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[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1984 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1984

     To establish a commission to develop a national strategy and 
recommendations for reducing fatalities resulting from child abuse and 
                                neglect.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           December 13, 2011

Mr. Kerry (for himself and Ms. Collins) introduced the following bill; 
     which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, 
                     Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
     To establish a commission to develop a national strategy and 
recommendations for reducing fatalities resulting from child abuse and 
                                neglect.

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

SECTION 1. COMMISSION.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Protect our Kids Act of 2011''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) deaths from child abuse and neglect are preventable;
            (2) deaths from child abuse and neglect are significantly 
        underreported and there is no national standard for reporting 
        such deaths;
            (3) according to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data 
        System, in fiscal year 2009 approximately 1,770 children in the 
        United States are reported to have died from child abuse and 
        neglect, and many experts believe that the actual number may be 
        significantly more;
            (4) nearly half of the number of children in the United 
        States who die from abuse are under the age of 1, and more than 
        80 percent are under the age of 4;
            (5) in 2009, of deaths from child abuse and neglect--
                    (A) nearly 36 percent were caused by neglect;
                    (B) 23 percent were caused by physical abuse; and
                    (C) more than 36 percent were caused by multiple 
                forms of maltreatment;
            (6) each year approximately 6,000,000 children in the 
        United States are referred to child protective services because 
        of allegations of child abuse and neglect; and
            (7) increased understanding of deaths from child abuse and 
        neglect can lead to improvement in agency systems and practices 
        to protect children and prevent child abuse and neglect.

SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMISSION.

    (a) Establishment.--There is established the Commission to 
Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities (in this Act referred to 
as the ``Commission'').
    (b) Membership.--
            (1) Composition.--
                    (A) Number.--The Commission shall be composed of 
                not fewer than 12 and not more than 15 members, all of 
                whom shall be appointed by the President.
                    (B) Qualifications.--Each member appointed under 
                subparagraph (A) shall have experience in 1 or more 
                areas consisting of--
                            (i) State child welfare agency 
                        administration;
                            (ii) child welfare advocacy;
                            (iii) child development;
                            (iv) trauma and crisis intervention;
                            (v) pediatrics;
                            (vi) child psychology and mental health;
                            (vii) emergency medicine;
                            (viii) forensic pathology or medical 
                        investigation of injury and fatality;
                            (ix) social work with field experience;
                            (x) academia at an institution of higher 
                        education, as that term is defined in section 
                        101 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 
                        U.S.C. 1001), with a focus on 1 or more of the 
                        other areas listed under this subparagraph;
                            (xi) law enforcement, with experience 
                        handling child abuse and neglect matters;
                            (xii) civil law, with experience handling 
                        child abuse and neglect matters;
                            (xiii) criminal law, with experience 
                        handling child abuse and neglect matters;
                            (xiv) substance abuse treatment;
                            (xv) education at an elementary school or 
                        secondary school, as those terms are defined in 
                        section 9101 of the Elementary and Secondary 
                        Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801);
                            (xvi) epidemiology; and
                            (xvii) computer science or software 
                        engineering with a background in 
                        interoperability standards.
                    (C) Experience.--The Commission shall have 1 or 
                more members with experience in each of the areas 
                listed in subparagraph (B).
            (2) Date.--The appointments of the members of the 
        Commission shall be made not later than 90 days after the date 
        of enactment of this Act.
    (c) Period of Appointment; Vacancies.--Members shall be appointed 
for the life of the Commission. Any vacancy in the Commission shall not 
affect its powers, but shall be filled in the same manner as the 
original appointment.
    (d) Initial Meeting.--Not later than 30 days after the date on 
which all members of the Commission have been appointed, the Commission 
shall hold its first meeting.
    (e) Meetings.--The Commission shall meet at the call of the 
Chairperson.
    (f) Quorum.--A majority of the members of the Commission shall 
constitute a quorum, but a lesser number of members may hold hearings.
    (g) Chairperson.--The President shall select a Chairperson for the 
Commission from among its members.

SEC. 4. DUTIES OF THE COMMISSION.

    (a) Study.--
            (1) In general.--The Commission shall conduct a thorough 
        study on reducing fatalities from child abuse and neglect.
            (2) Matters studied.--The matters studied by the Commission 
        shall include--
                    (A) the incidence of fatalities from child abuse 
                and neglect in the United States and whether that 
                incidence has been increasing over time;
                    (B) the feasibility of establishing a system that 
                accurately records incidents of child abuse and 
                neglect;
                    (C) practices that can prevent fatalities from 
                child abuse and neglect;
                    (D) the role of parental substance abuse, parental 
                mental health issues, and domestic violence in 
                increasing the incidence of child abuse and neglect;
                    (E) the adequacy and effectiveness of programs, 
                including child health services, mental health 
                services, child protective services, child welfare 
                services, education, child care, juvenile justice 
                services, and law enforcement activities, designed to 
                identify and prevent child (includes youth) fatalities 
                that are intentionally caused or that occur due to 
                negligence, neglect, or a failure to exercise proper 
                care;
                    (F) the effectiveness of Federal, State, and local 
                policies and systems aimed at appropriately identifying 
                and collecting accurate, uniform data on child 
                fatalities in a coordinated fashion, including the 
                identification of the most and least effective policies 
                and systems in practice;
                    (G) the adequacy of Federal, State, and local 
                efforts to obtain an appropriate distribution of 
                properly trained child health services, mental health 
                services, child protective services, child welfare 
                services, education, child care, juvenile justice 
                services, and law enforcement personnel to identify and 
                prevent child fatalities;
                    (H) the current (as of the date of the study) 
                resource limitations and barriers to preventing 
                fatalities from child abuse and neglect, and how to 
                improve efficiency of use of those current resources to 
                improve child welfare outcomes;
                    (I) identification of best practices in evaluating 
                programs for effectiveness in preventing child abuse 
                and neglect and fatalities from child abuse and 
                neglect;
                    (J) methods of prioritizing child abuse and neglect 
                prevention services for families with the highest need, 
                including exploring prioritization based on risk 
                factors beyond poverty;
                    (K) the correlation between animal abuse and child 
                abuse, including whether additional research and policy 
                changes could better address that correlation and 
                whether there are warning signs that animal abuse may 
                escalate to child abuse;
                    (L) methods of improving data collection and 
                utilization, such as increasing interoperability among 
                State and local systems and using other effective and 
                financially feasible approaches;
                    (M) identification of best practices and models for 
                promoting child welfare, specifically addressing child 
                abuse and neglect;
                    (N) identification of requirements and national 
                standards for training and education for child welfare 
                workers;
                    (O) the potential impact of a Federal law mandating 
                the review of fatalities of children;
                    (P) the development of a model protocol for 
                assuring that civil and criminal legal proceedings are 
                closely coordinated between child protection and law 
                enforcement agencies, including coordination between 
                law enforcement personnel, child protection services 
                personnel, prosecutors, medical providers, victim 
                advocates, and mental health professionals;
                    (Q) the potential effectiveness of a targeted 
                public education campaign focused on community 
                involvement to reduce child abuse and neglect;
                    (R) possible modifications to confidentiality laws 
                that would increase access to information and better 
                protect child victims;
                    (S) examination of public and private models for 
                improving child welfare outcomes, including suggestions 
                for expanding the most effective approaches;
                    (T) examination of sources for available data 
                beyond fatalities, such as data on serious injuries and 
                ``near misses'';
                    (U) development of guidelines for the type of 
                instances that should be tracked to improve child 
                welfare response and interventions to prevent 
                fatalities from child abuse and neglect; and
                    (V) consideration of past recommendations from the 
                Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect, including 
                updates on those recommendations.
            (3) Materials studied.--The Commission shall review all 
        current (as of the date of the study) research and 
        documentation, including the National Survey of Child and 
        Adolescent Well-Being and research and recommendations from the 
        Government Accountability Office, to identify lessons, 
        solutions, and needed improvements related to reducing 
        fatalities from child abuse and neglect.
    (b) Coordination.--The Commission shall--
            (1) provide opportunities for graduate and doctoral 
        students to coordinate research with the Commission; and
            (2) coordinate with institutions of higher education, as 
        that term is defined in section 101 of the Higher Education Act 
        of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001), interested in supporting the work of 
        the Commission.
    (c) Recommendations.--The Commission shall develop recommendations 
for Federal, State, and local agencies, and private sector and 
nonprofit organizations to implement a comprehensive national strategy 
that reduces fatalities from child abuse and neglect.
    (d) Report.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 3 years after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, the Commission shall submit a report 
        to the President and Congress, which shall contain a detailed 
        statement of the findings and conclusions of the Commission, 
        together with its recommendations for such legislation and 
        administrative actions as it considers appropriate.
            (2) Online access.--The Commission shall make the report 
        under paragraph (1) available on the publicly available 
        Internet Web site of the Department of Health and Human 
        Services.

SEC. 5. POWERS OF THE COMMISSION.

    (a) Hearings.--
            (1) In general.--The Commission may hold such hearings, sit 
        and act at such times and places, take such testimony, and 
        receive such evidence as the Commission considers advisable to 
        carry out this Act.
            (2) Location.--The location of hearings under paragraph (1) 
        shall include--
                    (A) areas with high fatality rates from child abuse 
                and neglect; and
                    (B) areas that have shown a decrease in fatalities 
                from child abuse and neglect.
            (3) Subject.--The Commission shall hold hearings under 
        paragraph (1)--
                    (A) to examine the Federal, State, and local 
                policies and available resources that affect fatalities 
                from child abuse and neglect; and
                    (B) to explore the matters studied under section 
                4(a)(2).
    (b) Information From Federal Agencies.--The Commission may secure 
directly from any Federal department or agency such information as the 
Commission considers necessary to carry out this Act. Upon request of 
the Chairperson of the Commission, the head of such department or 
agency shall furnish such information to the Commission.
    (c) Postal Services.--The Commission may use the United States 
mails in the same manner and under the same conditions as other 
departments and agencies of the Federal Government.
    (d) Gifts.--The Commission may accept, use, and dispose of gifts or 
donations of services or property.

SEC. 6. COMMISSION PERSONNEL MATTERS.

    (a) Compensation of Members.--Each member of the Commission who is 
not an officer or employee of the Federal Government shall be 
compensated at a rate equal to the daily equivalent of the annual rate 
of basic pay prescribed for level IV of the Executive Schedule under 
section 5315 of title 5, United States Code, for each day (including 
travel time) during which such member is engaged in the performance of 
the duties of the Commission. All members of the Commission who are 
officers or employees of the United States shall serve without 
compensation in addition to that received for their services as 
officers or employees of the United States.
    (b) Travel Expenses.--The members of the Commission shall be 
allowed travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, at 
rates authorized for employees of agencies under subchapter I of 
chapter 57 of title 5, United States Code, while away from their homes 
or regular places of business in the performance of services for the 
Commission.
    (c) Staff.--
            (1) In general.--The Chairperson of the Commission may, 
        without regard to the civil service laws and regulations, 
        appoint and terminate an executive director and such other 
        additional personnel as may be necessary to enable the 
        Commission to perform its duties. The employment of an 
        executive director shall be subject to confirmation by the 
        Commission.
            (2) Compensation.--The Chairperson of the Commission may 
        fix the compensation of the executive director and other 
        personnel without regard to chapter 51 and subchapter III of 
        chapter 53 of title 5, United States Code, relating to 
        classification of positions and General Schedule pay rates, 
        except that the rate of pay for the executive director and 
        other personnel may not exceed the rate payable for level V of 
        the Executive Schedule under section 5316 of such title.
    (d) Detail of Government Employees.--Any Federal Government 
employee may be detailed to the Commission without reimbursement, and 
such detail shall be without interruption or loss of civil service 
status or privilege.
    (e) Procurement of Temporary and Intermittent Services.--The 
Chairperson of the Commission may procure temporary and intermittent 
services under section 3109(b) of title 5, United States Code, at rates 
for individuals that do not exceed the daily equivalent of the annual 
rate of basic pay prescribed for level V of the Executive Schedule 
under section 5316 of such title.

SEC. 7. TERMINATION OF THE COMMISSION.

    (a) In General.--The Commission shall terminate on the earlier of--
            (1) the 90th day after the date on which the Commission 
        submits its report under section 4(d); or
            (2) the day that is 3 years after the initial meeting under 
        section 3(d).
    (b) Exception.--The President may extend the termination date under 
subsection (a)(2) by an additional 1 year.

SEC. 8. FEDERAL AGENCY RESPONSE.

    Not later than 6 months after the submission of the report required 
under section 4(d), any Federal agency that is affected by a 
recommendation described in the report shall submit to Congress a 
report containing the response of the Federal agency to the 
recommendation and the plans of the Federal agency to address the 
recommendation.

SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    (a) In General.--There is authorized to be appropriated $2,000,000 
for each of fiscal years 2012, 2013, and 2014 to the Commission to 
carry out this Act.
    (b) Availability.--Any sums appropriated under the authorization 
contained in this section shall remain available, without fiscal year 
limitation, until expended.
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