Child-care costs take center stage- POLITICO

High child-care costs took center stage today during a joint hearing of the Assembly Women and Children and Commerce and Economic Development committees.

Lawmakers and advocates pushed for easing child-care burdens through the advancement of a slate of child-care bills featuring increased funding and subsidies, as many working mothers, especially women of color, saw their economic stability rocked by the pandemic.

Britnee Timberlake (D-Essex), chair of the Assembly Commerce and Economic Development Committee, noted that child care centers which haven’t shut down because of the pandemic have struggled to retain staff due to higher wages offered at big box stores, and that rising child care costs disproportionately force women to leave the workforce to nurture their young ones at home.

“In a disproportionate way, women will be the ones that will have to leave the workforce to care for the children,” Timberlake said.

As of February,92 licensed child-care centers have shuttered since the pandemic began, according to the state Department of Children and Families.

“Child care was an industry that has been underfunded and hard to access for years before the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Gabriela Mosquera D-Gloucester) , chair of the Assembly Women and Children Committee, adding that the child-care legislation members advanced last week includes an extension of income-based and enrollment-based subsidies to help address that funding gap.

“Women have been working throughout the pandemic and I think that’s important to remember. But what we see is some growing precarity, particularly among Black women,” Debra Lancaster, executive director of the Rutgers Center for Women and Work, told the committees.

Drawing from a report the center published in May, Lancaster noted that about 5 percent of New Jersey women had multiple jobs in 2021, a higher rate than previous years and higher than the rate for men at about 4 percent. For Black women, the number was approximately 6 percent.

“Among women, they were the only racial or ethnic group to take on more jobs in 2020 on average,” Lancaster said.

HAPPY MONDAY AFTERNOON — Hi there, I’m Jonathan Custodio, your Playbook PM author. We’re adding New Jersey political trivia to this newsletter and will shout out one person who correctly answers the question in the following day’s edition.

Congrats to Karin Price Mueller for knowing the name of former Gov. Chris Christie’s autobiography: Let Me Finish: Trump, the Kushners, Bannon, New Jersey, and the Power of In-Your-Face Politics. Today’s question: Who was the state’s Senate President in 1990? 

Send answers and tips to [email protected].

We’re here with the latest from Trenton and elsewhere as New Jersey moves ahead in the budget process and the Legislature conducts hearings on Gov. Phil Murphy’s spending plan.

SEAMLESS BUDGET DELIVERY — Senate President Nick Scutari is hoping for a seamless budget process as lawmakers labor down the final stretch. “I hope it’s seamless, at least on the outside,” Scutari told POLITICO’s Daniel Han. Thus far, the budget process has moved without any major controversies, in contrast to prior years, including a near government shutdown in 2018 concerning a proposed state millionaire’s tax.

Scutari added that there aren’t any particular items that could cause conflict. “No, nothing particular. I mean, we’ve had a lot of good conversations with the Speaker and the governor’s office and I think we’re moving in the right direction,” he said.

COVID NUMBERS— New Jersey reported 1,223 confirmed Covid-19 positive tests and two deaths from the virus on Monday. The state’s seven-day case average was down 13 percent from a week ago and 29 percent from a month ago.

HIGHER EDUCATION — New Jersey colleges may soon be required to publicly report data on student mental health services under a measure released from committee today.

The bill, NJ A3713 (22R), titled the “College Mental Health Services Act,” would create a grant program for public colleges and universities to improve or expand their mental health services on campus and require schools to publicly report some data about the number of students seeking mental health services and the average wait time for getting an appointment.

In the wake of Covid-19 lockdowns and amid the recent school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, youth mental health concerns have taken on new urgency in statehouses across the country.

“As a professor, I’ve seen firsthand the need for mental health services on campus,” Assemblymember Sadaf Jaffer (D-Somerset), one of the bill’s sponsors, said in the Assembly Higher Education Committee. Jaffer has lectured at Princeton University.

The bill — with committee amendments — was released 6-0, with one abstention.

In a statement after the bill’s release, Jaffer said the measure “will improve access to potentially life-saving resources by eliminating barriers that stand in the way of students seeking treatment.” — Carly Sitrin

A NEW COMMUTE — Murphy announced today that Justin Braz is transitioning into a new role as the New Jersey Department of Transportation’s assistant commissioner for transportation policy and chief of staff. He leaves his role as deputy chief of staff for the Office of Legislative Affairs and will begin his position at DOT in July. 

CASINO UNION TO VOTE ON STRIKE AUTHORIZATION — Associated Press: “Atlantic City’s main casino workers union will vote Wednesday on whether to authorize a strike against the city’s casinos, with whom they have yet to reach new contract agreements.

Local 54 of the Unite Here union says its members will decide whether union leadership can call a strike against any or all of the nine casinos. Contracts with the casinos expired nearly two weeks ago, and talks have yet to produce a new agreement.”

SIRES SHAKES UP HUDSON COUNTY POLITICS — Jersey Journal’s Jake Maher: “Hudson County Rep. Albio Sires triggered a shakeup in North Hudson politics by signaling last week his intent to run for mayor of West New York in 2023 after his 16-year run in Congress ends, a move that also has implications for the balance of power across the rest of the county.

‘You get things done on the local level,’ Sires joked as an explanation for the move. ‘You don’t get anything done in Congress.’

The 71-year-old said he’s been working behind the scenes on a few projects in West New York, including a new public library, a pedestrian bridge over Port Imperial Road, and a park built on a pier in the Hudson River near the Son Cubano restaurant.”

PLAN TO IMPROVE MATERNAL HEALTH OUTCOMES SLOWLY TAKING SHAPE — NJ Spotlight News’ Lilo H. Stainton: “New Jersey has made a bold commitment to drastically improve its dismal maternal health outcomes — especially among women of color — and has made progress in recent years. With goals that exceed any other approach, tens of millions of state and federal dollars have been dedicated to reforms, dozens of new laws enacted, and a diverse and growing list of stakeholders are now actively engaged.

But converting these concepts into action takes time, especially for some of the effort’s centerpiece items. A program to ensure a nurse visits every mother with a newborn at home will require years to roll out, while plans for a Trenton maternal health innovation center remain in flux, and a federally funded committee charged with quarterbacking the work has faced delays during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

— Legislation in Trenton would require drivers’ manuals to include a list of motorists’ rights and responsibilities.

— Three more recreational weed shops will open in New Jersey on Wednesday.

— New Jersey’s Supreme Court says there’s no need for attorney review on real estate auctions. 

— Assemblymember Ron Dancer (R-Ocean) wants to get rid of constables. Because they’re not really police officers.