Power & Politics: New York's vision for child care; 2 municipalities settle voting rights cases
This weekend's guests include New York State Office of Children and Family Services Commissioner DaMia Harris-Madden and attorney David Imamura.
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New York's child care push
The cost of child care in New York State has become expensive, and for many families, it has also become inaccessible.
New York State Office of Children and Family Services Commissioner DaMia Harris-Madden says help is on the way.
"This year's budget of $4.5 billion will support multiple ways for child care," she said. "One of which is through our very popular Child Care Assistance Program to the tune of $3 billion."
Harris-Madden says new pilot programs are already in the works to test what Universal Child Care could look like in communities across the state.
Voting rights win
In a pair of victories for voting rights in New York, both the towns of Newburgh and Mount Pleasant settled lawsuits filed against them that had claimed voter disenfranchisement.
The deals struck over the last few weeks forced Newburgh to adopt proportional ranked choice voting and Mount Pleasant to move to a district system.
Plaintiffs' attorney David Imamura, who also served on the Westchester County legislature, said these settlements set a major precedent for future cases.
“It’s a triumph for the New York State Voting Rights Act," Imamura said. "It’s a triumph for the people who wrote this law. The goal of the New York State Voting Rights Act was to give minorities the ability to get a seat at the table and we are doing that in both the town of Newburgh and the town of Mount Pleasant.”
