Thousands of California’s poorest working families, including many here in Madera, are in danger of losing their subsidized child care in the coming weeks. As the operator of several child care facilities here in Madera, Fresno and Clovis, I myself am faced with the possibility that I’ll have to dis-enroll 600 of these families unless the Legislature passes, and Governor Gavin Newsom signs, legislation to prevent this crisis.

Assembly Bill 1649 by Sharon Quirk-Silva (D-Fullerton) and co-authored by our own State Senator Melissa Hurtado (D-Sanger) would preserve a statewide policy currently in place as a result of Newsom’s Executive Order N-45-20, and which is set to expire on June 30. This policy provides California’s low income working families with a set and stable voucher to help cover the cost of child care. Newsom issued this order during the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that subsidized family child care providers must be paid for the cost of reserving a child care slot for a family regardless of the attendance of the child. This is particularly important for working families with variable work schedules, outside of the traditional 9-5 work schedule.

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