I

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3860

To consolidate and expand Federal child care services to promote selfsufficiency and support working families; and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JULY 18, 1996

Ms. WOOLSEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Economic and Educational Opportunities, and in addition to the

Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

A BILL

To consolidate and expand Federal child care services to

promote self-sufficiency and support working families;

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 Consolida5 tion and Investment Act of 1996’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds that—
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1 (1) fragmentation of the Federal Government’s

2 major child care assistance programs has left gaps

3 for many parents moving from welfare to work;

4 (2) child care problems have prevented 34 per5 cent of poor mothers between the ages 21 and 29

6 from working;

(3) 2 7 ⁄3 of all families receiving assistance under

8 the Aid to Families with Dependent Children pro9 gram have at least one preschool age child and need

10 child care in order to work;

11 (4) there already exists an unmet need for child

12 care assistance—37 States now have waiting lists

13 that can run as high as 35,000 individuals;

14 (5) child care directly affects an individual’s

15 ability to stay in the work force;

16 (6) welfare reform that places work at its cen17 ter will increase the demand for child care and re18 quire an additional investment of resources;

19 (7) child care consumes $260 per month or

20 about 27 percent of income for average working poor

21 families, leaving them with less income than families

22 eligible for assistance under the Aid to Families with

23 Dependent Children program;

24 (8) quality must be a central feature of the

25 child care policy of the United States;
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1 (9) only 1 in 7 day care centers offer good qual2 ity care;

3 (10) 40 percent of day care centers serving in4 fants and toddlers do not meet basic sanitary condi5 tions, have safety problems, and do not encourage

6 learning; and

7 (11) only 9 percent of family and relative day

8 care is considered good quality care.

9 SEC. 3. PURPOSE.

10 It is the purpose of this Act to—

11 (1) eliminate program fragmentation and create

12 a seamless system of high quality child care that al13 lows for continuity of care for children as parents

14 move from welfare to job training to work;

15 (2) provide for parental choice among high

16 quality child care programs; and

17 (3) increase the availability of high quality af18 fordable child care in order to promote self-suffi19 ciency and support working families.

20 SEC. 4. AMENDMENTS TO CHILD CARE AND DEVELOPMENT

21 BLOCK GRANT ACT OF 1990.

22 (a) APPROPRIATIONS.—Section 658B of the Child

23 Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (42

24 U.S.C. 9858) is amended to read as follows:
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1 ‘‘SEC. 658B. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

2 ‘‘There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out

3 this subchapter, $2,790,000,000 for fiscal year 1997,

4 $3,040,000,000 for fiscal year 1998, $3,460,000,000 for

5 fiscal year 1999, $4,030,000,000 for fiscal year 2000, and

6 $4,680,000,000 for fiscal year 2001.’’.

7 (b) AWARDING OF GRANTS.—Section 658C of the

8 Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (42

9 U.S.C. 9858a) is amended by striking ‘‘is authorized to’’

10 and inserting ‘‘shall’’.

11 (c) SUPPLEMENTATION.—Section 658E(c)(2)(J) of

12 the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990

13 (42 U.S.C. 9858c(c)(2)(J)) is amended by inserting ‘‘in

14 fiscal year 1995’’ before the period.

15 (d) SET-ASIDES FOR QUALITY AND WORKING FAMI16 LIES, AND CHILD CARE GUARANTEE.—Section

17 658E(c)(3) of the Child Care and Development Block

18 Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858c(c)(3))—

19 (1) in subparagraph (C), by striking ‘‘25 per20 cent’’ and inserting ‘‘20 percent’’; and

21 (2) by adding at the end thereof the following:

22 ‘‘(D) ASSISTANCE FOR LOW-INCOME

23 WORKING FAMILIES.—The State shall reserve

24 not less than 50 percent of the amount provided

25 to the State and available for providing services

26 under this subchapter, to carry out child care
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1 activities to support low-income working fami2 lies residing in the State.

3 ‘‘(E) CHILD CARE GUARANTEE.—The

4 State plan shall provide assurances that the

5 availability of child care under the grant will be

6 coordinated in an appropriate manner (as de7 termined by the Secretary) with the require8 ments of part A of title IV of the Social Secu9 rity Act. Such coordination shall ensure that

10 the single custodial parent of a dependent child

11 who is less than 11 years of age, or who is a

12 child with a disability (as defined in section

13 602(1)(A) of the Individuals with Disabilities

14 Act (20 U.S.C. 1401(1)(A)), is not required to

15 undertake an education, job training, job

16 search, or employment requirement unless child

17 care assistance in an appropriate child care pro18 gram is made available.’’.

19 (e) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—Section 658E(c) of

20 the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990

21 (42 U.S.C. 9858c(c)) is amended by adding at the end

22 thereof the following:

23 ‘‘(6) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—With respect

24 to amounts made available to a State in each fiscal

25 year beginning on or after the effective date of this
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1 paragraph, that exceed the aggregate amounts re2 ceived by the State for child care services in fiscal

3 year 1995, the State plan shall provide that, with re4 spect to the costs to be incurred by the State in car5 rying out the activities for which a grant under this

6 subchapter is awarded, the State will make available

7 (directly or through in-kind donations from public or

8 private entities) non-Federal contributions in an

9 amount equal to not less than $1 for every $4 of

10 Federal funds provided under the grant.’’.

11 (f) IMPROVING QUALITY.—

12 (1) INCREASE IN REQUIRED FUNDING.—Section

13 658G of the Child Care and Development Block

14 Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858e) is amended by

15 striking ‘‘not less than 20 percent’’ and inserting

16 ‘‘50 percent’’.

17 (2) QUALITY IMPROVEMENT INCENTIVE INITIA18 TIVE.—Section 658G of the Child Care and Develop19 ment Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858e)

20 is amended—

21 (A) by striking ‘‘A State’’ and inserting

22 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A State’’; and

23 (B) by adding at the end thereof the fol24 lowing:
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1 ‘‘(b) QUALITY IMPROVEMENT INCENTIVE INITIA2 TIVE.—

3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall estab4 lish a child care quality improvement incentive ini5 tiative to make funds available to States that dem6 onstrate progress in the implementation of—

7 ‘‘(A) innovative teacher training programs

8 such as the Department of Defense staff devel9 opment and compensation program for child

10 care personnel; or

11 ‘‘(B) enhanced child care quality standards

12 and licensing and monitoring procedures.

13 ‘‘(2) FUNDING.—From the amounts made

14 available for each fiscal year under subsection (a),

15 the Secretary shall reserve not to exceed

16 $50,000,000 in each such fiscal year to carry out

17 this subsection.’’.

18 (g) BEFORE- AND AFTER-SCHOOL SERVICES.—Sec19 tion 658H(a) of the Child Care and Development Block

20 Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858f(a)) is amended by

21 striking ‘‘not less than 75 percent’’ and inserting ‘‘50 per22 cent’’.

23 (h) PAYMENTS.—Section 658J(a) of the Child Care

24 and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C.
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1 9858h) is amended by striking ‘‘Subject to the availability

2 of appropriation, a’’ and inserting ‘‘A’’.

3 (i) ALLOTMENTS.—Section 658O(b) of the Child

4 Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (42

5 U.S.C. 9858m(b)) is amended by adding at the end there6 of the following:

7 ‘‘(5) ALLOTMENT.—

8 ‘‘(A) BASE ALLOTMENT.—The amount al9 lotted to a State under this section shall include

10 the base amount that the State received under

11 this Act, and under the provisions repealed

12 under section 5 of the Child Care Consolidation

13 and Investment Act of 1996, in fiscal year

14 1995.

15 ‘‘(B) ADDITIONAL AMOUNTS.—Any

16 amounts appropriated under section 658B for a

17 fiscal year and remaining after the requirement

18 of subparagraph (A) is complied with, shall be

19 allotted to States pursuant to the formula de20 scribed in paragraph (1).’’.

21 SEC. 5. PROGRAM REPEALS.

22 (a) AFDC JOBS AND TRANSITIONAL CHILD

23 CARE.—
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1 (1) REPEAL.—Paragraphs (1), (3), (4), (5),

2 (6), and (7) of section 402(g) of the Social Security

3 Act (42 U.S.C. 602(g)) are repealed.

4 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Part A of

5 title IV of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 601

6 et seq.) is amended—

7 (A) in section 402(a)(19) (42 U.S.C.

8 602(a)(19))—

9 (i) in subparagraph (B)(i)(I), by strik10 ing ‘‘section 402(g)’’ and inserting ‘‘the

11 Child Care Development Block Grant Act

12 of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858 et seq.)’’;

13 (ii) in subparagraph (C)(iii)(II), by

14 striking ‘‘section 402(g)’’ and inserting

15 ‘‘the Child Care Development Block Grant

16 Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858 et seq.)’’;

17 (iii) in subparagraph (D), by striking

18 ‘‘section 402(g)’’ and inserting ‘‘the Child

19 Care Development Block Grant Act of

20 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858 et seq.)’’; and

21 (iv) in subparagraph (F)(iv), by strik22 ing ‘‘section 402(g)’’ and inserting ‘‘section

23 402(g)(2) and the Child Care Development

24 Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858

25 et seq.)’’;
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1 (B) in section 402(g)(2) (42 U.S.C.

2 602(g)(2)), by striking ‘‘(in addition to guaran3 teeing child care under paragraph (1))’’; and

4 (C) in section 403(l)(1)(A) (42 U.S.C.

5 603(l)(1)(A)), by striking ‘‘(including expendi6 tures for child care under section

7 402(g)(1)(A)(i), but only in the case of a State

8 with respect to which section 1108 applies)’’.

9 (b) AT-RISK CHILD CARE.—Sections 402(i) and

10 403(n) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 602(i),

11 603(n)) are repealed.

12 (c) STATE DEPENDENT CARE GRANTS.—Subchapter

13 E of chapter 8 of subtitle A of title VI of the Omnibus

14 Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981 (42 U.S.C. 9871 et

15 seq.) is repealed.

16 (d) CHILD DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATE SCHOLARSHIP

17 ASSISTANCE ACT.—The Child Development Associate

18 Scholarship Assistance Act of 1985 (42 U.S.C. 10901 et

19 seq.) is repealed.

20 (e) SECRETARIAL SUBMISSION OF LEGISLATIVE PRO21 POSAL FOR TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMEND22 MENTS.—The Secretary of Health and Human Services

23 shall, within 90 days after the date of the enactment of

24 this Act, submit to the appropriate committees of the Con25 gress, a legislative proposal providing for such technical
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1 and conforming amendments in the law as are required

2 by the provisions of subsections (a) and (c).

3 SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.

4 This Act shall take effect on the first day of the first

5 fiscal year beginning after the date of the enactment of

6 this Act.

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