I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1963 

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

modify certain State uses of funds. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 17, 2021 

Mrs. FISCHBACH (for herself, Mrs. MILLER of Illinois, Mr. JACOBS of New 

York, Mr. STIVERS, Mr. FEENSTRA, and Mr. ARMSTRONG) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and 

Labor 

A BILL 

To amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant 

Act of 1990 to modify certain State uses of funds. 

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 Choices 

5 Act of 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. APPLICATION AND PLAN. 

7 Section 658E(c) of the Child Care and Development 

8 Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858c(c)) is amend9 ed— 


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1 (1) in paragraph (2)— 

2 (A) by striking subparagraph (A) and in3 serting the following: 

4 ‘‘(A) PRIORITIZATION OF CHILD CARE

5 CERTIFICATES.—Provide assurances that— 

6 ‘‘(i) in using funding made available 

7 to a State pursuant to this subchapter, the 

8 State shall prioritize the availability of 

9 child care certificates (as defined in section 

10 658P(2)) for child care services over other 

11 payment methods, such as grants or con12 tracts; 

13 ‘‘(ii) in cases in which a parent choos14 es to enroll such child with a child care 

15 provider that has a grant or contract for 

16 the provision of child care services, the 

17 child will be enrolled with the eligible pro18 vider selected by the parent to the max19 imum extent practicable; and 

20 ‘‘(iii) in cases in which a parent 

21 chooses to receive a child care certificate, 

22 the certificate shall be of a value commen23 surate with the subsidy value of child care 

24 services provided if the child were enrolled 

25 with a child care provider that has a grant 


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1 or contract for the provision of child care 

2 services.’’, 

3 (B) in subparagraph (M) by inserting ‘‘in 

4 accordance with subparagraph (E)(c)(2)(A)(i)’’ 

5 after ‘‘strategies’’, and 

6 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘(W) PRIORITIZATION OF CHILD CARE

8 CERTIFICATES.—The plan shall provide assur9 ances and describe how the State prioritizes the 

10 use of child care certificates (as defined in sec11 tion 658P(2)) for child care services for which 

12 financial assistance is provided under this sub13 chapter in preference to other payment methods 

14 such as grants, contracts, or cash.’’, and 

15 (2) in paragraph (4)(C), by adding at the end 

16 the following: 

17 ‘‘(iii) PROHIBITION ON CERTAIN DIF18 FERENT RATES.—When setting differential 

19 rates on the basis of child care quality, 

20 States are prohibited from using type of 

21 child care (such as family child care or 

22 center-based care) or type of provider 

23 (such as nonprofit providers, for-profit proVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:06 May 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1963.IH H1963

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1 viders, or faith-based providers) as the sole 

2 differential factor.’’. 

Æ 


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