Speaker Craig J. Coughlin (D-Middlesex) issued the following statement after Governor Murphy signed legislation (A-5863/S-3990) into law on Thursday to support and develop New Jersey’s child care centers with $100 million of American Rescue Plan aid going toward a number of initiatives and capital improvements:
“Working families in our state rely on access to high-quality, affordable, and developmentally appropriate child care. And, thousands of child care workers depend on our state’s child care centers to support themselves and their families.
“The pandemic unfortunately took a great toll on our state’s more than 5,000 child care providers, whose responsibility in caring for working families’ children continues to be critical in helping people remain in and return to the workforce, especially our working mothers.
“This legislation signed yesterday makes use of American Rescue Plan aid to invest in the revitalization and expansion of our state’s childcare centers ensuring they can continue to operate, reopen, and support our working families.”