Backup Childcare Mandate for Employers Proposed in California

California legislation was introduced on Thursday to mandate that employers with 1,000 employees or more subsidize the cost of emergency childcare arrangements.

Democratic Assemblywoman Wendy Carrillo proposed the bill, which would cover 60 hours of backup care a year for parents with children under 14. The benefit is designed to support parents whose plans with a babysitter or after-school program are canceled last-minute. Employees would have a co-pay of as much as $6 an hour.

Wendy Carrillo

Photographer: Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images

The bill would be the first-of-its-kind in the U.S. to mandate that companies offer backup childcare subsidies. The pandemic has exasperated the need for ...