Governor Hochul Signs New Legislation Supporting New York’s Kids and Expanding Access to Affordable Child Care as Part of FY 2026 Budget

Governor Kathy Hochul today signed new legislation as part of the FY26 Enacted Budget to support children and families, including investing $2.2 billion in affordable child care and providing new resources for low-income parents to help them raise healthy babies.

“Parenthood is an incredible experience — but these days, it’s definitely not cheap,” Governor Hochul said. “By expanding access to affordable child care and providing resources to new parents, we’re helping to make New York an even better place to raise a family.”

The FY26 Budget includes landmark new investments to help families in New York meet the cost of daily necessities and services like child care. These investments include:

• Expanding access to child care by investing $2.2 billion statewide, including up to $350 million investment to save child care subsidies for tens of thousands of New York City families
• Investing $110 million in child care capital funding to build new child care facilities and repair existing sites, as well as home-based programs
• Advancing another nation-leading legislative proposal to improve maternal and infant health through the provision of a birth allowance — the New York State BABY Benefit
• Investing $9 million to distribute free diapers and other postpartum supplies to low-income New York families
• Securing a historic increase in New York’s Child Tax Credit that will provide eligible families with a $1,000 credit for kids younger than 4 years old and a $500 credit for kids ages 4-16, effectively doubling the credit for the average family
• Providing $340 million to ensure free breakfast and lunch for every K-12 student in New York, over 2.7 million kids, saving families an average of $1,600 per child

Expanding Access to Child Care and Saving Child Care Subsidies
The FY26 Budget includes a $400 million investment to save child care subsidies for families statewide through the state’s Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) with up to $350 million available for tens of thousands of New York City families. Since taking office, State funding for CCAP has more than doubled, bringing low-cost, affordable childcare to a record 150,000 families statewide. These investments in CCAP further build on Governor Hochul’s historic $7 billion investment to expand and improve child care accessibility and affordability for working families. This includes initiatives to help families by raising the eligibility threshold for child care assistance so families of four making up to $108,000 are eligible for child care that costs only $15 per week. The Governor also launched a new online portal last year to make the application process as easy as possible for eligible families.

Providing Capital Grants for Child Care Providers
The FY 26 Budget includes $100 million in capital grants for child care providers to renovate and build new child care centers, especially in child care deserts. This investment will help child care providers facilitate opening new seats and serve additional children. Further, $10 million will be made available to family child care providers to renovate and repair their home-based child care locations.

Establish the Birth Allowance for Beginning Year (BABY) Benefit
The FY 26 Budget includes $8.5 million to advance another nation-leading initiative to improve maternal and infant health through the provision of a birth allowance — the New York State BABY (Birth Allowance for Beginning Year) Benefit — to low-income parents on public assistance. As part of her agenda to make New York the best, most affordable place to start and raise a family, Governor Hochul will provide a one-time $1,800 benefit at birth for New Yorkers who receive public assistance when they have a new baby. The BABY Benefit will increase household income for thousands of New York’s most under-resourced families at a most crucial time in their lives, help defray birth-related expenses, and overall ease the financial stress that can come with caring for a new baby. This investment builds on Governor Hochul’s record of support for pregnant people, new parents and infants, ensuring a stronger and more stable foundation for both parent and child, uplifting working families by putting more money in their pockets, and continuing the State's progress reducing child poverty.

Free Diapers and Other Postpartum Supplies
The FY26 Budget includes $9 million to provide an estimated 100,000 families with maternal health and newborn baby resources, educational materials, self-care products and diapers. This funding will be allocated pending approval from the federal government. Governor Hochul will partner with Baby2Baby — a national nonprofit that provides essential items to one million children living in poverty annually — to deliver maternal health and newborn supply boxes to expectant mothers enrolled in Medicaid and those reached through community-based organizations and hospitals serving lower-income areas. Additionally, New York State will distribute millions of diapers to low-income families, with the intent to grow that number each year. Governor Hochul will also expand maternal behavioral health services and will build upon previous investments through the co-location of mental health services into OBGYN practices in high-needs communities across New York State.

Expanding New York’s Child Tax Credit
The FY 2026 State Budget includes Governor Hochul’s plan to give 1.6 million New York families an annual tax credit of up to $1,000 per child under age four and up to $500 per child from four through sixteen. This is the largest expansion of New York’s child tax credit in its history — and it will benefit approximately 2.75 million children statewide. This historic expansion will assist families with young children and help families across the income spectrum.

Governor Hochul’s expansion of the credit will double the size of the average credit going out to families from $472 to $943, providing relief to low-income and middle-income households. A family of four with a toddler and school-age child, earning up to $110,000, would receive a $1,500 annual credit, nearly $1,000 more than under the current program. Even a family of four with an income of $170,000, which was previously ineligible, would receive over $500 per year. Additionally, the Governor’s reforms eliminate a provision that restricted the poorest families from accessing the full credit. Over 187,000 children will now be eligible for the credit. This expansion and reform will help build on New York’s progress reducing child poverty. The credit alone is estimated to reduce child poverty by up to 8.2 percent.