June 24, 2026 · CHILDREN AND YOUTH · 4,642 words · 30 speakers · 136 segments
Thank you. Thank you. Please make sure your cell phones are silenced. I ask that members use a microphone when speaking and make sure the green light on as well. Today we will be voting on the following legislation. House Bill 151, sponsored by Representative Kujewski. House Bill 2490, sponsored by Representative Abney. House Bill 2492, sponsored by Representative Davidson, House Bill 2527, sponsored by Representative Fleming, and House Resolution 525, sponsored by Representative Hill Evans. Today we will vote on legislation that expands protections for foster care youth, child welfare providers' liability insurance, provides for an appropriate child care facility notice of closure, expands eligibility for pre-K counts and child care works, online safety for children, and a resolution promoting awareness of insufficient supply of disposable diapers for children and incontinent adults. Excuse me, I need some water.
To get started, I would like Alexa to take the role.
Chair McNeil. Here.
Representatives Bellman.
Here. Boyd. designation
serato designation
curry designation
fleming designation
against designation
handbidge designation
howard
kazim designation
krajewski here
mcandrew designation
nelson here
parker designation
chair clunk here
representatives barker here
Flick?
Hogan?
Designation? Mackenzie?
Designation? Margitas?
There's something... There was another name that was added for some reason. It just automatically showed up for some reason. Margettis is here.
He is?
Okay. Okay. Okay, thank you.
Mihalik? Leave.
Sorry, designation.
Pew? Here.
Schlegel? Designation.
Veribish? Verobish?
Sorry, Verobish.
Wallen? Here.
Walsh? Designation.
You have a quorum. The chair calls up House Bill 151, printers number 2558. Danielle, please provide a summary of the bill.
Good morning. House Bill 151, sponsored by Representative Krijewski, amends Act 119 of 2010, or the Children in Foster Care Act, by adding new definitions and a new section discussing benefits. The following third-party interest groups support this legislation. The Pennsylvania Council of Children, Youth, and Family Services, Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children, the Defender Association of Philadelphia. The following third-party interest group is neutral on this legislation, the Rehabilitation and Community Providers Association. There is no known opposition.
Thank you, Danielle. The question is, will the committee report the bill? I will be offering Amendment A03846. Danielle, please provide a summary of the amendment.
Amendment A03846, sponsored by Representative McNeil, imposes duties on the Joint State Government Commission and the Department of Human Services, adds a new term of Retirement Survivors and Disability Insurance Benefits, or RSDI, benefits, and changes the effective date. It is important to note that the administration is supportive of the bill with this amendment. Thank you.
Will the committee agree to the amendment on that question? The chair recognizes. Chair Clunk. Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate you offering this amendment and believe that this will make this bill even better. I also want to thank Representatives Krajewski and Delosier for working on this. I feel like it wouldn't be a Children and Youth Committee meeting if we didn't have a Kyrgyzki and a Delosier bill. So thank you again for working together on legislation and showing how we can work together here in the legislature to get things done for our children. And I will be supporting this amendment. We'll be supporting the underlying bill, and all of our members will be doing the same. Thank you. Thank you.
And as well, all of our members will be supporting it.
Just for the meeting record, are there any negative votes on the amendment? The amendment is passed, 26-0. Thank you. Representative Kujewski is present to provide remarks on the bill.
Yes. Thank you, Chair. I want to thank Chair McNeil and Chair Klunk for bringing up this important legislation. I want to thank Rep. DeLosier for your partnership. I know you've been very patient on working on this. There a few sessions now where we working on this important issue with House Bill 151 around preserving foster benefits As some people know many foster children are eligible to receive tens of thousands of dollars in federal public benefits that they are legally entitled to, such as Social Security survivor, veterans, and disability benefits. These are life-saving benefits that can go towards special needs accommodations at their home if they struggle with a disability. It could pay for a uniform for a Little League baseball team. For our most vulnerable youth, these financial benefits are a way for them to still achieve a life of relatively normalcy, despite the challenges they have faced from an early age. Yet, there are foster children who never received this support. Even worse, there are children who are eligible for this support, and in the eyes of our federal agencies are currently receiving these benefits, but do not receive the funding. This is due to existing guidelines that allow counties to apply for, receive, and spend those federal benefits as a designated payee of the foster child without notifying the child or their representative. These are benefits that belong to the children, and just as foster children do not pay for their own costs of care or other county services, we believe that children who receive public benefits should not either. Over a dozen states have passed legislation or regulatory reforms to ensure that federal benefits are spent in the best interest of the child or conserved in a financial account to prepare the child for adulthood. And now our Social Security Administration has called on all states to adopt this practice, which is why it is so timely that we are bringing up House Bill 151 for consideration. House Bill 151 would prohibit the current practice of using a child's benefits for general costs. It would require agencies to apply for benefits and to conserve those benefits in an account accessible to the child and or their guardian. It ensures that the child receives financial literacy guidance so that they use their benefits wisely. I want to thank all the stakeholders who have worked with us on this important legislation. I want to thank the Department of Human Services for your patience and collaboration on the amendment and the underlying bill. I know we are all committed to ensuring that vulnerable children have all the support that they need to be successful, and I ask this committee for its support in voting yes on House Bill 151. Thank you.
Thank you, Representative Kujewski. Representative Delosio is here to speak on the bill.
Thank you very much. I appreciate both chairs and staff. As the rep mentioned, this has been – we've had a couple bills coming up dealing with the issue of foster care, and I think it's an important issue and one we need to draw a lot of attention to. There are some fixes that need to be done within the system, and these are ones that we are able to do at this point. The only thing I want to add to what Representative Krzyzewski said was at this point in time, Only five counties even notify the families that they are entitled to these benefits, that their child is entitled to these, that they've applied on that child's behalf. And I think that that is another light that we need to shed in the sense that a lot of these folks don't even know that they have these benefits coming to them. And the counties use these dollars absolutely for the system, and we can think positively that they go back into the system. But we do need to, and I think it's only right, that if a child's parent was a veteran, that that child deserves that those veterans benefits. That parent fought for those, fought for our country, and through whatever circumstances are no longer able to care for the child. So between that as well as the fact that the other states that have done it, and I think Pennsylvania needs to get in line with those types of things and abide by what the federal government is also talking about. and the ability for us to thank you for having the hearing on this issue so that we could dredge out a lot of the different issues, have the questions asked. And I do believe that there might be some tweaks that we need to make in the sense of the savings accounts for these children and the oversight of those accounts. And we are willing to work with that, and I know that that's something that we have in front of us, and we want to make sure that we tighten up to make sure that the dollars go where the dollars need to be, which is in the benefit of that child. So thank everybody for sharing their concerns, being there at the hearing, and for our work over the last two sessions to try to get this done and try to help out some of our foster kids. Thank you.
Thank you, Representative Delosier. The question recurs, will the committee report the bill as amended? Chair Clunk. Thank you, Chair. I want to thank, again, the representatives for bringing this bill forward. this is going to be a rather large undertaking for our counties and DHS. So I am thankful that we were able to get this amendment in to hopefully make something smoother with a transition. And really, at the end of the day, like you said, these dollars belong to that child, and we need to set them up for success, for long-term adulthood success, and this will do just that. So look forward to working with you potentially on maybe a floor amendment or moving forward with those accounts. That is one thing that we have heard. We want to make sure that that's tight. But other than that, I will be supporting the bill, and our members will be the same. Thank you. Thank you, Chair. Those in favor of reporting the bill as amended will vote aye. Those opposed, no. Alexa, please call the roll.
Chair McNeil.
Yes.
Representatives Bellman.
Yes.
Boyd.
Designation, yes.
Serato.
Designation, yes.
Curry.
Designation, yes.
Fleming.
Designation, yes.
Ginst.
Designation, yes.
Hanbridge.
Designation, yes.
Howard?
Yes.
Kazim?
Designation, yes.
Kraduski?
Yes.
McAndrew?
Designation, yes.
Nelson?
Yes.
Parker?
Designation, yes.
Chair Clunk?
I will be a yes, and all Republican members will also be a yes. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. On the question, the a's are 26 and the nays are zero. The bill will be reported as amended. Thank you for running this. The chair calls up House Bill 2490, printers number 3366. Danielle, please provide a summary of the bill.
House Bill 2490, sponsored by Representative Abney, amends Title 67 or Public Welfare of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes by adding language related to a waiver of subrogation. The following third-party interest group supports this legislation. Pennsylvania Council of Children and Youth and Family Services. The following third-party interest groups are neutral on this legislation. The Pennsylvania Association for Justice or Trial Lawyers, Pennsylvania Children and Youth Administrators, County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania, Rehabilitation and Community Providers Association, and the administration. There is no known opposition.
Thank you, Danielle. The question is, will the committee report the bill? Representative Abney is here to provide remarks.
Thank you, Chair McNeil, Chair Clunk, members of this committee, for your consideration of House Bill 2490 on today's agenda. House Bill 2490 is designed to address an ongoing liability insurance crisis for child welfare, juvenile justice, and children's behavioral health providers across this commonwealth. Many of these providers are required to meet certain insurance limits that include taking on, to some degree, county liability as a condition of said contract with that county. This bill seeks to curtail this practice by prohibiting the use of unilateral waivers, subrogation within county contracts to better provide balance within liability coverage. This bill does not diminish a provider's liability for harm caused by their own negligence. Rather, it provides equitable risk allocation by ensuring that providers are responsible for their own liability and then counties are responsible for their own as well. Without this change, we will continue to see significant premium increase in general professional abuse liability coverage costs, regardless of if a provider has a negative claim history or not. Ultimately, this current practice of waiver segregation is causing child welfare providers to be dropped by their insurance policies or unable to find any coverage at all. And we know that without providers doing this work, the work will ultimately end up being the responsibility of counties or even come back onto the state, neither of which have the bandwidth or capacity to do what these organizations are currently doing. And so House Bill 2490 is really about promoting accountability and safety to protect our children, families, and communities that rely on these necessary services in the child welfare system. And so for those reasons the more I ask for an affirmative vote for House Bill 2490 Thank you Madam Chair Thank you Representative Abney Chair Clark Thank you Chair McNeil and thank you Representative Abney for bringing this bill forward
A couple sessions ago, I worked on tackling some of this insurance problem, this conundrum that we face with our providers where they're being dropped, where they're losing their insurance tail, whatever it might be in that insurance realm. we tried to fix some of that with some of the county contracting and shifting of liability but lawyers get creative and so here we are again with another bill that hopefully will close some of those gaps make it easier for these providers to provide service continuing to provide the service that you said we need our counties and our state cannot take this on so we need to do everything that we can to ensure that the insurance market for these providers is stable. I do believe that this will help do just that. A couple of months ago, I actually sat at a roundtable with Terry Clark from PCCYFS down in Washington, D.C., where we met with individuals from all across the country who provide these services. And the theme was we cannot provide services if we don't have insurance, and the insurance market is failing for a variety of different reasons in different states. Some of those reasons are because of lack of caps. I had a bill on that a couple years ago. We couldn't get that done, but we were able to get the contracting language done. This, I believe, is that next step to help close those gaps. So thank you so very much for this. We need to solve this because if not, we will not have a system for those children and that safety net. So thank you. Thank you, Chair. Those in favor of reporting the bill as committed will vote aye. Those opposed no. Alexa, please call the roll.
Chair McNeil.
Yes.
Representatives Bellman.
Yes.
Boyd.
Designation, yes.
Serato.
Designation, yes.
Curry.
Designation, yes.
Fleming.
Designation, yes.
Gents.
Designation, yes.
Hanbridge.
Designation, yes.
Howard.
Yes.
Kazim.
Designation, yes.
Krajewski.
Yes.
McAndrew.
Designation, yes.
Nelson.
Yes.
Parker?
Designation, yes.
Chair Clunk?
Yes, and all Republican members can be marked as yes. Thank you. Thank you. On that question, the ayes are 26 and the nays are zero. The bill will be reported as committed. Thank you. The chair calls up House Bill 2492, printers number 3376. Danielle, please provide a summary of the bill.
Thank you. House Bill 2492, sponsored by Representative Davidson, amend Act 21 of 1967, or the Human Services Code, by adding language requiring insurance and notification of child care closure. The following third-party interest groups are neutral on this legislation. The Rehabilitation and Community Providers Association, Pennsylvania Council of Children, Youth, and Family Services. Thank you, Danielle.
The question is, will the committee report the bill? I will be offering Amendment A03827. Danielle, please provide a summary.
Amendment A03827, sponsored by Representative McNeil, removes the power of the department to require insurance and adds a new section requiring a children's institution that provides child care to provide notification no less than 30 days prior to closing and adds that notification of a closure would not apply in an emergency removal action issued by the Department of Human Services. It is important to note that the administration is supportive of the bill with this amendment. It is also important to note that the Pennsylvania Child Care Association is neutral on the bill with this amendment. Thank you, Danielle.
Will the committee agree to the amendment? Chair Clunk. Thank you, Chair McNeil. This amendment does make some needed changes to the legislation, and I appreciate you offering this. However, with the bill, even as amended, I do believe it needs some work. So I will be opposing the bill and can talk about that when we get to the bill. But I will be supporting the amendment as will all of our members. Thank you, Chair. All of our members will be supporting the bill. So it will be 14 ayes and 12 nays. Thank you. No, everyone will be supporting the amendment. Oh, my apologies. Okay. If you could just note for the record, just for clarity, if there are any negative votes on the amendment. If there are any negative votes, no. For the record, there are 26 ayes and 0 nays. The question recurs, will the committee report the bill as amended? On that question, the chair recognizes. Chair Clunk? Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate the intent behind this legislation, and I know the maker and I have had some very long talks on this, and my heart goes out to him and all of the families that were impacted by a recent closure here at our Jewish Community Center here in Harrisburg. you know sadly that was you were not given much notice i've talked to some of the other families impacted and you know that was truly a nightmare leaving you all in the lurch but this bill even as amended i do believe still has some outstanding questions for our providers and one of our largest providers in the state our ymcas is opposed to the bill even as amended so at this point i cannot support it, but look forward to working with you to further amend this so that we can try to work to ensure that our parents and those families have the notice that they need, while also ensuring that our providers have the guidance that they need. And I also know that we've talked about some of the smaller providers that maybe we need to talk about, not necessarily even the big ones, the YMCA's, but the little ones who may be even more impacted by this and who might not be able to comply with that 30-day notice just because they might be a sole provider, in-home provider. So thank you very much for bringing this forward and look forward to continuing to work with you as it works through the process. So thank you. Thank you, Chair.
Representative Davidson is here to provide some remarks. Thank you, Chair McNeil. Thank you, Chair Clunk, for considering this legislation today. and thank you for your kind words and working with me on this bill. It is moving fairly expediently. 55 days ago, about 60 families and over 100 kids gathered in Uptown Harrisburg right here in the city to celebrate their teachers at the child care center that was closed. I was there with my kids, Ellen and Walter, and their mother because they went there too. the families at that child care center were given less than two weeks' notice that their kids no longer had a home. And, you know, child care centers across the Commonwealth are just little ecosystems. They impact every generation in a family. They impact employers in the region whose employees rely on that child care to get to work. and as Miss Jody reminded me, one of the teachers there our children are our most important community members anything we can do to invest in our children's success and future is one of the most valuable things that we can do here in the legislature and so this bill is just a simple response to what happened, to the trauma that many dozens of families in the Harrisburg area experienced neighbors of mine, friends and colleagues who work here in this building, work for the legislature or the governor's administration. We're all directly impacted by this. And so it's a simple fix, much like other states, requiring 30 days notice before a closure. Obviously, we don't want child care centers to close. We want more child care centers. We have a shortage across the Commonwealth right now, and parents and families are struggling. and that's one of the reasons this notice is so important because you know when these families found out that they weren going to have any place to go on monday may 4th um you know they had to find other places but as we know there wait lists at many child care centers across the Commonwealth today Many families weren able to find a new place for their kids on short notice You know, had to scramble for grandparent coverage or hire a nanny, pick up one of the teachers who is now out of work. And it was a bombshell that went off through a whole community. And we can prevent that from happening in the future. And this bill is just a simple fix. So I look forward to working with Chair Clunk and Chair McNeil on a floor amendment. There is some cleanup work that needs to be done. The amendment that was put in earlier today was very important to get the support of the administration, but there is more work to do, and I look forward to that. But for today, I ask for your support to get this bill out of committee. and I just would like to note that the resiliency of the parents in all of this was really struck a chord for me because when they found out that things were maybe not going so well at the child care, they rallied around their teachers and their kids and it was really a beautiful thing and that 55 days ago closing ceremony that was put on by the parents to celebrate those teachers, it was truly a beautiful thing and just an example that it does take a village to raise a child so I thank you for your consideration I look forward to a floor amendment
Thank you Representative Davidson Those in favor of reporting the bill as amended will vote aye Those opposed no All Democrats will be voting aye And all Republicans will be voting no Thank you Thank you Noted that there are 14 ayes and 12 nays the bill will be purported as amended. The chair calls up House Bill 2527, printers number 2253. Danielle, please provide a summary of the bill.
House Bill 2527, sponsored by Representative Fleming, amends the act of March 10, 1949, known as the Public School Code, by adding clarifying language related to the definition of an eligible student. The following third-party interest groups support this legislation. the Pennsylvania Child Care Association, Pennsylvania State Alliance of YMCAs, and Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children. The following third-party interest group is neutral on this legislation, the Pennsylvania Council of Children, Youth, and Family Services. There is no known opposition.
Thank you, Danielle. The question is, will the committee report the bill? It looks like neither of the members are here to speak on it. Chair, do you have any? Thank you, Madam Chair. So on Monday of this week, the House voted on House Bill 2632, which rewrote the existing EITC tax credit program to explicitly include child care centers and provide for early childhood scholarships. That bill narrowed the focus of the scholarships awarded to be directed to low-income students. We heard passionate testimony on the House floor that our most vulnerable students should be prioritized in these scholarship awards. This bill attempts to address child care affordability by increasing the income guidelines to capture more middle class families, which I'm not necessarily opposed to. It's just not clear how these pieces fit together in a greater child care strategy. when you have two different bills that aren't quite gelling with each other. It's hard to vote yes. So the question before us, it's not just about the funding. The question is whether our families currently relying on these slots will have the same access and opportunities with this bill taken into consideration with the bill that passed the House earlier this week. So we are one week away from our budget deadline, and if child care affordability is a priority, I wholeheartedly believe that it should be based on the 14 co-sponsor memos that our caucus put out addressing child care affordability. We need to have a serious conversation about the problem we're trying to solve here in Pennsylvania, who we're trying to help, and what policy tools are best suited to achieve that goal. Expanding eligibility in one program while narrowing the focus in another is not a substitute for a thoughtful, coordinated approach to addressing Pennsylvania's child care challenges. If our goal is to help low-income families access child care, let's say that, and build a true, comprehensive policy around it. If our goal is to subsidize child care for a broader population, let's have that debate openly and try to figure out a way to expand the program without creating competition for seats. But we should not be rewriting multiple child care programs in different directions and calling it a child care strategy this week. And for that reason, I will be a no today. Thank you. Thank you, Chair. Those in favor of reporting the bill as a committee will vote aye. Those opposed, no. Alexa, please call the roll.
Chair McNeil.
Yes.
Representatives Bellman.
Yes.
Boyd.
Designation, yes.
Serato.
designation yes curry designation yes fleming designation yes against designation yes
hand bitch designation yes howard kazim designation yes kajewski yeah mcandrew designation yes
nelson parker designation yes chair clunk i will be a no and republicans will also all be no's Thank you. On the question, the A's are 14 and the nays are 12. The bill will be reported as committed. The chair calls up House Resolution 525, printer's number 3410. Danielle, please provide a summary of the resolution.
House Resolution 525, sponsored by Representative Hill Evans, is a resolution designating the week of September 14, 2026, through September 20, 2026, as Diaper Need Awareness Week in Pennsylvania. The following third-party interest group is neutral on this legislation, the Pennsylvania Council of Children, Youth, and Family Services. There is no known opposition.
Thank you, Danielle. The question is, will the committee report the resolution? Chair, come on. No. Okay, fine. The question recurs, will the committee report the resolution as committed?
alexa please call the roll those in favor vote aye those no chair mcneil yes representatives bellman boyd yes serato designation yes curry designation yes fleming designation yes against designation yes hanbridge designation yes howard kazim designation yes produce key yes McAndrew designation yes Nelson yes Parker designation yes chair clunk yes representatives Barker flick designation yes Hogan designation yes Mackenzie designation yes Margaret us yes my Halic designation yes Pew Schlegel designation yes Robich Wallen Walsh designation yes
On the question, the ayes are 25 and the nays are 1. The resolution will be reported as committee. With no further business, we are adjourned.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I need Tyler. I know my head's pounding.
Yes.
It really rattled me.
Thank you.