A bill to amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 to provide for child care workforce development initiatives, and for other purposes.

Summary: Quality Child Care for America Act - Amends the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 to authorize appropriations for child care workforce development initiatives.

Provides for funds to state and local governments and Indian tribes to carry out one or more specified child care workforce development initiatives.

Requires a state plan to specify the activities that it will provide through any particular workforce development initiative.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Quality Child Care for America 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Young children's environment plays an enormous role in 
        brain development. Research states that most of the brain's 
        neural connections, or synapses, are produced in the first 3 
        years of life. Experiences that promote healthy social and 
        emotional development during these years are critically 
        important in affecting behavior and learning into adulthood.
            (2) More than 12,000,000 children age 5 and younger, and 
        not yet in kindergarten, are in child care every week. Of 
        those, approximately 6,000,000 children under age 3 spend some 
        or all of their day being cared for by someone other than 
        parents.
            (3) About 3 out of 5 mothers (61 percent of mothers) with 
        children under age 3 are in the workforce.
            (4) High quality, developmentally appropriate child care 
        increases children's chances of succeeding in school. A 4-State 
        study that compared children in high-quality child care with 
        children in low-quality care found that by second grade, 
        children who had received high-quality care demonstrated 
        greater mathematical ability, greater thinking and attention 
        skills, and fewer behavioral problems than the children who had 
        received low-quality care. At-risk children were particularly 
        affected by the quality of the care they received.
            (5) While many child care providers (both in centers and in 
        homes) are providing high quality care, too many are not 
        receiving the support they need to improve the quality of care.
            (6) Better compensation is associated with improvements in 
        child care quality, developmental outcomes, and school 
        readiness. However, the Department of Labor reports that child 
        care workers' average yearly wage in 2006 was $18,820 ($9.05 
        per hour), well below the $20,614 poverty threshold for a 
        family of 4.
            (7) Low wages are inextricably linked to the reimbursement 
        rates child care providers receive for children who qualify for 
        subsidies under the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act 
        of 1990. In 2006, only 9 States reimbursed the providers at the 
        federally recommended level, compared with 22 States in 2001 
        and 13 States in 2005. Inadequate reimbursement rates make it 
        much harder for child care centers to pay above-poverty wages, 
        and for family child care providers to receive payments 
        sufficient for them to escape poverty.
            (8) Child care providers are much more likely than the 
        workforce as a whole to lack health insurance. Twenty-seven 
        percent of child care providers had no health insurance 
        coverage in 2005. This compares with an uninsurance rate of 16 
        percent for all female workers. And, child care providers who 
        have health insurance often cannot afford the increased out-of-
        pocket costs for premiums and co-payments for such insurance.
            (9) High turnover is extremely problematic in the child 
        care field, where children's social, emotional, and 
        intellectual development depend on a positive, nurturing 
        attachment to primary caregivers. Thirty-five percent of 
        individuals employed as child care providers in 2005 were no 
        longer employed as child care providers 1 year later.
            (10) Additional investments in the child care workforce are 
        necessary to attract and retain qualified child care providers. 
        In the small but highly successful Child Care WAGES project, 
        which provides education-based salary supplements to low-paid 
        preschool teachers, preschool directors, and family child care 
        providers in 4 States, turnover rates range from 12 percent to 
        17 percent, far lower than the national average.
            (11) Research shows that quality child care is contingent 
        upon the special training child care providers receive in the 
        area of child development. Both increased formal education 
        levels and recent, specialized training in child development 
        have been found consistently to be associated with high-quality 
        interactions with children and children's development.
            (12) Lack of affordable, reliable, high-quality child care 
        not only adversely affects children but is also an important 
        factor in determining whether workers with family 
        responsibilities have the capacity to maintain employment. 
        Especially for low-income working mothers, access to child care 
        is often a critical component in that determination.

SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    Section 658B of the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 
1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``There'' and inserting the following ``(a) 
        In General.--There'';
            (2) by inserting ``(other than section 658H)'' after ``this 
        subchapter''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(b) Workforce Development Initiatives.--There are authorized to 
be appropriated to carry out section 658H $200,000,000 for fiscal year 
2008 and each subsequent fiscal year.''.

SEC. 4. CHILD CARE WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES.

    The Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 is amended 
by inserting after section 658G (42 U.S.C. 9858e) the following:

``SEC. 658H. CHILD CARE WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES.

    ``(a) Reservation.--An eligible entity that receives funds to carry 
out this subchapter for a fiscal year shall reserve and use the 
development portion of such funds for that fiscal year for activities 
described in this section.
    ``(b) Use of Funds.--
            ``(1) In general.--The eligible entity shall use amounts 
        made available from the development portion to carry out 1 or 
        more workforce development initiatives.
            ``(2) Initiatives.--In carrying out such an initiative, the 
        eligible entity may use the amounts for activities to assist 
        eligible child care providers by improving the compensation or 
        benefits of the providers or enabling the providers to receive 
        additional education or training, including--
                    ``(A) providing for increased compensation, 
                including health insurance coverage and retirement 
                benefits, for the providers;
                    ``(B) providing paid sick leave, paid vacation 
                leave, or paid release time for education or training 
                relating to early childhood education, and paying for 
                substitute providers during the leave or release time 
                described in this subparagraph;
                    ``(C) providing tuition assistance or other support 
                for that education or training and providing increased 
                compensation incentives for completing that education 
                or training and obtaining a related credential;
                    ``(D) providing technical and financial assistance 
                to enable eligible child care providers to meet State 
                regulatory requirements applicable to child care 
                services provided in the State (or, in the case of an 
                Indian tribe, minimum child care standards described in 
                section 658E(c)(2)(E)) and to enable family child care 
                providers to develop business plans for the provision 
                of child care; and
                    ``(E) developing and carrying out mentoring 
                programs and career plans for child care providers.
            ``(3) Providers.--In carrying out the initiative, the 
        eligible entity shall make available not less than 30 percent 
        of the amounts described in paragraph (1) for eligible child 
        care providers that are not center-based child care providers.
    ``(c) Maintenance of Effort.--The eligible entity, in utilizing the 
funds reserved under subsection (a) for a fiscal year, shall maintain 
the expenditures of the entity for activities described in subsection 
(b) at a level not less than the level of such expenditures maintained 
by the entity for the preceding fiscal year.
    ``(d) Limitation.--Nothing in this section shall be construed to 
permit a State to decrease the number of children served under this 
subchapter for a fiscal year as compared to the number of children 
served under this subchapter for the previous fiscal year.
    ``(e) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Covered payment.--The term `covered payment' means 
        the amount paid to a territory or Indian tribe, as the case may 
        be, under section 658O(a).
            ``(2) Development portion.--The term `development 
        portion'--
                    ``(A) used with respect to a State, and a fiscal 
                year, means the amount that bears the same relationship 
                to the State allotment for that fiscal year as the 
                amount appropriated under section 658B(b) for that 
                fiscal year bears to the total amount appropriated 
                under section 658B for that fiscal year; and
                    ``(B) used with respect to a territory or Indian 
                tribe, and a fiscal year, means the amount that bears 
                the same relationship to the covered payment to the 
                territory or Indian tribe for that fiscal year as the 
                amount appropriated under section 658B(b) for that 
                fiscal year bears to the total amount appropriated 
                under section 658B for that fiscal year.
            ``(3) Eligible entity.--The term `eligible entity' means a 
        State, territory, or Indian tribe.
            ``(4) State.--The term `State' does not include a 
        territory.
            ``(5) State allotment.--The term `State allotment' means 
        the amount allotted to a State under section 658O(b).
            ``(6) Territory.--The term `territory' means a jurisdiction 
        described in section 658O(a)(1).''.

SEC. 5. STATE PLAN.

    Section 658E(c) of the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act 
of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858c(c)) is amended by adding at the end the 
following:
            ``(6) Development initiative.--The State plan shall state 
        the activities that the State will provide through the 
        workforce development initiative carried out under section 
        658H.''.

SEC. 6. REPORT.

    Section 658K(a)(2) of the Child Care and Development Block Grant 
Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858i(a)(2)) is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (D), by striking ``and'' at the end and 
        inserting a semicolon;
            (2) in subparagraph (E), by inserting ``and'' at the end; 
        and
            (3) by inserting after subparagraph (E) the following:
                    ``(F) the activities funded through a workforce 
                development initiative carried out under section 658H 
                and an assessment of the impact of the activities on 
                the work force in the State;''.