New Jersey S 4187: Raises pay for election workers to $300 per day; appropriates $5,000,000 to Department of State.*

Bill Text

S4187 

SENATE, No. 4187 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

� 

INTRODUCED MAY 11, 2026

Sponsored by:

Senator� ANGELA V. MCKNIGHT

District 31 (Hudson)

SYNOPSIS

���� Creates emergency closure prevention fund for child 
care programs at risk of closure; appropriates $10 million.� 

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT 

���� As introduced.

�� 

An Act concerning child care, supplementing Title 30 of the 
Revised Statutes, and making an appropriation. 

���� Be It 
Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of 
the State of New Jersey:

���� 1.��� a. There is established 
in the Department of the Treasury a nonlapsing, revolving emergency fund to 
prevent the closure of child care programs resulting from decreases in 
enrollment.� This fund shall be the repository for monies appropriated pursuant 
to section 2 of this act and any available federal funding sources, such as the 
Child Care and Development Block Grant of 1990, Pub.L.97-35 (42 U.S.C. s.9857 
et seq.).� The State Treasurer shall be the custodian of the fund and all 
disbursements from the fund shall be made by the State Treasurer upon requests 
made by the Commissioner of Human Services.� The monies in the fund shall be 
invested and reinvested by the Director of the Division of Investment in the 
Department of the Treasury in the same manner as other trust funds in the 
custody of the State Treasurer, in the manner provided by law.� Interest 
received on the monies in the fund shall be credited to the fund.

���� b.��� The Commissioner of Human 
Services shall develop an application process for the distribution of monies 
from the fund to the owners of child care programs licensed pursuant to 
P.L.1983, c.492 (C.30:5B-1 et seq.), or family day care providers registered 
pursuant to P.L.1987, c.27 (C.30:5B-16 et seq.), by the Department of Children 
and Families that are at risk of closure and document an enrollment decrease of 
30 percent or more from the previous calendar year.� 

���� c.���� Monies from the fund 
shall be disbursed annually to owners of licensed or registered child care 
programs with approved applications for assistance, pursuant to subsection b. 
of this section, on a rolling basis until the fund is depleted.� A grant shall 
not exceed $60,000 to any one entity in a calendar year. 

���� d.��� The Commissioner of Human 
Services may impose any additional application requirements on the owners of 
licensed or registered child care programs who receive grant monies from a 
federal funding source as necessary for compliance with applicable federal and 
State law. 

���� 2.��� There is appropriated 
from the General Fund to the Department of Human Services the sum of 
$10,000,000 to be credited to the fund established pursuant to section 1 of 
this act to effectuate the provisions of this act. 

���� 3.��� This act shall take 
effect immediately; however, it shall remain inoperative until funds are 
deposited into the emergency fund, and the Commissioner of Human Services may 
take any anticipatory administrative action in advance as shall be necessary 
for the implementation of the act. 

STATEMENT

���� This bill creates an emergency 
fund for the owners of licensed or registered child care programs that are at 
risk of closure because of a decrease, at least 30 percent, in enrollment based 
on the program�s enrollment numbers from the previous year.� The fund would be 
established in the Department of the Treasury and the State Treasurer would 
disburse the monies from the fund upon request by the Commissioner of Human 
Services.� 

���� The Commissioner of Human 
Services (commissioner) would develop an application process, and child care 
providers who meet the criteria would be able submit for a grant on a rolling 
basis until funds are depleted for the year.� A grant to any one child care 
program cannot be more than $60,000 per year.� Additionally, if federal funds 
are deposited into the fund, the commissioner may impose additional 
requirements as necessary to comply with the relevant law for the source of the 
federal funds and with any applicable State law. 

���� Additionally, the bill 
appropriates $10 million from the General Fund.