Child care, Raise the Age and SNAP fraud eyed by New York lawmakers

And Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay is stepping down.

Good afternoon — It’s Thursday and Weatherperson’s Day.

In today’s CapCon:

• Lawmakers zeroed in on Hochul’s child care plan, Raise the Age funding and SNAP fraud at Thursday’s state budget hearing on human services.

• Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay said Thursday he will step down as minority leader in the coming days and won’t seek reelection.

• Hochul rolled out another round of endorsements Thursday ahead of her party’s nominating convention in Syracuse.

• A newly proposed rule would require public utilities, including gas and electric companies, to enact strict cybersecurity measures.

Names in today’s CapCon: Jabari Brisport, Kathy Hochul, DaMia Harris-Madden, Andrew Hevesi, Barbara Guinn, Will Barclay, Carl E. Heastie, Rob Ortt, Mary Beth Walsh, Stephen Hawley, Edward P. Ra, Zohran Mamdani, Letitia James, Antonio Delgado, Sam Hodge, Didi Barrett, Adrienne Adams

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State Sen. Jabari Brisport (New York State Senate)

🗣️ Universal child care, SNAP fraud and Raise the Age funding eyed by lawmakers

We learned more about some of the concerns that lawmakers have with Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposals to expand access to child care Thursday.

Lawmakers had several questions for state Office of Children and Family Services Commissioner DaMia Harris-Madden about the plan’s implementation statewide and how it can be sustained in future years.

Hochul is proposing an additional $1.7 billion in funding in this year’s state budget to expand access to pre-Kindergarten statewide, provide more assistance to low-income families and fund 3-K and 2-Care in New York City.

Part of why the state is able to afford that is because income tax revenue far exceeded expectations in the current fiscal year, largely due to a particularly profitable year on Wall Street. That revenue has also reduced out-year budget gaps but hasn’t eliminated them.

Sen. Jabari Brisport, a Democrat who chairs the Committee on Children and Families, asked Harris-Madden how Hochul plans to sustain funding for the child care expansion if profits on Wall Street sink.

“I’m unable to speak to the governor’s plan for outyears but what she has made clear is that currently there is funding available for us to implement these new child care initiatives and expand the existing ones,” she said.