I

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4750

To establish programs to improve the health and safety of children receiving

child care outside the home, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 26, 2000

Mr. BRYANT introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Education and the Workforce

A BILL

To establish programs to improve the health and safety of

children receiving child care outside the home, 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 ‘‘Children’s Day Care

5 Health and Safety Improvement Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds that—

8 (1) of the 21,000,000 children under age 6 in

9 the United States, almost 13,000,000 spend some

10 part of their day in child care;
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1 (2) a review of State child care regulations in

2 47 States found that more than half of the States

had inadequate standards or no standards for 2 3 ⁄3 of

4 the safety topics reviewed;

5 (3) a research study conducted by the Con6 sumer Product Safety Commission in 1998 found

that 2 7 ⁄3 of the 200 licensed child care settings inves8 tigated in the study exhibited at least 1 of 8 safety

9 hazards investigated, including insufficient child

10 safety gates, cribs with soft bedding, and unsafe

11 playground surfacing;

12 (4) compliance with recently published vol13 untary national safety standards developed by public

14 health and pediatric experts was found to vary con15 siderably by State, and the States ranged from a 20

16 percent to a 99 percent compliance rate;

17 (5) in 1997, approximately 31,000 children

18 ages 4 and younger were treated in hospital emer19 gency rooms for injuries in child care or school set20 tings;

21 (6) the Consumer Product Safety Commission

22 reports that at least 56 children have died in child

23 care settings since 1990;
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1 (7) the American Academy of Pediatrics identi2 fies safe facilities, equipment, and transportation as

3 elements of quality child care; and

4 (8) a research study of 133 child care centers

5 revealed that 85 percent of the child care center di6 rectors believe that health consultation is important

7 or very important for child care centers.

8 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

9 In this Act:

10 (1) CHILD WITH A DISABILITY; INFANT OR

11 TODDLER WITH A DISABILITY.—The terms ‘‘child

12 with a disability’’ and ‘‘infant or toddler with a dis13 ability’’ have the meanings given the terms in sec14 tion 602 of the Individuals with Disabilities Edu15 cation Act (20 U.S.C. 1401).

16 (2) ELIGIBLE CHILD CARE PROVIDER.—The

17 term ‘‘eligible child care provider’’ means a provider

18 of child care services for compensation, including a

19 provider of care for a school-age child during non20 school hours, that—

21 (A) is licensed, regulated, registered, or

22 otherwise legally operating, under State and

23 local law; and

24 (B) satisfies the State and local require25 ments,
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1 applicable to the child care services the provider pro2 vides.

3 (3) FAMILY CHILD CARE PROVIDER.—The term

4 ‘‘family child care provider’’ means 1 individual who

5 provides child care services for fewer than 24 hours

6 per day, as the sole caregiver, and in a private resi7 dence.

8 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

9 the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

10 (5) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any of

11 the several States of the United States, the District

12 of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the

13 United States Virgin Islands, Guam, American

14 Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern

15 Mariana Islands.

16 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

17 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out

18 this Act $200,000,000 for fiscal year 2001 and such sums

19 as may be necessary for each subsequent fiscal year.

20 SEC. 5. PROGRAMS.

21 The Secretary shall make allotments to eligible States

22 under section 6. The Secretary shall make the allotments

23 to enable the States to establish programs to improve the

24 health and safety of children receiving child care outside

25 the home, by preventing illnesses and injuries associated
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1 with that care and promoting the health and well-being

2 of children receiving that care.

3 SEC. 6. AMOUNTS RESERVED; ALLOTMENTS.

4 (a) AMOUNTS RESERVED.—The Secretary shall reserve not more than 1 5 ⁄2 of 1 percent of the amount appro6 priated under section 4 for each fiscal year to make allot7 ments to Guam, American Samoa, the United States Vir8 gin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mar9 iana Islands to be allotted in accordance with their respec10 tive needs.

11 (b) STATE ALLOTMENTS.—

12 (1) GENERAL RULE.—From the amounts ap13 propriated under section 4 for each fiscal year and

14 remaining after reservations are made under sub15 section (a), the Secretary shall allot to each State an

16 amount equal to the sum of—

17 (A) an amount that bears the same ratio

18 to 50 percent of such remainder as the product

19 of the young child factor of the State and the

20 allotment percentage of the State bears to the

21 sum of the corresponding products for all

22 States; and

23 (B) an amount that bears the same ratio

24 to 50 percent of such remainder as the product

25 of the school lunch factor of the State and the
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1 allotment percentage of the State bears to the

2 sum of the corresponding products for all

3 States.

4 (2) YOUNG CHILD FACTOR.—In this subsection,

5 the term ‘‘young child factor’’ means the ratio of the

6 number of children under 5 years of age in a State

7 to the number of such children in all States, as pro8 vided by the most recent annual estimates of popu9 lation in the States by the Census Bureau of the De10 partment of Commerce.

11 (3) SCHOOL LUNCH FACTOR.—In this sub12 section, the term ‘‘school lunch factor’’ means the

13 ratio of the number of children who are receiving

14 free or reduced price lunches under the school lunch

15 program established under the National School

16 Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) in the State to

17 the number of such children in all States, as deter18 mined annually by the Department of Agriculture.

19 (4) ALLOTMENT PERCENTAGE.—

20 (A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this

21 subsection, the allotment percentage for a State

22 shall be determined by dividing the per capita

23 income of all individuals in the United States,

24 by the per capita income of all individuals in

25 the State.
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1 (B) LIMITATIONS.—If an allotment per2 centage determined under subparagraph (A) for

3 a State—

4 (i) is more than 1.2 percent, the allot5 ment percentage of the State shall be con6 sidered to be 1.2 percent; and

7 (ii) is less than 0.8 percent, the allot8 ment percentage of the State shall be con9 sidered to be 0.8 percent.

10 (C) PER CAPITA INCOME.—For purposes

11 of subparagraph (A), per capita income shall

12 be—

13 (i) determined at 2-year intervals;

14 (ii) applied for the 2-year period be15 ginning on October 1 of the first fiscal

16 year beginning after the date such deter17 mination is made; and

18 (iii) equal to the average of the an19 nual per capita incomes for the most re20 cent period of 3 consecutive years for

21 which satisfactory data are available from

22 the Department of Commerce on the date

23 such determination is made.

24 (c) DATA AND INFORMATION.—The Secretary shall

25 obtain from each appropriate Federal agency, the most re-
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1 cent data and information necessary to determine the al2 lotments provided for in subsection (b).

3 (d) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘State’’

4 includes only the several States of the United States, the

5 District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto

6 Rico.

7 SEC. 7. STATE APPLICATIONS.

8 To be eligible to receive an allotment under section

9 6, a State shall submit an application to the Secretary

10 at such time, in such manner, and containing such infor11 mation as the Secretary may require. The application shall

12 contain information assessing the needs of the State with

13 regard to child care health and safety, the goals to be

14 achieved through the program carried out by the State

15 under this Act, and the measures to be used to assess the

16 progress made by the State toward achieving the goals.

17 SEC. 8. USE OF FUNDS.

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—A State that receives an allotment

19 under section 6 shall use the funds made available through

20 the allotment to carry out 2 or more activities consisting

21 of—

22 (1) providing training and education to eligible

23 child care providers on preventing injuries and ill24 nesses in children, and promoting health-related

25 practices;
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1 (2) strengthening licensing, regulation, or reg2 istration standards for eligible child care providers;

3 (3) assisting eligible child care providers in

4 meeting licensing, regulation, or registration stand5 ards, including rehabilitating the facilities of the

6 providers, in order to bring the facilities into compli7 ance with the standards;

8 (4) enforcing licensing, regulation, or registra9 tion standards for eligible child care providers, in10 cluding holding increased unannounced inspections

11 of the facilities of those providers;

12 (5) providing health consultants to provide ad13 vice to eligible child care providers;

14 (6) assisting eligible child care providers in en15 hancing the ability of the providers to serve children

16 with disabilities and infants and toddlers with dis17 abilities;

18 (7) conducting criminal background checks for

19 eligible child care providers and other individuals

20 who have contact with children in the facilities of the

21 providers;

22 (8) providing information to parents on what

23 factors to consider in choosing a safe and healthy

24 child care setting; or
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1 (9) assisting in improving the safety of trans2 portation practices for children enrolled in child care

3 programs with eligible child care providers.

4 (b) SUPPLEMENT, NOT SUPPLANT.—Funds appro5 priated pursuant to the authority of this Act shall be used

6 to supplement and not supplant other Federal, State, and

7 local public funds expended to provide services for eligible

8 individuals.

9 SEC. 9. REPORTS.

10 Each State that receives an allotment under section

11 6 shall annually prepare and submit to the Secretary a

12 report that describes—

13 (1) the activities carried out with funds made

14 available through the allotment; and

15 (2) the progress made by the State toward

16 achieving the goals described in the application sub17 mitted by the State under section 7.

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