II

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2236

To establish programs to improve the health and safety of children receiving

child care outside the home, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MARCH 9, 2000

Mr. FRIST (for himself and Mr. DODD) introduced the following bill; which

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

Labor, and Pensions

A BILL

To establish programs to improve the health and safety of

children receiving child care outside the home, 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 ‘‘Children’s Day Care

5 Health and Safety Improvement Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds that—
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1 (1) of the 21,000,000 children under age 6 in

2 the United States, almost 13,000,000 spend some

3 part of their day in child care;

4 (2) a review of State child care regulations in

5 47 States found that more than half of the States

had inadequate standards or no standards for 2 6 ⁄3 of

7 the safety topics reviewed;

8 (3) a research study conducted by the Con9 sumer Product Safety Commission in 1998 found

that 2 10 ⁄3 of the 200 licensed child care settings inves11 tigated in the study exhibited at least 1 of 8 safety

12 hazards investigated, including insufficient child

13 safety gates, cribs with soft bedding, and unsafe

14 playground surfacing;

15 (4) compliance with recently published vol16 untary national safety standards developed by public

17 health and pediatric experts was found to vary con18 siderably by State, and the States ranged from a 20

19 percent to a 99 percent compliance rate;

20 (5) in 1997, approximately 31,000 children

21 ages 4 and younger were treated in hospital emer22 gency rooms for injuries in child care or school set23 tings;
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1 (6) the Consumer Product Safety Commission

2 reports that at least 56 children have died in child

3 care settings since 1990;

4 (7) the American Academy of Pediatrics identi5 fies safe facilities, equipment, and transportation as

6 elements of quality child care; and

7 (8) a research study of 133 child care centers

8 revealed that 85 percent of the child care center di9 rectors believe that health consultation is important

10 or very important for child care centers.

11 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

12 In this Act:

13 (1) CHILD WITH A DISABILITY; INFANT OR

14 TODDLER WITH A DISABILITY.—The terms ‘‘child

15 with a disability’’ and ‘‘infant or toddler with a dis16 ability’’ have the meanings given the terms in sec17 tion 602 of the Individuals with Disabilities Edu18 cation Act (20 U.S.C. 1401).

19 (2) ELIGIBLE CHILD CARE PROVIDER.—The

20 term ‘‘eligible child care provider’’ means a provider

21 of child care services for compensation, including a

22 provider of care for a school-age child during non23 school hours, that—
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1 (A) is licensed, regulated, registered, or

2 otherwise legally operating, under State and

3 local law; and

4 (B) satisfies the State and local require5 ments,

6 applicable to the child care services the provider pro7 vides.

8 (3) FAMILY CHILD CARE PROVIDER.—The term

9 ‘‘family child care provider’’ means 1 individual who

10 provides child care services for fewer than 24 hours

11 per day, as the sole caregiver, and in a private resi12 dence.

13 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

14 the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

15 (5) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any of

16 the several States of the United States, the District

17 of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the

18 United States Virgin Islands, Guam, American

19 Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern

20 Mariana Islands.

21 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

22 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out

23 this Act $200,000,000 for fiscal year 2001 and such sums

24 as may be necessary for each subsequent fiscal year.
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1 SEC. 5. PROGRAMS.

2 The Secretary shall make allotments to eligible States

3 under section 6. The Secretary shall make the allotments

4 to enable the States to establish programs to improve the

5 health and safety of children receiving child care outside

6 the home, by preventing illnesses and injuries associated

7 with that care and promoting the health and well-being

8 of children receiving that care.

9 SEC. 6. AMOUNTS RESERVED; ALLOTMENTS.

10 (a) AMOUNTS RESERVED.—The Secretary shall reserve not more than 1 11 ⁄2 of 1 percent of the amount appro12 priated under section 4 for each fiscal year to make allot13 ments to Guam, American Samoa, the United States Vir14 gin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mar15 iana Islands to be allotted in accordance with their respec16 tive needs.

17 (b) STATE ALLOTMENTS.—

18 (1) GENERAL RULE.—From the amounts ap19 propriated under section 4 for each fiscal year and

20 remaining after reservations are made under sub21 section (a), the Secretary shall allot to each State an

22 amount equal to the sum of—

23 (A) an amount that bears the same ratio

24 to 50 percent of such remainder as the product

25 of the young child factor of the State and the

26 allotment percentage of the State bears to the
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1 sum of the corresponding products for all

2 States; and

3 (B) an amount that bears the same ratio

4 to 50 percent of such remainder as the product

5 of the school lunch factor of the State and the

6 allotment percentage of the State bears to the

7 sum of the corresponding products for all

8 States.

9 (2) YOUNG CHILD FACTOR.—In this subsection,

10 the term ‘‘young child factor’’ means the ratio of the

11 number of children under 5 years of age in a State

12 to the number of such children in all States, as pro13 vided by the most recent annual estimates of popu14 lation in the States by the Census Bureau of the De15 partment of Commerce.

16 (3) SCHOOL LUNCH FACTOR.—In this sub17 section, the term ‘‘school lunch factor’’ means the

18 ratio of the number of children who are receiving

19 free or reduced price lunches under the school lunch

20 program established under the National School

21 Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) in the State to

22 the number of such children in all States, as deter23 mined annually by the Department of Agriculture.

24 (4) ALLOTMENT PERCENTAGE.—
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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this

2 subsection, the allotment percentage for a State

3 shall be determined by dividing the per capita

4 income of all individuals in the United States,

5 by the per capita income of all individuals in

6 the State.

7 (B) LIMITATIONS.—If an allotment per8 centage determined under subparagraph (A) for

9 a State—

10 (i) is more than 1.2 percent, the allot11 ment percentage of the State shall be con12 sidered to be 1.2 percent; and

13 (ii) is less than 0.8 percent, the allot14 ment percentage of the State shall be con15 sidered to be 0.8 percent.

16 (C) PER CAPITA INCOME.—For purposes

17 of subparagraph (A), per capita income shall

18 be—

19 (i) determined at 2-year intervals;

20 (ii) applied for the 2-year period be21 ginning on October 1 of the first fiscal

22 year beginning after the date such deter23 mination is made; and

24 (iii) equal to the average of the an25 nual per capita incomes for the most re-
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1 cent period of 3 consecutive years for

2 which satisfactory data are available from

3 the Department of Commerce on the date

4 such determination is made.

5 (c) DATA AND INFORMATION.—The Secretary shall

6 obtain from each appropriate Federal agency, the most re7 cent data and information necessary to determine the al8 lotments provided for in subsection (b).

9 (d) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘State’’

10 includes only the several States of the United States, the

11 District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto

12 Rico.

13 SEC. 7. STATE APPLICATIONS.

14 To be eligible to receive an allotment under section

15 6, a State shall submit an application to the Secretary

16 at such time, in such manner, and containing such infor17 mation as the Secretary may require. The application shall

18 contain information assessing the needs of the State with

19 regard to child care health and safety, the goals to be

20 achieved through the program carried out by the State

21 under this Act, and the measures to be used to assess the

22 progress made by the State toward achieving the goals.

23 SEC. 8. USE OF FUNDS.

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—A State that receives an allotment

25 under section 6 shall use the funds made available through
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1 the allotment to carry out 2 or more activities consisting

2 of—

3 (1) providing training and education to eligible

4 child care providers on preventing injuries and ill5 nesses in children, and promoting health-related

6 practices;

7 (2) strengthening licensing, regulation, or reg8 istration standards for eligible child care providers;

9 (3) assisting eligible child care providers in

10 meeting licensing, regulation, or registration stand11 ards, including rehabilitating the facilities of the

12 providers, in order to bring the facilities into compli13 ance with the standards;

14 (4) enforcing licensing, regulation, or registra15 tion standards for eligible child care providers, in16 cluding holding increased unannounced inspections

17 of the facilities of those providers;

18 (5) providing health consultants to provide ad19 vice to eligible child care providers;

20 (6) assisting eligible child care providers in en21 hancing the ability of the providers to serve children

22 with disabilities and infants and toddlers with dis23 abilities;

24 (7) conducting criminal background checks for

25 eligible child care providers and other individuals
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1 who have contact with children in the facilities of the

2 providers;

3 (8) providing information to parents on what

4 factors to consider in choosing a safe and healthy

5 child care setting; or

6 (9) assisting in improving the safety of trans7 portation practices for children enrolled in child care

8 programs with eligible child care providers.

9 (b) SUPPLEMENT, NOT SUPPLANT.—Funds appro10 priated pursuant to the authority of this Act shall be used

11 to supplement and not supplant other Federal, State, and

12 local public funds expended to provide services for eligible

13 individuals.

14 SEC. 9. REPORTS.

15 Each State that receives an allotment under section

16 6 shall annually prepare and submit to the Secretary a

17 report that describes—

18 (1) the activities carried out with funds made

19 available through the allotment; and

20 (2) the progress made by the State toward

21 achieving the goals described in the application sub22 mitted by the State under section 7.

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