| R 140 |
| 2022 -- S 2562 Enacted 03/08/2022 |
| S E N A T E R E S O L U T I O N |
| RESPECTFULLY REQUESTING THE RHODE ISLAND DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES TO USE ITS REGULATORY AUTHORITY TO IMMEDIATELY REDUCE FAMILY COPAYMENTS FOR THE CHILD CARE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM |
Introduced By: Senators DiMario, Cano, Quezada, and Murray |
| Date Introduced: March 08, 2022 |
| WHEREAS, On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a |
| global pandemic, requiring rapid, necessary public health risk mitigation efforts around the world, |
| including Rhode Island; and |
| WHEREAS, The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in disruptions to workplaces, schools and |
| child care facilities throughout the State; and |
| WHEREAS, In the two years since that declaration, Rhode Island’s early childhood |
| sector has experienced widespread instability, in part due to mandated facility closures, |
| decreasing enrollment throughout the pandemic, workforce shortages, and financial strain; and |
| WHEREAS, Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, child care providers in Rhode |
| Island’s child care assistance program faced historically low reimbursement rates for their |
| services, particularly for infant and toddler care, that fell well below the federal equal access |
| standard, a national benchmark set to ensure all families have access to high-quality child care; |
| and |
| WHEREAS, Rhode Island families rely on the child care system in order to work, and to |
| ensure their children can develop, thrive and enter school ready to keep learning; and |
| WHEREAS, Child care is often the biggest household expense incurred by families; |
| according to Rhode Island Kids Count’s most recent fact book, a Rhode Island family would need |
| to earn at least $155,757 annually to afford the average yearly cost for a three-year-old placed in a |
| licensed child care center; and |
| WHEREAS, During the COVID-19 pandemic, the state used its administrative authority |
| to implement policies that would ensure child care providers could keep their doors open, and |
| parents could continue to afford care, all while implementing CDC guidance for keeping children, |
| workers, and families healthy; and |
| WHEREAS, One of those important policies was waiving family copayments in the child |
| care assistance program, while temporarily increasing reimbursement rates to providers to |
| simultaneously make child care more affordable for families and minimize the financial burden |
| placed on providers; and |
| WHEREAS, In February of 2022, the Department of Human Services notified child care |
| providers that beginning March 6, 2022, family copayments would be reinstated and providers |
| would be expected to collect weekly copayments directly from families; and |
| WHEREAS, Reinstating family copayments presents an immediate, unreasonable, and |
| unnecessary financial burden to families, particularly since children under the age of five are not |
| eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine and the CDC still recommends strict isolation and quarantine |
| guidance for child care facilities, leaving families with the likelihood that essential child care |
| services will not be consistently available in the event of additional COVID-19 cases and |
| exposure; and |
| WHEREAS, The financial burden put on families increases the risk that parents will be |
| forced to leave the workforce to care for children because they can no longer afford child care, |
| which will put further strain on Rhode Island businesses and the state’s economic recovery; and |
| WHEREAS, Reinstating family copayments also presents an immediate risk to child care |
| providers, who cannot absorb the cost of unpaid copayments or withstand further enrollment |
| declines; now, therefore be it |
| RESOLVED, That this Senate of the State of Rhode Island hereby respectfully requests |
| that the Rhode Island Department of Human Services use its regulatory authority to immediately |
| reduce family copayments for the Child Care Assistance Program to the lowest sliding-scale rates |
| legally allowable under federal and state law, and that those reduced rates remain in place through |
| June 30, 2022; and be it further |
| RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to |
| transmit duly certified copies of this resolution to His Excellency Governor Dan McKee, and to |
| Womazetta Jones, Secretary of the Executive of Office Health and Human Services, and to |
| Yvette Mendes, Interim Director of the Department of Human Services. |
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| LC005458 |
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