II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2182 

To establish a program to provide child care through public-private 

partnerships. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 8, 2012 

Mr. BEGICH introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To establish a program to provide child care through publicprivate partnerships. 

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 ‘‘Child Care Public-Pri5 vate Partnership Act of 2012’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF BUSINESS INCENTIVE GRANT 

7 PROGRAM. 

8 The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall 

9 establish a program to make grants to— 


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1 (1) States, on a competitive basis, to enable eli2 gible businesses and consortia in the States to carry 

3 out the activities described in section 4; and 

4 (2) nonprofit business organizations with exper5 tise in management issues concerning operating a 

6 high-quality child care center, to provide technical 

7 information and assistance to enable businesses to 

8 provide child care services. 

9 SEC. 3. APPLICATIONS FROM STATES AND NONPROFIT 

10 BUSINESS ORGANIZATIONS. 

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive a grant 

12 under section 2, a State or nonprofit business organization 

13 shall submit an application to the Secretary at such time, 

14 in such form, and containing such information as the Sec15 retary may require. 

16 (b) CONTENTS.—At a minimum, an application sub17 mitted under subsection (a) by a nonprofit business orga18 nization shall contain— 

19 (1) an assurance that, with respect to the costs 

20 to be incurred by the applicant in carrying out the 

21 purposes for which the grant is made, the applicant 

22 will make available State or other non-Federal early 

23 childhood contributions (such as contributions for 

24 child care, Head Start, State prekindergarten, and 

25 early intervention programs), in an amount equal to 


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1 not less than $1 for every $1 of Federal funds pro2 vided under the grant; 

3 (2) an assurance that such applicant will ex4 pend the grant funds for the use specified in section 

5 2(2); 

6 (3) an assurance that such applicant will em7 ploy strategies to ensure that child care services, 

8 provided with the technical information and assist9 ance made available by such applicant, are provided 

10 at affordable costs, and on an equitable basis, to 

11 low- and moderate-income employees; 

12 (4) an assurance that such applicant will em13 ploy procedures to ensure that technical information 

14 and assistance provided under this Act by such ap15 plicant will be provided only to businesses that pro16 vide child care services in compliance with all State 

17 and local licensing and regulatory requirements ap18 plicable to child care providers in such State; and 

19 (5) an assurance that such applicant will em20 ploy procedures to ensure such information and as21 sistance will be provided only to businesses located 

22 in an area without an adequate supply of licensed 

23 and regulated (as applicable) child care providers. 


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1 (c) PRIORITY.—For purposes of selecting applicants 

2 to receive grants under section 2, to the extent practicable, 

3 the Secretary shall— 

4 (1) make grants equitably under section 2 to 

5 applicants located in all geographical regions of the 

6 United States; and 

7 (2) give priority to applicants for grants under 

8 section 2(1). 

9 SEC. 4. GRANTS TO BUSINESSES AND CONSORTIA. 

10 A State that receives a grant under section 2 shall 

11 use the grant funds to make grants, on a competitive 

12 basis, to eligible businesses or consortia in the State in 

13 order to enable the businesses and consortia— 

14 (1) to pay start-up costs incurred to provide 

15 child care services; 

16 (2) to provide for assistance for the costs of 

17 child care services needed by the employees of such 

18 businesses and consortia; and 

19 (3) to pay for training and professional develop20 ment for staff that provide child care services. 

21 SEC. 5. APPLICATIONS FROM BUSINESSES AND CON22 SORTIA. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive a grant 

24 under section 4, a business or consortium shall submit an 


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1 application to the State at such time, in such form, and 

2 containing such information as the State may require. 

3 (b) CONTENTS.—At a minimum, such application 

4 shall contain— 

5 (1) an assurance that, with respect to the costs 

6 to be incurred by the applicant in carrying out the 

7 purposes for which the grant is made, the applicant 

8 will make available State or other non-Federal early 

9 childhood contributions (such as contributions for 

10 child care, Head Start, State prekindergarten, and 

11 early intervention programs), in an amount equal to 

12 not less than $1 for every $1 of Federal funds pro13 vided under the grant; 

14 (2) an assurance that such applicant will ex15 pend the grant funds for the use specified in section 

16 2(1); 

17 (3) an assurance that such applicant will em18 ploy strategies to ensure that child care services, 

19 provided by such applicant, are provided at afford20 able costs, and on an equitable basis, to low- and 

21 moderate-income employees; 

22 (4) an assurance that such applicant will com23 ply with all State and local child care licensing and 

24 regulatory requirements that are applicable to the 

25 applicant; and 


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1 (5) information demonstrating that the appli2 cant is located in an area without an adequate sup3 ply of licensed and regulated (as applicable) child 

4 care providers. 

5 (c) PRIORITY.—For purposes of selecting applicants 

6 to receive grants under section 4, the State shall give pri7 ority to businesses that have fewer than 100 full-time em8 ployees. 

9 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

10 As used in this Act: 

11 (1) BUSINESS.—The term ‘‘business’’ means a 

12 person engaged in commerce whose primary activity 

13 is an activity other than the provision of child care 

14 services. 

15 (2) CHILD CARE SERVICES.—The term ‘‘child 

16 care services’’ means care for a child that is— 

17 (A) provided on the site at which a parent 

18 of such child is employed or at a site nearby in 

19 the community in which the site is located; and 

20 (B) subsidized at least in part by the busi21 ness that employs such parent. 

22 (3) CONSORTIUM.—The term ‘‘consortium’’ 

23 means a partnership— 

24 (A) that shall include 2 or more busi25 nesses, acting jointly; and 


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1 (B) shall include a nonprofit private orga2 nization with expertise in the provision of high3 quality child care services. 

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

5 the Secretary of Health and Human Services. 

6 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

7 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

8 this Act $25,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2013 through 

9 2015. 

Æ 


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