II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1408 

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

improve child care protections provided through interstate background checks. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 9, 2019 

Mr. BURR (for himself and Mr. VAN HOLLEN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant 

Act of 1990 to improve child care protections provided 

through interstate 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. 

7 Section 658H of the Child Care and Development 

8 Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858f) is amended— 


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1 (1) by redesignating subsection (j) as sub2 section (k); 

3 (2) in subsection (d)(2)(A), by striking ‘‘sub4 section (j)(1)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (k)(1)’’; 

5 and 

6 (3) by inserting after subsection (i) the fol7 lowing: 

8 ‘‘(j) TASK FORCE TO ASSIST IN IMPLEMENTING

9 INTERSTATE CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECKS FOR

10 CHILD CARE STAFF MEMBERS.— 

11 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a 

12 task force, to be known as the Interagency Task 

13 Force for Child Safety (referred to in this section as 

14 the ‘Task Force’), to identify, evaluate, and rec15 ommend best practices and technical assistance to 

16 assist Federal and State agencies in fully imple17 menting the requirements of subsection (b) for child 

18 care staff members. 

19 ‘‘(2) COMPOSITION.—Not later than 60 days 

20 after the date of enactment of the Child Care Pro21 tection Improvement Act of 2019, the President 

22 shall appoint the members of the Task Force, which 

23 shall include— 

24 ‘‘(A) the Director of the Office of Child 

25 Care of the Department of Health and Human 


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1 Services, the Associate Commissioner of the 

2 Children’s Bureau of the Department of Health 

3 and Human Services, the Director of the Fed4 eral Bureau of Investigation, or their designees; 

5 and 

6 ‘‘(B) such other Federal officials as may 

7 be designated by the President. 

8 ‘‘(3) CHAIRPERSON.—The chairperson of the 

9 Task Force shall be the Assistant Secretary of the 

10 Administration for Children and Families. 

11 ‘‘(4) CONSULTATION.—The Task Force shall 

12 consult with representatives from State child care 

13 agencies, State child protective services, State crimi14 nal justice agencies, and other relevant stakeholders 

15 on identifying problems in implementing, and pro16 posing solutions to implement, the requirements of 

17 subsection (b), as described in that subsection. 

18 ‘‘(5) TASK FORCE DUTIES.—The Task Force 

19 shall— 

20 ‘‘(A) develop recommendations for improv21 ing implementation of the requirements of sub22 section (b), including recommendations about 

23 how the Task Force and member agencies will 

24 collaborate and coordinate efforts to implement 


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1 such requirements, as described in subsection 

2 (b); and 

3 ‘‘(B) develop recommendations in which 

4 the Task Force identifies best practices and 

5 evaluates technical assistance to assist relevant 

6 Federal and State agencies in implementing 

7 subsection (b), which identification and evalua8 tion shall include— 

9 ‘‘(i) an analysis of available research 

10 and information at the Federal and State 

11 level regarding the status of the interstate 

12 requirements of subsection (b) for child 

13 care staff members who have resided in 

14 one or more States during the previous 5 

15 years and who seek employment in a child 

16 care program in a different State; 

17 ‘‘(ii) a list of State agencies that are 

18 not responding to interstate requests cov19 ered by subsection (b) for relevant infor20 mation on child care staff members; 

21 ‘‘(iii) identification of the challenges 

22 State agencies are experiencing in respond23 ing to such interstate requests; 

24 ‘‘(iv) an analysis of the length of time 

25 it takes the State agencies in a State to reVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:39 May 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1408.IS S1408

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1 ceive such results from State agencies in 

2 another State in response to such an inter3 state request in accordance with subsection 

4 (b); 

5 ‘‘(v) an analysis of the average proc6 essing time for the interstate requests, in 

7 accordance with subsection (b); 

8 ‘‘(vi) identification of the fees associ9 ated with the interstate requests in each 

10 State to meet requirements in accordance 

11 with subsection (b); 

12 ‘‘(vii) a list of States that are partici13 pating in the National Fingerprint File 

14 program, as administered by the Federal 

15 Bureau of Investigation, and an analysis of 

16 reasons States have or have not chosen to 

17 participate in the program, including bar18 riers to participation such as barriers re19 lated to State regulatory requirements and 

20 statutes; and 

21 ‘‘(viii) a list of States that have closed 

22 record laws or systems that prevent the 

23 States from sharing complete criminal 

24 records data or information with State 

25 agencies in another State. 


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1 ‘‘(6) MEETINGS.—Not later than 3 months 

2 after the date of enactment of the Child Care Pro3 tection Improvement Act of 2019, the Task Force 

4 shall hold its first meeting. 

5 ‘‘(7) FINAL REPORT.—Not later than 1 year 

6 after the first meeting of the Task Force, the Task 

7 Force shall submit to the Secretary of Health and 

8 Human Services, the Committee on Health, Edu9 cation, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate, and the 

10 Committee on Education and Labor of the House of 

11 Representatives a final report containing all of the 

12 recommendations required by subparagraphs (A) 

13 and (B) of paragraph (5). 

14 ‘‘(8) SUNSET.—The Task Force shall terminate 

15 1 year after submitting its final report, but not later 

16 than the end of fiscal year 2021.’’. 

Æ 


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