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105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1490

To improve the quality of child care provided through Federal facilities

and programs, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

NOVEMBER 8, 1997

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

referred to the Committee on Governmental Affairs

A BILL

To improve the quality of child care provided through

Federal facilities and programs, 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 ‘‘Quality Child Care

5 for Federal Employees Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

7 In this Act:

8 (1) ACCREDITED CHILD CARE CENTER.—The

9 term ‘‘accredited child care center’’ means—
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1 (A) a center that is accredited, by a child

2 care credentialing or accreditation entity recog3 nized by a State, to provide child care to chil4 dren in the State (except children who a tribal

5 organization elects to serve through a center de6 scribed in subparagraph (B));

7 (B) a center that is accredited, by a child

8 care credentialing or accreditation entity recog9 nized by a tribal organization, to provide child

10 care for children served by the tribal organiza11 tion;

12 (C) a center that is used as a Head Start

13 center under the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C.

14 9831 et seq.) and is in compliance with any ap15 plicable performance standards established by

16 regulation under such Act for Head Start pro17 grams; or

18 (D) a military child development center (as

19 defined in section 1798(1) of title 10, United

20 States Code).

21 (2) CHILD CARE CREDENTIALING OR ACCREDI22 TATION ENTITY.—The term ‘‘child care credentialing

23 or accreditation entity’’ means a nonprofit private

24 organization or public agency that—
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1 (A) is recognized by a State agency or trib2 al organization; and

3 (B) accredits a center or credentials an in4 dividual to provide child care on the basis of—

5 (i) an accreditation or credentialing

6 instrument based on peer-validated re7 search;

8 (ii) compliance with applicable State

9 and local licensing requirements, or stand10 ards described in section 658E(c)(2)(E)(ii)

11 of the Child Care and Development Block

12 Grant Act (42 U.S.C. 9858c(c)(2)(E)(ii)),

13 as appropriate, for the center or individual;

14 (iii) outside monitoring of the center

15 or individual; and

16 (iv) criteria that provide assurances

17 of—

18 (I) compliance with age-appro19 priate health and safety standards at

20 the center or by the individual;

21 (II) use of age-appropriate devel22 opmental and educational activities, as

23 an integral part of the child care pro24 gram carried out at the center or by

25 the individual; and
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1 (III) use of ongoing staff devel2 opment or training activities for the

3 staff of the center or the individual,

4 including related skills-based testing.

5 (3) CREDENTIALED CHILD CARE PROFES6 SIONAL.—The term ‘‘credentialed child care profes7 sional’’ means—

8 (A) an individual who is credentialed, by a

9 child care credentialing or accreditation entity

10 recognized by a State, to provide child care to

11 children in the State (except children who a

12 tribal organization elects to serve through an

13 individual described in subparagraph (B)); or

14 (B) an individual who is credentialed, by a

15 child care credentialing or accreditation entity

16 recognized by a tribal organization, to provide

17 child care for children served by the tribal orga18 nization.

19 (4) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ has the mean20 ing given the term in section 658P of the Child Care

21 and Development Block Grant Act (42 U.S.C.

22 9858n).

23 SEC. 3. PROVIDING QUALITY CHILD CARE IN FEDERAL FA24 CILITIES.

25 (a) DEFINITION.—In this section:
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1 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis2 trator’’ means the Administrator of General Serv3 ices.

4 (2) ENTITY SPONSORING A CHILD CARE CEN5 TER.—The term ‘‘entity sponsoring a child care cen6 ter’’ means a Federal agency that operates, or an

7 entity that enters into a contract or licensing agree8 ment with a Federal agency to operate, a child care

9 center.

10 (3) EXECUTIVE AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Executive

11 agency’’ has the meaning given the term in section

12 105 of title 5, United States Code, except that the

13 term—

14 (A) does not include the Department of

15 Defense; and

16 (B) includes the General Services Adminis17 tration, with respect to the administration of a

18 facility described in paragraph (4)(B).

19 (4) EXECUTIVE FACILITY.—The term ‘‘execu20 tive facility’’—

21 (A) means a facility that is owned or

22 leased by an Executive agency; and

23 (B) includes a facility that is owned or

24 leased by the General Services Administration

25 on behalf of a judicial office.
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1 (5) FEDERAL AGENCY.—The term ‘‘Federal

2 agency’’ means an Executive agency, a judicial of3 fice, or a legislative office.

4 (6) JUDICIAL FACILITY.—The term ‘‘judicial fa5 cility’’ means a facility that is owned or leased by a

6 judicial office (other than a facility that is also a fa7 cility described in paragraph (4)(B)).

8 (7) JUDICIAL OFFICE.—The term ‘‘judicial of9 fice’’ means an entity of the judicial branch of the

10 Federal Government.

11 (8) LEGISLATIVE FACILITY.—The term ‘‘legisla12 tive facility’’ means a facility that is owned or leased

13 by a legislative office.

14 (9) LEGISLATIVE OFFICE.—The term ‘‘legisla15 tive office’’ means an entity of the legislative branch

16 of the Federal Government.

17 (b) EXECUTIVE BRANCH STANDARDS AND COMPLI18 ANCE.—

19 (1) STATE AND LOCAL LICENSING REQUIRE20 MENTS.—

21 (A) IN GENERAL.—Any entity sponsoring

22 a child care center in an executive facility

23 shall—

24 (i) obtain the appropriate State and

25 local licenses for the center; and
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1 (ii) in a location where the State or

2 locality does not license executive facilities,

3 comply with the appropriate State and

4 local licensing requirements related to the

5 provision of child care.

6 (B) COMPLIANCE.—Not later than 6

7 months after the date of enactment of this

8 Act—

9 (i) the entity shall comply, or make

10 substantial progress (as determined by the

11 Administrator) toward complying, with

12 subparagraph (A); and

13 (ii) any contract or licensing agree14 ment used by an Executive agency for the

15 operation of such a child care center shall

16 include a condition that the child care be

17 provided by an entity that complies with

18 the appropriate State and local licensing

19 requirements related to the provision of

20 child care.

21 (2) HEALTH, SAFETY, AND FACILITY STAND22 ARDS.—The Administrator shall by regulation estab23 lish standards relating to health, safety, facilities, fa24 cility design, and other aspects of child care that the

25 Administrator determines to be appropriate for child
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1 care centers in executive facilities, and require child

2 care centers, and entities sponsoring child care cen3 ters, in executive facilities to comply with the stand4 ards.

5 (3) ACCREDITATION STANDARDS.—

6 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator

7 shall issue regulations requiring, to the maxi8 mum extent possible, any entity sponsoring an

9 eligible child care center (as defined by the Ad10 ministrator) in an executive facility to comply

11 with child care center accreditation standards

12 issued by a nationally recognized accreditation

13 organization approved by the Administrator.

14 (B) COMPLIANCE.—The regulations shall

15 require that, not later than 5 years after the

16 date of enactment of this Act—

17 (i) the entity shall comply, or make

18 substantial progress (as determined by the

19 Administrator) toward complying, with the

20 standards; and

21 (ii) any contract or licensing agree22 ment used by an Executive agency for the

23 operation of such a child care center shall

24 include a condition that the child care be
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1 provided by an entity that complies with

2 the standards.

3 (C) CONTENTS.—The standards shall base

4 accreditation on—

5 (i) an accreditation instrument de6 scribed in section 2(2)(B);

7 (ii) outside monitoring described in

8 section 2(2)(B), by—

9 (I) the Administrator; or

10 (II) a child care credentialing or

11 accreditation entity, or other entity,

12 with which the Administrator enters

13 into a contract to provide such mon14 itoring; and

15 (iii) the criteria described in section

16 2(2)(B).

17 (4) EVALUATION AND COMPLIANCE.—

18 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator

19 shall evaluate the compliance, with the require20 ments of paragraph (1) and the regulations is21 sued pursuant to paragraphs (2) and (3), of

22 child care centers, and entities sponsoring child

23 care centers, in executive facilities. The Admin24 istrator may conduct the evaluation of such a

25 child care center or entity directly, or through
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1 an agreement with another Federal agency or

2 private entity, other than the Federal agency

3 for which the child care center is providing

4 services. If the Administrator determines, on

5 the basis of such an evaluation, that the child

6 care center or entity is not in compliance with

7 the requirements, the Administrator shall notify

8 the Executive agency.

9 (B) EFFECT OF NONCOMPLIANCE.—On re10 ceipt of the notification of noncompliance issued

11 by the Administrator, the head of the Executive

12 agency shall—

13 (i) if the entity operating the child

14 care center is the agency—

15 (I) within 2 business days after

16 the date of receipt of the notification

17 correct any deficiencies that are deter18 mined by the Administrator to be life

19 threatening or to present a risk of se20 rious bodily harm;

21 (II) develop and provide to the

22 Administrator a plan to correct any

23 other deficiencies in the operation of

24 the center and bring the center and

25 entity into compliance with the re-
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1 quirements not later than 4 months

2 after the date of receipt of the notifi3 cation;

4 (III) provide the parents of the

5 children receiving child care services

6 at the center with a notification de7 tailing the deficiencies described in

8 subclauses (I) and (II) and actions

9 that will be taken to correct the defi10 ciencies;

11 (IV) bring the center and entity

12 into compliance with the requirements

13 and certify to the Administrator that

14 the center and entity are in compli15 ance, based on an on-site evaluation

16 of the center conducted by an inde17 pendent entity with expertise in child

18 care health and safety; and

19 (V) in the event that deficiencies

20 determined by the Administrator to be

21 life threatening or to present a risk of

22 serious bodily harm cannot be cor23 rected within 2 business days after

24 the date of receipt of the notification,

25 close the center until such deficiencies
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1 are corrected and notify the Adminis2 trator of such closure; and

3 (ii) if the entity operating the child

4 care center is a contractor or licensee of

5 the Executive agency—

6 (I) require the contractor or li7 censee within 2 business days after

8 the date of receipt of the notification,

9 to correct any deficiencies that are de10 termined by the Administrator to be

11 life threatening or to present a risk of

12 serious bodily harm:

13 (II) require the contractor or li14 censee to develop and provide to the

15 head of the agency a plan to correct

16 any other deficiencies in the operation

17 of the center and bring the center and

18 entity into compliance with the re19 quirements not later than 4 months

20 after the date of receipt of the notifi21 cation;

22 (III) require the contractor or li23 censee to provide the parents of the

24 children receiving child care services

25 at the center with a notification de-
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1 tailing the deficiencies described in

2 subclauses (I) and (II) and actions

3 that will be taken to correct the defi4 ciencies;

5 (IV) require the contractor or li6 censee to bring the center and entity

7 into compliance with the requirements

8 and certify to the head of the agency

9 that the center and entity are in com10 pliance, based on an on-site evaluation

11 of the center conducted by an inde12 pendent entity with expertise in child

13 care health and safety; and

14 (V) in the event that deficiencies

15 determined by the Administrator to be

16 life threatening or to present a risk of

17 serious bodily harm cannot be cor18 rected within 2 business days after

19 the date of receipt of the notification,

20 close the center until such deficiencies

21 are corrected and notify the Adminis22 trator of such closure, which closure

23 shall be grounds for the immediate

24 termination or suspension of the con-
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1 tract or license of the contractor or li2 censee.

3 (C) COST REIMBURSEMENT.—The Execu4 tive agency shall reimburse the Administrator

5 for the costs of carrying out subparagraph (A)

6 for child care centers located in an executive fa7 cility other than an executive facility of the

8 General Services Administration. If an entity is

9 sponsoring a child care center for 2 or more

10 Executive agencies, the Administrator shall allo11 cate the costs of providing such reimbursement

12 with respect to the entity among the agencies in

13 a fair and equitable manner, based on the ex14 tent to which each agency is eligible to place

15 children in the center.

16 (c) LEGISLATIVE BRANCH STANDARDS AND COMPLI17 ANCE.—

18 (1) STATE AND LOCAL LICENSING REQUIRE19 MENTS, HEALTH, SAFETY, AND FACILITY STAND20 ARDS, AND ACCREDITATION STANDARDS.—The Ar21 chitect of the Capitol shall issue regulations ap22 proved by the Senate Committee on Rules and Ad23 ministration and the House Oversite Committee for

24 child care centers, and entities sponsoring child care

25 centers, in legislative facilities, which shall be no less
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1 stringent in content and effect than the require2 ments of subsection (b)(1) and the regulations is3 sued by the Administrator under paragraphs (2) and

4 (3) of subsection (b), except to the extent that the

5 Architect with the consent and approval of the Sen6 ate Committee on Rules and Administration and the

7 House Oversight Committee, may determine, for

8 good cause shown and stated together with the regu9 lations, that a modification of such regulations

10 would be more effective for the implementation of

11 the requirements and standards described in para12 graphs (1), (2), and (3) of subsection (b) for child

13 care centers, and entities sponsoring child care cen14 ters, in legislative facilities.

15 (2) EVALUATION AND COMPLIANCE.—

16 (A) ARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL.—The

17 Architect of the Capitol shall have the same au18 thorities and duties with respect to the evalua19 tion of, compliance of, and cost reimbursement

20 for child care centers, and entities sponsoring

21 child care centers, in legislative facilities as the

22 Administrator has under subsection (b)(4) with

23 respect to the evaluation of, compliance of, and

24 cost reimbursement for such centers and enti-
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1 ties sponsoring such centers, in executive facili2 ties.

3 (B) HEAD OF A LEGISLATIVE OFFICE.—

4 The head of a legislative office shall have the

5 same authorities and duties with respect to the

6 compliance of and cost reimbursement for child

7 care centers, and entities sponsoring child care

8 centers, in legislative facilities as the head of

9 an Executive agency has under subsection

10 (b)(4) with respect to the compliance of and

11 cost reimbursement for such centers and enti12 ties sponsoring such centers, in executive facili13 ties.

14 (d) JUDICIAL BRANCH STANDARDS AND COMPLI15 ANCE.—

16 (1) STATE AND LOCAL LICENSING REQUIRE17 MENTS HEALTH, SAFETY, AND FACILITY STAND18 ARDS, AND ACCREDITATION STANDARDS.—The Di19 rector of the Administrative Office of the United

20 States Courts shall issue regulations for child care

21 centers, and entities sponsoring child care centers, in

22 judicial facilities, which shall be no less stringent in

23 content and effect than the requirements of sub24 section (b)(1) and the regulations issued by the Ad25 ministrator under paragraphs (2) and (3) of sub-
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1 section (b), except to the extent that the Director

2 may determine, for good cause shown and stated to3 gether with the regulations, that a modification of

4 such regulations would be more effective for the im5 plementation of the requirements and standards de6 scribed in paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) of subsection

7 (b) for child care centers, and entities sponsoring

8 child care centers, in judicial facilities.

9 (2) EVALUATION AND COMPLIANCE.—

10 (A) DIRECTOR OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE

11 OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES COURTS.—The

12 Director of the Administrative Office of the

13 United States Courts shall have the same au14 thorities and duties with respect to the evalua15 tion of, compliance of, and cost reimbursement

16 for child care centers, and entities sponsoring

17 child care centers, in judicial facilities as the

18 Administrator has under subsection (b)(4) with

19 respect to the evaluation of, compliance of, and

20 cost reimbursement for such centers and enti21 ties sponsoring such centers, in executive facili22 ties.

23 (B) HEAD OF A JUDICIAL OFFICE.—The

24 head of a judicial office shall have the same au25 thorities and duties with respect to the compli-
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1 ance of and cost reimbursement for child care

2 centers, and entities sponsoring child care cen3 ters, in judicial facilities as the head of an Ex4 ecutive agency has under subsection (b)(4) with

5 respect to the compliance of and cost reim6 bursement for such centers and entities spon7 soring such centers, in executive facilities.

8 (e) APPLICATION.—Notwithstanding any other provi9 sion of this section, if 8 or more child care centers are

10 sponsored in facilities owned or leased by an Executive

11 agency, the Administrator shall delegate to the head of

12 the agency the evaluation and compliance responsibilities

13 assigned to the Administrator under subsection (b)(4)(A).

14 (f) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE, STUDIES, AND RE15 VIEWS.—The Administrator may provide technical assist16 ance, and conduct and provide the results of studies and

17 reviews, for Executive agencies, and entities sponsoring

18 child care centers in executive facilities, on a reimbursable

19 basis, in order to assist the entities in complying with this

20 section. The Architect of the Capitol and the Director of

21 the Administrative Office of the United States Courts may

22 provide technical assistance, and conduct and provide the

23 results of studies and reviews, or request that the Admin24 istrator provide technical assistance, and conduct and pro25 vide the results of studies and reviews, for legislative of-
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1 fices and judicial offices, respectively, and entities operat2 ing child care centers in legislative facilities and judicial

3 facilities, respectively, on a reimbursable basis, in order

4 to assist the entities in complying with this section.

5 (g) COUNCIL.—The Administrator shall establish an

6 interagency council, comprised of all Executive agencies

7 described in subsection (e), a representative of the Office

8 of Architect of the Capitol, and a representative of the

9 Administrative Office of the United States Courts, to fa10 cilitate cooperation and sharing of best practices, and to

11 develop and coordinate policy, regarding the provision of

12 child care in the Federal Government.

13 (h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is

14 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section

15 $900,000 for fiscal year 1998 and such sums as may be

16 necessary for each subsequent fiscal year.

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