I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2097

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

provide incentive grants to improve the quality of child care.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 7, 2001

Mr. BISHOP (for himself, Ms. BROWN of Florida, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Mr.

CUMMINGS, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. HILLIARD, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Mr. JEFFERSON, Ms. LEE,

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Ms. MCCARTHY of Missouri, Mrs. MEEK of Florida, Mr. MEEKS of New York, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Mr.

OWENS, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. RUSH, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. SCOTT, Mr.

THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. WATT of North Carolina, Ms.

WOOLSEY, Mr. WYNN, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. LANGEVIN, and

Mrs. MALONEY of New York) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce

A BILL

To amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant

Act of 1990 to provide incentive grants to improve the

quality of child care.

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 Quality

5 Incentive Act of 2001’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

2 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find3 ings:

4 (1) Recent research on early brain development

5 reveals that much of a child’s growth is determined

6 by early learning and nurturing care. Research also

7 shows that quality early care and education leads to

8 increased cognitive abilities, positive classroom learn9 ing behavior, increased likelihood of long-term school

10 success, and greater likelihood of long-term economic

11 and social self-sufficiency.

12 (2) Each day an estimated 13,000,000 children,

13 including 6,000,000 infants and toddlers, spend

14 some part of their day in child care. However, a

15 study in 4 States found that only 1 in 7 child care

16 centers provide care that promotes healthy develop17 ment, while 1 in 8 child care centers provide care

18 that threatens the safety and health of children.

19 (3) Full-day child care can cost $4,000 to

20 $10,000 per year.

21 (4) Although Federal assistance is available for

22 child care, funding is severely limited. Even with

23 Federal subsidies, many families cannot afford child

24 care. For families with young children and a month25 ly income under $1,200, the cost of child care typi26 cally consumes 25 percent of their income.
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1 (5) Payment (or reimbursement) rates, which

2 determine the maximum the State will reimburse a

3 child care provider for the care of a child who re4 ceives a subsidy, are too low to ensure that quality

5 care is accessible to all families.

6 (6) Low payment rates directly affect the kind

7 of care children get and whether families can find

8 quality child care in their communities. In many in9 stances, low payment rates force child care providers

10 to cut corners in ways that lower the quality of care

11 for children, including reducing number of staff,

12 eliminating staff training opportunities, and cutting

13 enriching educational activities and services.

14 (7) Children in low quality child care are more

15 likely to have delayed reading and language skills,

16 and display more aggression toward other children

17 and adults.

18 (8) Increased payment rates lead to higher

19 quality child care as child care providers are able to

20 attract and retain qualified staff, provide salary in21 creases and professional training, maintain a safe

22 and healthy environment, and purchase basic sup23 plies and developmentally appropriate educational

24 materials.
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1 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to improve

2 the quality of, and access to, child care by increasing child

3 care payment rates.

4 SEC. 3. INCENTIVE GRANTS TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF

5 CHILD CARE.

6 (a) FUNDING.—Section 658B of the Child Care and

7 Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858)

8 is amended—

9 (1) by striking ‘‘There’’ and inserting the fol10 lowing:

11 ‘‘(a) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—

12 There’’;

13 (2) in subsection (a), by inserting ‘‘(other than

14 section 658H)’’ after ‘‘this subchapter’’; and

15 (3) by adding at the end the following:

16 ‘‘(b) APPROPRIATION OF FUNDS FOR GRANTS TO IM17 PROVE THE QUALITY OF CHILD CARE.—Out of any funds

18 in the Treasury that are not otherwise appropriated, there

19 are authorized to be appropriated and there are appro20 priated, $500,000,000 for fiscal year 2002, and such sums

21 as may be necessary for each subsequent fiscal year, for

22 the purpose of making grants under section 658H.’’.

23 (b) USE OF BLOCK GRANT FUNDS.—Section

24 658E(c)(3) of the Child Care and Development Block

25 Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858c(c)(3)) is amended—
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1 (1) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘under

2 this subchapter’’ and inserting ‘‘from funds appro3 priated under section 658B(a)’’; and

4 (2) in subparagraph (D), by inserting ‘‘(other

5 than section 658H)’’ after ‘‘under this subchapter’’.

6 (c) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.—Section

7 658G(a) of the Child Care and Development Block Grant

8 Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858e(a)) is amended by inserting

9 ‘‘(other than section 658H)’’ after ‘‘this subchapter’’.

10 (d) GRANTS TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF CHILD

11 CARE.—The Child Care and Development Block Grant

12 Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858 et seq.) is amended by in13 serting after section 658G the following:

14 ‘‘SEC. 658H. GRANTS TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF CHILD

15 CARE.

16 ‘‘(a) AUTHORITY.—

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall use the

18 amount appropriated under section 658B(b) for a

19 fiscal year to make grants to eligible States in ac20 cordance with this section.

21 ‘‘(2) ANNUAL PAYMENTS.—The Secretary shall

22 make an annual payment for such a grant to each

23 eligible State out of the allotment for that State de24 termined under subsection (c).

25 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE STATES.—
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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In this section, the term

2 ‘eligible State’ means a State that—

3 ‘‘(A) has conducted a survey of the market

4 rates for child care services in the State within

5 the 2 years preceding the date of the submis6 sion of an application under paragraph (2); and

7 ‘‘(B) submits an application in accordance

8 with paragraph (2).

9 ‘‘(2) APPLICATION.—

10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to re11 ceive a grant under this section, a State shall

12 submit an application to the Secretary at such

13 time, in such manner, and accompanied by such

14 information, in addition to the information re15 quired under subparagraph (B), as the Sec16 retary may require.

17 ‘‘(B) INFORMATION REQUIRED.—Each ap18 plication submitted for a grant under this sec19 tion shall—

20 ‘‘(i) detail the methodology and re21 sults of the State market rates survey con22 ducted pursuant to paragraph (1)(A);

23 ‘‘(ii) describe the State’s plan to in24 crease payment rates from the initial base25 line determined under clause (i); and
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1 ‘‘(iii) describe how the State will in2 crease payment rates in accordance with

3 the market survey results.

4 ‘‘(3) CONTINUING ELIGIBILITY REQUIRE5 MENT.—The Secretary may make an annual pay6 ment under this section to an eligible State only if—

7 ‘‘(A) the Secretary determines that the

8 State has made progress, through the activities

9 assisted under this subchapter, in maintaining

10 increased payment rates; and

11 ‘‘(B) at least once every 2 years, the State

12 conducts an update of the survey described in

13 paragraph (1)(A).

14 ‘‘(4) REQUIREMENT OF MATCHING FUNDS.—

15 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to re16 ceive a grant under this section, the State shall

17 agree to make available State contributions

18 from State sources toward the costs of the ac19 tivities to be carried out by a State pursuant to

20 subsection (d) in an amount that is not less

21 than 25 percent of such costs.

22 ‘‘(B) DETERMINATION OF STATE CON23 TRIBUTIONS.—State contributions shall be in

24 cash. Amounts provided by the Federal Govern-
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1 ment may not be included in determining the

2 amount of such State contributions.

3 ‘‘(c) ALLOTMENTS TO ELIGIBLE STATES.—The

4 amount appropriated under section 658B(b) for a fiscal

5 year shall be allotted among the eligible States in the same

6 manner as amounts are allotted under section 658O(b).

7 ‘‘(d) USE OF FUNDS.—

8 ‘‘(1) PRIORITY USE.—An eligible State that re9 ceives a grant under this section shall use the funds

10 received to significantly increase the payment rate

11 for the provision of child care assistance in accord12 ance with this subchapter up to the 100th percentile

13 of the market rate survey described in subsection

14 (b)(1)(A).

15 ‘‘(2) ADDITIONAL USES.—An eligible State that

16 demonstrates to the Secretary that the State has

17 achieved a payment rate of the 100th percentile of

18 the market rate survey described in subsection

19 (b)(1)(A) may use funds received under a grant

20 made under this section for any other activity that

21 the State demonstrates to the Secretary will enhance

22 the quality of child care services provided in the

23 State.

24 ‘‘(3) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—Amounts

25 paid to a State under this section shall be used to
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1 supplement and not supplant other Federal, State,

2 or local funds provided to the State under this sub3 chapter or any other provision of law.

4 ‘‘(e) EVALUATIONS AND REPORTS.—

5 ‘‘(1) STATE EVALUATIONS.—Each eligible State

6 shall submit to the Secretary, at such time and in

7 such form and manner as the Secretary may require,

8 information regarding the State’s efforts to increase

9 payment rates and the impact increased rates are

10 having on the quality of, and accessibility to, child

11 care in the State.

12 ‘‘(2) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—The Secretary

13 shall submit biennial reports to Congress on the in14 formation described in paragraph (1). Such reports

15 shall include data from the applications submitted

16 under subsection (b)(2) as a baseline for deter17 mining the progress of each eligible State in main18 taining increased payment rates.

19 ‘‘(f) PAYMENT RATE.—In this section, the term ‘pay20 ment rate’ means the rate of reimbursement to providers

21 for subsidized child care.’’.

22 (e) PAYMENTS.—Section 658J(a) of the Child Care

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

24 9858h(a)) is amended by inserting ‘‘from funds appro25 priated under section 658B(a)’’ after ‘‘section 658O’’.
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1 (f) ALLOTMENT.—Section 658O of the Child Care

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

3 9858m) is amended—

4 (1) in subsection (a)—

5 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘this

6 subchapter’’ and inserting ‘‘section 658B(a)’’;

7 and

8 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘section

9 658B’’ and inserting ‘‘section 658B(a)’’;

10 (2) in subsection (b)(1), in the matter pre11 ceding subparagraph (A), by inserting ‘‘each sub12 section of’’ before ‘‘section 658B’’; and

13 (3) in subsection (e)—

14 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘the al15 lotment under subsection (b)’’ and inserting

16 ‘‘an allotment made under subsection (b)’’; and

17 (B) in paragraph (3), by inserting ‘‘cor18 responding’’ before ‘‘allotment’’.

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