I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 335 

To amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 to 

increase the availability and affordability of quality child care services 

by creating incentives for older individuals to join the child care workforce, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 25, 2005 

Mr. LYNCH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the Committee on 

Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 

Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 

the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant 

Act of 1990 to increase the availability and affordability 

of quality child care services by creating incentives for 

older individuals to join the child care workforce, and 

for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Seniors Offering Qual5 ity Child Care Act of 2005’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) Approximately 13,000,000 infants, toddlers, 

4 and preschool children receive child care services 

5 outside of their homes for part of or all of the work 

6 day. 

7 (2) Increasing the pool of child care workers is 

8 an important means of improving the overall quality 

9 and affordability of child care services. 

10 (3) The Bureau of the Census has determined 

11 that the number of people between the ages of 55 

12 and 64 will grow by about 17,800,000 between 2000 

13 and 2020. Many of these older individuals are skilled 

14 workers, such as health care professionals and teach15 ers, who could offer a significant contribution to the 

16 size and quality of the child care workforce. 

17 (4) We must increase the supply of child care 

18 workers by creating incentives for older individuals 

19 to enter into the child care workforce in order to de20 crease the costs to families of accessing affordable 

21 child care services. 

22 SEC. 3. ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF THE 

23 CHILD CARE SERVICES. 

24 Section 658G of the Child Care Development Block 

25 Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858e) is amended to read 

26 as follows: 
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1 ‘‘SEC. 658G. ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF 

2 CHILD CARE SERVICES. 

3 ‘‘A State that receives funds to carry out this sub4 chapter for a fiscal year, shall use not less than 6 percent 

5 of the amount of such funds for activities provided 

6 through resource and referral services or other means, 

7 that are designed to improve the quality of child care serv8 ices for which financial assistance is made available under 

9 this subchapter. Such activities include— 

10 ‘‘(1) programs that provide training, education, 

11 and other professional development activities to en12 hance the skills of the child care workforce, includ13 ing training opportunities for caregivers in informal 

14 care settings; 

15 ‘‘(2) developing proposals to enhance the qual16 ity and quantity of the child care workforce by ex17 amining methods for increasing the recruitment, re18 tention, and compensation of skilled individuals who 

19 are 55 years of age or older, as members of the child 

20 care workforce; 

21 ‘‘(3) activities within child care settings to en22 hance early learning for young children, to promote 

23 early literacy, and to foster school readiness; 

24 ‘‘(4) initiatives to increase the retention and 

25 compensation of child care providers, including 
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1 tiered reimbursement rates for providers that meet 

2 quality standards as defined by the State; or 

3 ‘‘(5) other activities deemed by the State to im4 prove the quality of child care services provided in 

5 such State.‘’. ’’. 

6 SEC. 4. EXPANSION OF BENEFITS FOR THE CHILD CARE 

7 WORKFORCE. 

8 Section 658S of the Child Care Development Block 

9 Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858q) is amended to read 

10 as follows: 

11 ‘‘SEC. 658S. MISCELLANEOUS. 

12 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other law, 

13 the value of any child care provided or arranged (or any 

14 amount received as payment for such care or reimburse15 ment for costs incurred for such care) under this sub16 chapter shall not be treated as income for purposes of any 

17 other Federal or federally assisted program that bases eli18 gibility, or the amount of benefits, on need. 

19 ‘‘(b) OLDER INDIVIDUALS.—Allowances, earnings, 

20 and payments under this subchapter to individuals who 

21 are 55 years of age or older shall not be considered as 

22 income for the purposes determining eligibility for and the 

23 amount of income transfer and in-kind aid under any Fed24 eral or federally assisted program based on need.’’. 
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1 SEC. 5. COMPENSATION FOR CHILD CAREGIVING SERVICES 

2 OF EMPLOYEES OF ELIGIBLE CHILD CARE 

3 PROVIDERS DISREGARDED FOR PURPOSES 

4 OF THE SOCIAL SECURITY EARNINGS TEST. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 203(f)(3) of the Social 

6 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 403(f)(3)) is amended by insert7 ing ‘‘, and in determining an individual’s excess earnings 

8 for any taxable year, there shall be excluded any earnings 

9 of such individual from employment as a caregiver (as de10 fined in section 658P(1) of the Child Care and Develop11 ment Block Grant Act of 1990) employed by an eligible 

12 child care provider (as defined in section 658P(5)(A) of 

13 such Act),’’ before the period at the end of the 1st sen14 tence. 

15 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

16 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to taxable years 

17 ending on or after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

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