons who wish to apply to receive services through the program and persons
who were invited to apply to receive services through the program, by county;
and
���� (4) total number of children
by age represented by persons who were invited to apply to receive services
through the program.
���� 3.� This act shall take effect
immediately.
STATEMENT
���� This bill requires the
Division of Family Development (the division) in the Department of Human
Services (DHS) to establish and maintain, on an ongoing basis, a system for
registering and tracking all applicants and prospective applicants to the
State�s child care assistance program.
���� The bill requires the
registration system to:� (1) maintain a waiting list of persons who wish to
apply to receive assistance through the State�s child care assistance program;
(2) implement procedures by which such persons on the waiting list are to be invited
to apply for assistance through the State�s child care assistance program as
determined by the division; (3) establish methods for notifying persons on the
waiting list when they can submit their applications for the State�s child care
assistance program to the division, and when the division will process their
applications, including, but not limited to, posting such information on its
Internet website; and (4) designate child care resource and referral agencies
contracted with the division to provide persons who have been invited to apply
for assistance with help in completing and submitting applications for the
State�s child care assistance program.
���� The bill requires the division
to also publish an annual report, made available on the DHS website and
submitted to the Governor and the Legislature, containing aggregate data about
persons on the waiting list, persons who were invited to apply, and persons who
did in fact apply to receive assistance through the State�s child care
assistance program, including information on the number of:� (1) applications
received for the State�s child care assistance program; (2) applications
received from persons who were invited to apply to receive services through the
State�s child care assistance program; (3) persons who were invited to apply to
receive services through the program and who applied to receive services, were
determined eligible, and approved for enrollment in the program; (4) persons
who wish to apply to receive assistance through the program on the waiting
list; and (5) persons who were invited to apply to receive services through the
program and were determined ineligible for the program.