Legislative Update – Legislature Wrapping Up Special Session By the end of this week, the Legislature’s special session is likely to conclude. Among other things, legislators are writing and approving the Fiscal Year 21 State Budget and making adjustments to the Coronavirus Relief Funds (CRF) grants approved in June. The FY21 budget writing process was very compressed – the process took just five weeks instead of the usual four months. A number of programs will get modest new investments. The budget includes a small increase in funding for CCFAP, and limited funding for Special Accommodation Grants and early childhood education workforce scholarships. Many other key programs have been level funded. The Legislature rejected the Governor’s proposal to move the CCFAP Eligibility Determination process away from community agencies and into state regional offices. This move would have caused enormous service disruptions and destabilized funding. We are grateful to legislators for not including the proposal in their budget. The Legislature held hearings which led to important changes to the CRF grants, changes that will make more money accessible to Parent Child Centers in particular. More changes are possible in the future. Special thanks to the many legislators that spoke out in favor of the changes. The budget also includes language to allow retention payments to child care providers, if CRF funding becomes available. Many of you participated in these discussions, from giving testimony in public hearings to emailing and texting individual legislators. We thank you for your advocacy! Look for a more complete, detailed report from the Alliance on the special session and the status of issues in our 2020 Legislative Agenda in the next week or two. For more information and details about the FY21 budget, contact Matt Levin, Alliance Executive Director, at matt@vecaa.org | 
