I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3986 

To establish a task force to improve child care protections provided through 

interstate criminal background checks. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 25, 2019 

Mrs. MCBATH (for herself, Mr. TAYLOR, Mrs. AXNE, Mr. KELLER, and Ms. 

FINKENAUER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To establish a task force to improve child care protections 

provided through interstate criminal background checks. 

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 Protection 

5 Improvement Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. TASK FORCE TO ASSIST IN IMPLEMENTING INTER7 STATE CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECKS FOR 

8 CHILD CARE STAFF MEMBERS. 

9 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 

10 Department of Health and Human Services a task force, 


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1 to be known as the Interagency Task Force for Child Safe2 ty (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Task Force’’), to 

3 identify, evaluate, and recommend best practices and tech4 nical assistance to assist Federal and State agencies in 

5 fully implementing the requirements of section 658H(b) 

6 of the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 

7 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858f(b)) for child care staff members. 

8 (b) COMPOSITION.—Not later than 60 days after the 

9 date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall ap10 point the members of the Task Force which shall in11 clude— 

12 (1) the Director of the Office of Child Care of 

13 the Department of Health and Human Services, the 

14 Associate Commissioner of the Children’s Bureau of 

15 the Department of Health and Human Services, the 

16 Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, or 

17 their respective designees; and 

18 (2) such other Federal officials as may be des19 ignated by the President. 

20 (c) CHAIRPERSON.—The chairperson of the Task 

21 Force shall be the Assistant Secretary of the Administra22 tion for Children and Families of the Department of 

23 Health and Human Services. 

24 (d) CONSULTATION.—The Task Force shall consult 

25 with representatives from State child care agencies, State 


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1 child protective services, State criminal justice agencies, 

2 providers of child care services, including those in the pri3 vate sector, and other relevant stakeholders on identifying 

4 problems in implementing, and proposing solutions to im5 plement, the requirements of section 658H(b) of the Child 

6 Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 

7 U.S.C. 9858f(b)) as described in such section. Such con8 sultation shall include State agencies that have been able 

9 to implement such requirements as well as State agencies 

10 that have not. 

11 (e) TASK FORCE DUTIES.—The Task Force shall— 

12 (1) develop recommendations for improving im13 plementation of the requirements of section 658H(b) 

14 of the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act 

15 of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858f(b)), including rec16 ommendations about how the member agencies of 

17 the Task Force will collaborate and coordinate ef18 forts to implement such requirements; and 

19 (2) develop recommendations that identify best 

20 practices and evaluate technical assistance to assist 

21 relevant Federal and State agencies in implementing 

22 section 658H(b) of the Child Care and Development 

23 Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858f(b)), 

24 which identification and evaluation shall include— 


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1 (A) an analysis of available research and 

2 information at the Federal, State, and local lev3 els regarding the status of the interstate re4 quirements of such section for child care staff 

5 members who have resided in one or more 

6 States during the previous 5 years and who 

7 seek employment in a child care program in a 

8 different State; 

9 (B) a list of State agencies that are not re10 sponding to interstate requests covered by such 

11 section for relevant information on child care 

12 staff members, and why they are not respond13 ing if aware of such requests; 

14 (C) identification of the challenges State 

15 agencies are experiencing in responding to such 

16 interstate requests; 

17 (D) an analysis of the length of time it 

18 takes the State agencies in a State to receive 

19 such results from State agencies in another 

20 State in response to such an interstate request 

21 in accordance with such section; 

22 (E) an analysis of the average processing 

23 time for the interstate requests, after such re24 sponse has been received, in accordance with 

25 such section; 


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1 (F) identification of the fees and work bur2 den associated with the interstate requests in 

3 each State to meet requirements in accordance 

4 with such section, including information regard5 ing who pays the fees and whether and how the 

6 cost of the fees may be changed; 

7 (G) a list of States that are participating 

8 in the National Fingerprint File program, as 

9 administered by the Federal Bureau of Inves10 tigation, and an analysis of reasons States have 

11 or have not chosen to participate in the pro12 gram, including barriers to participation such 

13 as barriers related to State regulatory require14 ments and statutes; and 

15 (H) a list of States that have closed record 

16 laws or systems that prevent the States from 

17 sharing complete criminal records data or infor18 mation with State agencies in another State. 

19 (f) MEETINGS.—Not later than 3 months after the 

20 date of the enactment of this Act, the Task Force shall 

21 hold its first meeting. 

22 (g) FINAL REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the 

23 first meeting of the Task Force, the Task Force shall sub24 mit to the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the 

25 Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of 


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1 the Senate, and the Committee on Education and Labor 

2 of the House of Representatives a final report containing 

3 all of the recommendations required by subsection (e). 

4 (h) SUNSET.—The Task Force shall terminate 1 year 

5 after submitting its final report under subsection (g), but 

6 not later than September 30, 2021. 

Æ 


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