II

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2615

To establish a program to promote child literacy by making books available

through early learning and other child care programs, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MAY 23, 2000

Mr. KENNEDY (for himself and Mrs. HUTCHISON) introduced the following

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

A BILL

To establish a program to promote child literacy by making

books available through early learning and other child

care programs, 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 ‘‘Book Stamp Act’’.

5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

6 Congress finds the following:

7 (1) Literacy is fundamental to all learning.

8 (2) Between 40 and 60 percent of the Nation’s

9 children do not read at grade level, particularly chil-
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1 dren in families or school districts that are chal2 lenged by significant financial or social instability.

3 (3) Increased investments in child literacy are

4 needed to improve opportunities for children and the

5 efficacy of the Nation’s education investments.

6 (4) Increasing access to books in the home is

7 an important means of improving child literacy,

8 which can be accomplished nationally at modest cost.

9 (5) Effective channels for book distribution al10 ready exist through child care providers.

11 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

12 In this Act:

13 (1) EARLY LEARNING PROGRAM.—The term

14 ‘‘early learning’’, used with respect to a program,

15 means a program of activities designed to facilitate

16 development of cognitive, language, motor, and so17 cial-emotional skills in children under age 6 as a

18 means of enabling the children to enter school ready

19 to learn, such as a Head Start or Early Head Start

20 program carried out under the Head Start Act (42

21 U.S.C. 9831 et seq.), or a State pre-kindergarten

22 program.

23 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

24 the Secretary of Health and Human Services.
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1 (3) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means the 50

2 States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth

3 of Puerto Rico, Guam, the United States Virgin Is4 lands, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of

5 the Northern Mariana Islands.

6 (4) STATE AGENCY.—The term ‘‘State agency’’

7 means an agency designated under section 658D of

8 the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of

9 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858b).

10 SEC. 4. GRANTS TO STATE AGENCIES.

11 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.—The Secretary

12 shall establish and carry out a program to promote child

13 literacy and improve children’s access to books at home

14 and in early learning and other child care programs, by

15 making books available through early learning and other

16 child care programs.

17 (b) GRANTS.—

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the program,

19 the Secretary shall make grants to State agencies

20 from allotments determined under paragraph (2).

21 (2) ALLOTMENTS.—For each fiscal year, the

22 Secretary shall allot to each State an amount that

23 bears the same ratio to the total of the available

24 funds for the fiscal year as the amount the State re25 ceives under section 658O(b) of the Child Care and
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1 Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C.

2 9858m(b)) for the fiscal year bears to the total

3 amount received by all States under that section for

4 the fiscal year.

5 (c) APPLICATIONS.—To be eligible to receive an allot6 ment under this section, a State shall submit an applica7 tion to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and

8 containing such information as the Secretary may require.

9 (d) ACCOUNTABILITY.—The provisions of sections

10 658I(b) and 658K(b) of the Child Care and Development

11 Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858g(b), 9858i(b))

12 shall apply to States receiving grants under this Act, ex13 cept that references in those sections—

14 (1) to a subchapter shall be considered to be

15 references to this Act; and

16 (2) to a plan or application shall be considered

17 to be references to an application submitted under

18 subsection (c).

19 (e) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘available

20 funds’’, used with respect to a fiscal year, means the total

21 of—

22 (1) the funds made available under section

23 416(c)(1) of title 39, United States Code for the fis24 cal year; and
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1 (2) the amounts appropriated under section 9

2 for the fiscal year.

3 SEC. 5. CONTRACTS TO CHILD CARE RESOURCE AND

4 REFERRAL AGENCIES.

5 A State agency that receives a grant under section

6 4 shall use funds made available through the grant to

7 enter into contracts with local child care resource and re8 ferral agencies to carry out the activities described in sec9 tion 6. The State agency may reserve not more than 3

10 percent of the funds made available through the grant to

11 support a public awareness campaign relating to the ac12 tivities.

13 SEC. 6. USE OF FUNDS.

14 (a) ACTIVITIES.—

15 (1) BOOK PAYMENTS FOR ELIGIBLE PRO16 VIDERS.—A child care resource and referral agency

17 that receives a contract under section 5 shall use the

18 funds made available through the grant to provide

19 payments for eligible early learning program and

20 other child care providers, on the basis of local

21 needs, to enable the providers to make books avail22 able, to promote child literacy and improve chil23 dren’s access to books at home and in early learning

24 and other child care programs.
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1 (2) ELIGIBLE PROVIDERS.—To be eligible to re2 ceive a payment under paragraph (1), a provider

3 shall—

4 (A)(i) be a center-based child care pro5 vider, a group home child care provider, or a

6 family child care provider, described in section

7 658P(5)(A) of the Child Care and Development

8 Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C.

9 9858n(5)(A)); or

10 (ii) be a Head Start agency designated

11 under section 641 of the Head Start Act (42

12 U.S.C. 9836), an entity that receives assistance

13 under section 645A of such Act to carry out an

14 Early Head Start program or another provider

15 of an early learning program; and

16 (B) provide services in an area where chil17 dren face high risks of literacy difficulties, as

18 defined by the Secretary.

19 (b) RESPONSIBILITIES.—A child care resource and

20 referral agency that receives a contract under section 5

21 to provide payments to eligible providers shall—

22 (1) consult with local individuals and organiza23 tions concerned with early literacy (including parents

24 and organizations carrying out the Reach Out and
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1 Read, First Book, and Reading Is Fundamental pro2 grams) regarding local book distribution needs;

3 (2) make reasonable efforts to learn public de4 mographic and other information about local fami5 lies and child literacy programs carried out by the

6 eligible providers, as needed to inform the agency’s

7 decisions as the agency carries out the contract;

8 (3) coordinate local orders of the books made

9 available under this Act;

10 (4) distribute, to each eligible provider that re11 ceives a payment under this Act, not fewer than 1

12 book every 6 months for each child served by the

13 provider for more than 3 of the preceding 6 months;

14 (5) use not more than 5 percent of the funds

15 made available through the contract to provide train16 ing and technical assistance to the eligible providers

17 on the effective use of books with young children at

18 different stages of development; and

19 (6) be a training resource for eligible providers

20 that want to offer parent workshops on developing

21 reading readiness.

22 (c) DISCOUNTS.—

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Federal funds made avail24 able under this Act for the purchase of books may

25 only be used to purchase books on the same terms
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1 as are customarily available in the book industry to

2 entities carrying out nonprofit bulk book purchase

3 and distribution programs.

4 (2) TERMS.—An entity offering books for pur5 chase under this Act shall be present to have met

6 the requirements of paragraph (1), absent contrary

7 evidence, if the terms include a discount of 43 per8 cent off the catalogue price of the books, with no ad9 ditional charge for shipping and handling of the

10 books.

11 (d) ADMINISTRATION.—The child care resource and

12 referral agency may not use more than 6 percent of the

13 funds made available through the contract for administra14 tive costs.

15 SEC. 7. REPORT TO CONGRESS.

16 Not later than 2 years of the date of enactment of

17 this Act, the Secretary shall prepare and submit to Con18 gress a report on the implementation of the activities car19 ried out under this Act.

20 SEC. 8. SPECIAL POSTAGE STAMPS FOR CHILD LITERACY.

21 Chapter 4 of title 39, United States Code is amended

22 by adding at the end the following:

23 ‘‘§ 416. Special postage stamps for child literacy

24 ‘‘(a) In order to afford the public a convenient way

25 to contribute to funding for child literacy, the Postal Serv-
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1 ice shall establish a special rate of postage for first-class

2 mail under this section. The stamps that bear the special

3 rate of postage shall promote childhood literacy and shall,

4 to the extent practicable, contain an image relating to a

5 character in a children’s book or cartoon.

6 ‘‘(b)(1) The rate of postage established under this

7 section—

8 ‘‘(A) shall be equal to the regular first-class

9 rate of postage, plus a differential of not to exceed

10 25 percent;

11 ‘‘(B) shall be set by the Governors in accord12 ance with such procedures as the Governors shall by

13 regulation prescribe (in lieu of the procedures de14 scribed in chapter 36); and

15 ‘‘(C) shall be offered as an alternative to the

16 regular first-class rate of postage.

17 ‘‘(2) The use of the special rate of postage established

18 under this section shall be voluntary on the part of postal

19 patrons.

20 ‘‘(c)(1) Of the amounts becoming available for child

21 literacy pursuant to this section, the Postal Service shall

22 pay 100 percent to the Department of Health and Human

23 Services.

24 ‘‘(2) Payments made under this subsection to the De25 partment shall be made under such arrangements as the
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1 Postal Service shall by mutual agreement with such De2 partment establish in order to carry out the objectives of

3 this section, except that, under those arrangements, pay4 ments to such agency shall be made at least twice a year.

5 ‘‘(3) In this section, the term ‘amounts becoming

6 available for child literacy pursuant to this section’

7 means—

8 ‘‘(A) the total amounts received by the Postal

9 Service that the Postal Service would not have re10 ceived but for the enactment of this section; reduced

11 by

12 ‘‘(B) an amount sufficient to cover reasonable

13 costs incurred by the Postal Service in carrying out

14 this section, including costs attributable to the print15 ing, sale, and distribution of stamps under this sec16 tion,

17 as determined by the Postal Service under regulations that

18 the Postal Service shall prescribe.

19 ‘‘(d) It is the sense of Congress that nothing in this

20 section should—

21 ‘‘(1) directly or indirectly cause a net decrease

22 in total funds received by the Department of Health

23 and Human Services, or any other agency of the

24 Government (or any component or program of the

25 Government), below the level that would otherwise
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1 have been received but for the enactment of this sec2 tion; or

3 ‘‘(2) affect regular first-class rates of postage

4 or any other regular rates of postage.

5 ‘‘(e) Special postage stamps made available under

6 this section shall be made available to the public beginning

7 on such date as the Postal Service shall by regulation pre8 scribe, but in no event later than 12 months after the date

9 of enactment of this section.

10 ‘‘(f) The Postmaster General shall include in each re11 port provided under section 2402, with respect to any pe12 riod during any portion of which this section is in effect,

13 information concerning the operation of this section, ex14 cept that, at a minimum, each report shall include infor15 mation on—

16 ‘‘(1) the total amounts described in subsection

17 (c)(3)(A) that were received by the Postal Service

18 during the period covered by such report; and

19 ‘‘(2) of the amounts described in paragraph (1),

20 how much (in the aggregate and by category) was

21 required for the purposes described in subsection

22 (c)(3)(B).

23 ‘‘(g) This section shall cease to be effective at the

24 end of the 2-year period beginning on the date on which
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1 special postage stamps made available under this section

2 are first made available to the public.’’.

3 SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

4 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out

5 this Act $50,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2001 through

6 2005.

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