II

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 19

To provide funds for child care for low-income working families, and for

other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JANUARY 21, 1997

Mr. DODD (for himself, Mr. DASCHLE, Mr. KENNEDY, Ms. MIKULSKI, Mr.

ROCKEFELLER, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. TORRICELLI, and Mrs. BOXER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Labor and Human Resources

A BILL

To provide funds for child care for low-income working

families, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the

5 ‘‘Working Families Child Care Act of 1997’’.

6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for

7 this Act is as follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.

Sec. 2. Findings.

Sec. 3. Assistance for low-income working families.

Sec. 4. Grants for child care supply shortages.
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Sec. 5. Report on access to child care by low-income working families.

Sec. 6. Effective date.

1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

2 Congress makes the following findings:

3 (1) Availability and affordability of quality child

4 care is a major obstacle for working parents who

5 struggle to remain self-sufficient.

6 (A) Compared to all other income groups,

7 the working poor are the least likely to receive

8 assistance with their child care costs.

9 (B) Low-income families spend 24 percent

10 of their household income on child care, where11 as middle-income families spend 6 percent of

12 their household income on child care.

13 (C) 38 States have waiting lists for child

14 care for the working poor. Among those States,

15 Georgia has 41,000 individuals on its waiting

16 list, Texas has 36,000 individuals on its waiting

17 list, and Illinois and Alabama each have 20,000

18 individuals on their waiting lists.

19 (D) One survey of low-income families on

20 a waiting list for subsidized child care found

21 that of those families paying for child care out

22 of their own funds, 71 percent faced serious

23 debt or bankruptcy.
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1 (E) Half of the States and the District of

2 Columbia, even before the enactment of the

3 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity

4 Reconciliation Act of 1996 (Public Law 104–

5 193, 110 Stat. 2105) during the 104th Con6 gress, increased the proportion of child care

7 slots or dollars going to families on welfare,

8 rather than to working poor families.

9 (2) The Congressional Budget Office estimates

10 that there will be $1,400,000,000 less expenditures

11 of child care funds for working poor families as a re12 sult of the States implementing the work require13 ments imposed under the Personal Responsibility

14 and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996

15 (Public Law 104–193, 110 Stat. 2105).

16 (3) Important types of child care are not avail17 able in certain States including infant care, school18 age care, care for children with disabilities and spe19 cial health care needs, and child care for parents

20 with unconventional or shifting work hours.

21 (A) A 1995 State study by the Comptroller

22 General of the United States found a shortage

23 of child care for infants and children with spe24 cial needs in inner cities, and a shortage of all

25 types of child care in rural areas.
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1 (B) Only one-third of the schools in low-in2 come neighborhoods offer school-age child care,

3 compared with 52 percent of schools in more

4 affluent areas offering such care.

5 (C) Eighth-graders who are left home

6 alone for 11 or more hours a week report sig7 nificantly greater use of cigarettes, alcohol, and

8 marijuana than eighth-graders who are not left

9 home alone.

10 (D) Existing child care arrangements do

11 not accommodate the work schedules of many

12 working women. According to a 1995 statistic

13 published by the Department of Labor,

14 14,300,000 workers, nearly 1 in 5 full-time

15 workers work nonstandard hours, and more

16 than 1 in 3 of those workers are women.

17 (E) Only 10 percent of child care centers

18 and 6 percent of family day care providers offer

19 child care on weekends. Yet one-third of work20 ing mothers with annual incomes below the pov21 erty level and one-quarter of mothers with an22 nual incomes above the poverty level but below

23 $25,000 work on weekends.

24 (F) Less than 30 percent of Head Start

25 programs operate on a full-time, full-year basis.
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1 SEC. 3. ASSISTANCE FOR LOW-INCOME WORKING FAMILIES.

2 Section 658B of the Child Care Development Block

3 Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858) is amended to read

4 as follows:

5 ‘‘SEC. 658B. FUNDING OF GRANTS.

6 ‘‘(a) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Except

7 as provided in subsection (b), there is authorized to be

8 appropriated to carry out this subchapter $2,000,000,000

9 for each of fiscal years 1997 through 2002.

10 ‘‘(b) APPROPRIATION.—The Secretary shall pay,

11 from funds in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated,

12 $1,400,000,000 for fiscal years 1997 through 2002,

13 through the awarding of grants to States under this sub14 chapter for the purpose of providing child care services

15 for families who have left the State program of assistance

16 under part A of title IV of the Social Security Act because

17 of employment, families that are at risk of becoming de18 pendent on such assistance program, and low-income

19 working families described in section 658E(c)(3)(D).

20 Funds shall be paid under this subsection to the States

21 in the same manner, and subject to the same requirements

22 and limitations, as funds are paid to the States under sec23 tion 418 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 618).’’.
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1 SEC. 4. GRANTS FOR CHILD CARE SUPPLY SHORTAGES.

2 (a) GRANTS FOR CHILD CARE SUPPLY SHORT3 AGES.—Section 658E(c)(3) of the Child Care Develop4 ment Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858c(c)(3))

5 is amended by adding at the end the following:

6 ‘‘(E) CHILD CARE SUPPLY SHORTAGES.—

7 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—A State shall en8 sure that 100 percent of amounts paid to

9 the State out of funds appropriated under

10 section 658B(a)(2) with respect to each of

11 the fiscal years 1997 through 2002 shall

12 be used to carry out child care activities

13 described in clause (ii) in geographic areas

14 within the State that have a shortage, as

15 determined by the State, in consultation

16 with localities, of child care services.

17 ‘‘(ii) CHILD CARE ACTIVITIES DE18 SCRIBED.—The child care activities de19 scribed in this clause include the following:

20 ‘‘(I) Infant care programs.

21 ‘‘(II) Before- and after-school

22 child care programs.

23 ‘‘(III) Resource and referral pro24 grams.

25 ‘‘(IV) Nontraditional work hours

26 child care programs.
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1 ‘‘(V) Extending the hours of pre2 kindergarten programs to provide full3 day services.

4 ‘‘(VI) Any other child care pro5 grams that the Secretary determines

6 are appropriate.’’.

7 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Section

8 658B(a) of the Child Care Development Block Grant Act

9 of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858(a)), as amended by section 2,

10 is amended—

11 (1) by striking ‘‘Except as provided in’’ and in12 serting the following:

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para14 graph (2) and’’; and

15 (2) by adding at the end the following:

16 ‘‘(2) CHILD CARE SUPPLY SHORTAGES.—There

17 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out section

18 658E(c)(3)(E), $500,000,000 for each of fiscal

19 years 1997 through 2002.’’.

20 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section

21 658(c)(3)(A) of the Child Care Development Block Grant

22 Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858c(c)(3)(A)) is amended by

23 striking ‘‘(D)’’ and inserting ‘‘(E)’’.
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1 SEC. 5. REPORT ON ACCESS TO CHILD CARE BY LOW-IN2 COME WORKING FAMILIES.

3 (a) STATE REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—Section

4 658K(a)(2) of the Child Care Development Block Grant

5 Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858i(a)(2)) is amended—

6 (1) in subparagraph (D), by striking ‘‘and’’ at

7 the end; and

8 (2) by inserting after subparagraph (E), the

9 following:

10 ‘‘(F) the total number of families described

11 in section 658B(b) that were eligible for but did

12 not receive assistance under this subchapter or

13 under section 418 of the Social Security Act

14 and a description of the obstacles to providing

15 such assistance; and

16 ‘‘(G) the total number of families described

17 in section 658B(b) that received assistance pro18 vided under this subchapter or under section

19 418 of the Social Security Act and a description

20 of the manner in which that assistance was pro21 vided;’’.

22 (b) SECRETARIAL REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—Sec23 tion 658L of the Child Care Development Block Grant Act

24 of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858j) is amended by inserting ‘‘, with

25 particular emphasis on access of low-income working fami26 lies,’’ after ‘‘public’’.
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1 SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.

2 This Act and the amendments made by this Act take

3 effect as if included in the enactment of the Personal Re4 sponsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of

5 1996 (Public Law 104–193, 110 Stat. 2105).

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