II 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3620 

To amend the Social Security Act to enable States to carry out quality 

initiatives, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 26 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 17), 2008 

Mrs. LINCOLN (for herself, Mr. SMITH, and Mr. PRYOR) introduced the 

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To amend the Social Security Act to enable States to carry 

out quality initiatives, 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 ‘‘Child Care Investment 

5 Act of 2008’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FUNDING FOR CHILD CARE. 

7 (a) MAIN PROGRAM.—Section 418 of the Social Secu8 rity Act (42 U.S.C. 618) is amended— 

9 (1) in subsection (a)— 

10 (A) in paragraph (3)— 


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1 (i) in the matter preceding subpara2 graph (A), by striking ‘‘section’’ and in3 serting ‘‘subsection’’; 

4 (ii) in subparagraph (G), by striking 

5 ‘‘2010.’’ and inserting ‘‘2008; and’’; and 

6 (iii) by adding at the end the fol7 lowing: 

8 ‘‘(H) $3,717,000,000 for each of fiscal 

9 years 2009 though 2014.’’; and 

10 (2) in subsection (b)— 

11 (A) by striking all that precedes paragraph 

12 (1) and inserting the following: 

13 ‘‘(6) USE OF FUNDS.—’’; 

14 (B) by redesignating paragraphs (1) and 

15 (2) as subparagraphs (A) and (B), respectively, 

16 and aligning the margins of those subpara17 graphs with the margins of section 

18 418(a)(2)(C) of that Act; 

19 (C) by striking ‘‘this section’’ each place it 

20 appears and inserting ‘‘this subsection’’; and 

21 (D) by striking ‘‘subsection (a)(1)’’ and in22 serting ‘‘paragraph (1)’’. 

23 (b) QUALITY INITIATIVES.—Section 418 of the Social 

24 Security Act, as amended by subsection (a), is further 

25 amended by inserting after subsection (a) the following: 


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1 ‘‘(b) QUALITY INITIATIVES.— 

2 ‘‘(1) APPROPRIATION.—In addition to amounts 

3 appropriated under subsection (a), there is appro4 priated to carry out this subsection $300,000,000 

5 for each of fiscal years 2009 through 2014. 

6 ‘‘(2) ALLOTMENT.—The Secretary shall use the 

7 funds appropriated under paragraph (1) to make 

8 grants to eligible States, through allotments made to 

9 those States on the basis of the formula described 

10 in subsection (a)(2)(B). 

11 ‘‘(3) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a 

12 grant under this subsection, a State shall submit an 

13 application to the Secretary at such time, in such 

14 manner, and containing such information as the Sec15 retary may require, including an assurance that the 

16 State will use the grant funds as described in para17 graph (4). 

18 ‘‘(4) USE OF FUNDS.—A State that receives a 

19 grant under this subsection shall use the grant 

20 funds to carry out 2 or more activities consisting 

21 of— 

22 ‘‘(A) establishing and implementing, or 

23 maintaining, a Quality Rating and Improve24 ment System for center-based child care pro25 viders, group home child care providers, family 


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1 child care providers, and other early childhood 

2 education providers, as determined by the 

3 State, which shall— 

4 ‘‘(i) include criteria appropriate for 

5 providers for each age group of the chil6 dren involved, with initial and progressively 

7 higher levels that lead to standards that 

8 are consistent with nationally recognized 

9 high standards; and 

10 ‘‘(ii) provides assistance for education, 

11 training, and compensation initiatives to 

12 assist child care providers in meeting the 

13 initial and progressively higher levels for 

14 the criteria; 

15 ‘‘(B) establishing and supporting a state16 wide network of infant and toddler specialists to 

17 provide individual or group training, and inten18 sive consultation, to center-based child care pro19 viders, group home child care providers, family 

20 child care providers, and relative caregivers on 

21 strategies to improve the quality of care for in22 fants and toddlers, especially infants and tod23 dlers in families who are eligible for federally 

24 funded child care assistance; 


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1 ‘‘(C) establishing and implementing stand2 ards that require at least 40 hours of appro3 priate health, safety, and child development 

4 training for an individual, prior to employment 

5 with or as a licensed or registered child care 

6 provider; 

7 ‘‘(D) establishing and implementing re8 quirements that licensed or registered center9 based child care providers, group home child 

10 care providers, and family child care providers 

11 are visited by monitoring staff at least twice a 

12 year, with a minimum of 1 such visit a year on 

13 an unannounced basis; and 

14 ‘‘(E) paying reimbursement rates, for pro15 viders of child care services for which financial 

16 assistance is made available under the Child 

17 Care and Development Block Grant Act of 

18 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858 et seq.), at or above the 

19 75th percentile of market rates for such serv20 ices as determined by a current (as of the date 

21 of the payment) market rate survey.’’. 

Æ 


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