Council passes Gutierrez bill requiring quarterly payment reports for child care providers

The New York City Council on an unspecified date passed a bill authored by Council member Gutierrez designed to improve timely payments to child care providers by requiring quarterly reporting from the Department of Education.

The measure, described in the meeting transcript, directs the Department of Education to report each time it pays a provider, to identify any payment issues, explain why a payment could not be made on time and describe progress toward resolving those issues. "This bill will help promote transparency, forcing the Department of Education to report quarterly, each time it pays a provider," said Speaker 2.

Council support for the bill was framed as part of a broader push for universal childcare. "We are deeply committed in the council to universal childcare," said Speaker 1, who added that the bill will help retain existing providers and attract new ones. Speaker 1 also said "hundreds literally have closed in recent years, which is creating a crisis and finding accessible affordable childcare." The transcript does not provide supporting data for that count.

Speakers emphasized consequences when payments are late. Speaker 2 said: "And when you can't pay a provider on time, they have to often let staff go or even worse, close their doors." The bill’s reporting requirements are presented in the meeting as a mechanism to surface payment problems so they can be fixed more quickly.

The transcript records the council’s passage of the bill but does not include the formal vote tally or the meeting date; those details were not specified in the provided text. The bill was identified in the record as authored by Council member Gutierrez and as requiring recurring reports from the Department of Education.

At the close of the remarks, Speaker 1 reminded listeners that the application deadline for 3-K and pre-K programs is "this Friday" and urged eligible applicants to apply without delay. The transcript contains no further procedural steps or implementation timeline for the reporting requirement.