PRINTER'S NO. 2475
No. 287 Session of 1997
INTRODUCED BY WASHINGTON, JAMES, RAMOS, MASLAND, GODSHALL,
HERSHEY, PISTELLA, LAUGHLIN, STABACK, MUNDY, BEBKO-JONES,
EVANS, FICHTER, BELARDI, PESCI, CAPPABIANCA, MELIO, COY,
JOSEPHS, ITKIN, TRELLO, BARD, CURRY AND MANDERINO,
OCTOBER 22, 1997
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON RULES, OCTOBER 22, 1997
A RESOLUTION
1 Declaring Thursdays in November and December 1997 as
2 "Legislators' Day-Care Shadowing Days" for lawmakers to
3 better understand the need for safe, stimulating and
4 affordable day care, especially for poor families and for the
5 children left in their care.
6 WHEREAS, Welfare reform requires welfare recipients to move
7 from welfare to work, resulting in increasing numbers of
8 children in need of day care and after school care; and
9 WHEREAS, The children of working poor families, who also need
10 subsidies to afford day care will be competing with the children
11 of transitioning families for scarce and often expensive day-
12 care slots; and
13 WHEREAS, Many working families whose day-care expenses were
14 previously subsidized will lose that help when the Department of
15 Public Welfare's new "Child Care Works" proposals are
16 implemented; and
17 WHEREAS, Proposed regulations for "Child Care Works"
18 encourage both proliferation of unregulated, perhaps unsafe,
1 Relative/Neighbor Care and the choice of such care, due to its
2 lower family co-pay and generally cheaper rates; and
3 WHEREAS, All children deserve high quality, certified-safe,
4 intellectually stimulating and play-filled day care in order to
5 best approach schooling and further integration into an orderly
6 and nonviolent society; and
7 WHEREAS, Legislators need information about the variety and
8 cost of day-care services available to constituents to better
9 understand the criteria under which all day care should operate
10 to assure children safety, intellectual stimulation and
11 nurturing; and
12 WHEREAS, The best information is gathered through personal,
13 hands-on experience; therefore be it
14 RESOLVED, That the General Assembly proclaim Thursdays in
15 November and December 1997 as "Legislators' Day-Care Shadowing
16 Days," wherein legislators in their districts spend significant
17 time on two or more of those days observing and assisting in
18 day-care facilities where care is given to the children of their
19 constituents.
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