I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 116

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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 3, 2001

Mr. HOLT introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee

on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the Committee on

Government Reform, 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 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.
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1 (2) Between 40 and 60 percent of the Nation’s

2 children do not read at grade level, particularly chil3 dren in families or school districts that are chal4 lenged by significant financial or social instability.

5 (3) Increased investments in child literacy are

6 needed to improve opportunities for children and the

7 efficacy of the Nation’s education investments.

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

9 an important means of improving child literacy,

10 which can be accomplished nationally at modest cost.

11 (5) Effective channels for book distribution al12 ready exist through child care providers.

13 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

14 In this Act:

15 (1) EARLY LEARNING PROGRAM.—The term

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

17 means a program of activities designed to facilitate

18 development of cognitive, language, motor, and so19 cial-emotional skills in children under age 6 as a

20 means of enabling the children to enter school ready

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

22 program carried out under the Head Start Act (42

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

24 program.
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1 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

2 the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

3 (3) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means the 50

4 States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth

5 of Puerto Rico, Guam, the United States Virgin Is6 lands, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of

7 the Northern Mariana Islands.

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

9 means an agency designated under section 658D of

10 the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of

11 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858b).

12 SEC. 4. GRANTS TO STATE AGENCIES.

13 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.—The Secretary

14 shall establish and carry out a program to promote child

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

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

17 making books available through early learning and other

18 child care programs.

19 (b) GRANTS.—

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

21 the Secretary shall make grants to State agencies

22 from allotments determined under paragraph (2).

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

24 Secretary shall allot to each State an amount that

25 bears the same ratio to the total of the available
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1 funds for the fiscal year as the amount the State re2 ceives under section 658O(b) of the Child Care and

3 Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C.

4 9858m(b)) for the fiscal year bears to the total

5 amount received by all States under that section for

6 the fiscal year.

7 (c) APPLICATIONS.—To be eligible to receive an allot8 ment under this section, a State shall submit an applica9 tion to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and

10 containing such information as the Secretary may require.

11 (d) ACCOUNTABILITY.—The provisions of sections

12 658I(b) and 658K(b) of the Child Care and Development

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

14 shall apply to States receiving grants under this Act, ex15 cept that references in those sections—

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

17 references to this Act; and

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

19 to be references to an application submitted under

20 subsection (c).

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

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

23 of—
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1 (1) the funds made available under section

2 416(c)(1) of title 39, United States Code for the fis3 cal year; and

4 (2) the amounts appropriated under section 9

5 for the fiscal year.

6 SEC. 5. CONTRACTS TO CHILD CARE RESOURCE AND

7 REFERRAL AGENCIES.

8 A State agency that receives a grant under section

9 4 shall use funds made available through the grant to

10 enter into contracts with local child care resource and re11 ferral agencies to carry out the activities described in sec12 tion 6. The State agency may reserve not more than 3

13 percent of the funds made available through the grant to

14 support a public awareness campaign relating to the ac15 tivities.

16 SEC. 6. USE OF FUNDS.

17 (a) ACTIVITIES.—

18 (1) BOOK PAYMENTS FOR ELIGIBLE PRO19 VIDERS.—A child care resource and referral agency

20 that receives a contract under section 5 shall use the

21 funds made available through the grant to provide

22 payments for eligible early learning program and

23 other child care providers, on the basis of local

24 needs, to enable the providers to make books avail25 able, to promote child literacy and improve chil-
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1 dren’s access to books at home and in early learning

2 and other child care programs.

3 (2) ELIGIBLE PROVIDERS.—To be eligible to re4 ceive a payment under paragraph (1), a provider

5 shall—

6 (A)(i) be a center-based child care pro7 vider, a group home child care provider, or a

8 family child care provider, described in section

9 658P(5)(A) of the Child Care and Development

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

11 9858n(5)(A)); or

12 (ii) be a Head Start agency designated

13 under section 641 of the Head Start Act (42

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

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

16 Early Head Start program or another provider

17 of an early learning program; and

18 (B) provide services in an area where chil19 dren face high risks of literacy difficulties, as

20 defined by the Secretary.

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

22 referral agency that receives a contract under section 5

23 to provide payments to eligible providers shall—

24 (1) consult with local individuals and organiza25 tions concerned with early literacy (including parents
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1 and organizations carrying out the Reach Out and

2 Read, First Book, and Reading Is Fundamental pro3 grams) regarding local book distribution needs;

4 (2) make reasonable efforts to learn public de5 mographic and other information about local fami6 lies and child literacy programs carried out by the

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

8 decisions as the agency carries out the contract;

9 (3) coordinate local orders of the books made

10 available under this Act;

11 (4) distribute, to each eligible provider that re12 ceives a payment under this Act, not fewer than 1

13 book every 6 months for each child served by the

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

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

16 made available through the contract to provide train17 ing and technical assistance to the eligible providers

18 on the effective use of books with young children at

19 different stages of development; and

20 (6) be a training resource for eligible providers

21 that want to offer parent workshops on developing

22 reading readiness.

23 (c) DISCOUNTS.—

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—Federal funds made avail25 able under this Act for the purchase of books may
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1 only be used to purchase books on the same terms

2 as are customarily available in the book industry to

3 entities carrying out nonprofit bulk book purchase

4 and distribution programs.

5 (2) TERMS.—An entity offering books for pur6 chase under this Act shall be present to have met

7 the requirements of paragraph (1), absent contrary

8 evidence, if the terms include a discount of 43 per9 cent off the catalogue price of the books, with no ad10 ditional charge for shipping and handling of the

11 books.

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

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

14 funds made available through the contract for administra15 tive costs.

16 SEC. 7. REPORT TO CONGRESS.

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

18 this Act, the Secretary shall prepare and submit to Con19 gress a report on the implementation of the activities car20 ried out under this Act.

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

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

23 by adding at the end the following:
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1 ‘‘§ 416. Special postage stamps for child literacy

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

3 to contribute to funding for child literacy, the Postal Serv4 ice shall establish a special rate of postage for first-class

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

6 rate of postage shall promote childhood literacy and shall,

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

8 character in a children’s book or cartoon.

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

10 section—

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

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

13 25 percent;

14 ‘‘(B) shall be set by the Governors in accord15 ance with such procedures as the Governors shall by

16 regulation prescribe (in lieu of the procedures de17 scribed in chapter 36); and

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

19 regular first-class rate of postage.

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

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

22 patrons.

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

24 literacy pursuant to this section, the Postal Service shall

25 pay 100 percent to the Department of Health and Human

26 Services.
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1 ‘‘(2) Payments made under this subsection to the De2 partment shall be made under such arrangements as the

3 Postal Service shall by mutual agreement with such De4 partment establish in order to carry out the objectives of

5 this section, except that, under those arrangements, pay6 ments to such agency shall be made at least twice a year.

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

8 available for child literacy pursuant to this section’

9 means—

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

11 Service that the Postal Service would not have re12 ceived but for the enactment of this section; reduced

13 by

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

15 costs incurred by the Postal Service in carrying out

16 this section, including costs attributable to the print17 ing, sale, and distribution of stamps under this sec18 tion,

19 as determined by the Postal Service under regulations that

20 the Postal Service shall prescribe.

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

22 section should—

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

24 in total funds received by the Department of Health

25 and Human Services, or any other agency of the
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1 Government (or any component or program of the

2 Government), below the level that would otherwise

3 have been received but for the enactment of this sec4 tion; or

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

6 or any other regular rates of postage.

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

8 this section shall be made available to the public beginning

9 on such date as the Postal Service shall by regulation pre10 scribe, but in no event later than 12 months after the date

11 of enactment of this section.

12 ‘‘(f) The Postmaster General shall include in each re13 port provided under section 2402, with respect to any pe14 riod during any portion of which this section is in effect,

15 information concerning the operation of this section, ex16 cept that, at a minimum, each report shall include infor17 mation on—

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

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

20 during the period covered by such report; and

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

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

23 required for the purposes described in subsection

24 (c)(3)(B).
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1 ‘‘(g) This section shall cease to be effective at the

2 end of the 2-year period beginning on the date on which

3 special postage stamps made available under this section

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

5 SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

6 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out

7 this Act $50,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2002 through

8 2006.

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