II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2903 

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

require criminal background checks for child care providers. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 17, 2009 

Mr. BURR (for himself and Mr. ENZI) introduced the following bill; which was 

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

and Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant 

Act of 1990 to require criminal background checks for 

child care providers. 

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 Protection 

5 Act of 2009’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT OF CRIMINAL BACKGROUND 

2 CHECKS. 

3 The Child Care and Development Block Grant Act 

4 of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858 et seq.) is amended by inserting 

5 after section 658G the following new section: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 658H. CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECKS. 

7 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A State that receives funds to 

8 carry out this subchapter shall have in effect— 

9 ‘‘(1) requirements, policies, and procedures to 

10 require and conduct criminal background checks for 

11 child care staff members (including prospective child 

12 care staff members) of child care providers described 

13 in subsection (c); and 

14 ‘‘(2) licensing, regulation, and registration re15 quirements, as applicable, that prohibit the employ16 ment of child care staff members as described in 

17 subsection (c). 

18 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS.—A criminal background check 

19 for a child care staff member under subsection (a) shall 

20 include— 

21 ‘‘(1) a search of the State criminal registry or 

22 repository in the State where the child care staff 

23 member resides and each State where such staff 

24 member previously resided; 

25 ‘‘(2) a search of State-based child abuse and 

26 neglect registries and databases in the State where 


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1 the child care staff member resides and each State 

2 where such staff member previously resided; 

3 ‘‘(3) a search of the National Crime Informa4 tion Center; 

5 ‘‘(4) a Federal Bureau of Investigation finger6 print check using the Integrated Automated Finger7 print Identification System; and 

8 ‘‘(5) a search of the National Sex Offender 

9 Registry established under the Adam Walsh Child 

10 Protection and Safety Act of 2006 (42 U.S.C. 

11 16901 et seq.). 

12 ‘‘(c) PROHIBITIONS.— 

13 ‘‘(1) CHILD CARE STAFF MEMBERS.—A child 

14 care staff member shall be ineligible for employment 

15 by a child care provider that is licensed, regulated, 

16 or registered by the State or receives funds provided 

17 under this subchapter in a State if such individual— 

18 ‘‘(A) refuses to consent to the criminal 

19 background check described in subsection (b); 

20 ‘‘(B) makes a false statement in connec21 tion with such criminal background check; 

22 ‘‘(C) is registered, or is required to be reg23 istered, on a State sex offender registry or the 

24 National Sex Offender Registry established 


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1 under the Adam Walsh Child Protection and 

2 Safety Act of 2006 (42 U.S.C. 16901 et seq.); 

3 ‘‘(D) has been convicted of a felony con4 sisting of— 

5 ‘‘(i) murder, as described in section 

6 1111 of title 18, United States Code; 

7 ‘‘(ii) child abuse or neglect; 

8 ‘‘(iii) a crime against children, includ9 ing child pornography; 

10 ‘‘(iv) spousal abuse; 

11 ‘‘(v) a crime involving rape or sexual 

12 assault; 

13 ‘‘(vi) kidnaping; 

14 ‘‘(vii) arson; or 

15 ‘‘(viii) physical assault, battery, or a 

16 drug-related offense, committed within the 

17 past 5 years. 

18 ‘‘(2) CHILD CARE PROVIDERS.—A child care 

19 provider described in paragraph (1) shall be ineli20 gible for funds provided under this subchapter if the 

21 provider employs a staff member who is ineligible for 

22 employment under paragraph (1). 

23 ‘‘(d) SUBMITTAL OF REQUESTS FOR BACKGROUND

24 CHECKS.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A child care provider cov2 ered by subsection (c) shall submit a request, to the 

3 appropriate State agency designated by a State, for 

4 a criminal background check described in subsection 

5 (b), for each child care staff member (including pro6 spective child care staff members) of the provider. 

7 ‘‘(2) STAFF MEMBERS.—In the case of an indi8 vidual who became a child care staff member before 

9 the date of enactment of the Child Care Protection 

10 Act of 2009, the provider shall submit such a re11 quest— 

12 ‘‘(A) prior to the last day described in sub13 section (i)(1); and 

14 ‘‘(B) not less often than once during each 

15 5-year period following the first submission date 

16 under this paragraph for that staff member. 

17 ‘‘(3) PROSPECTIVE STAFF MEMBERS.—In the 

18 case of an individual who is a prospective child care 

19 staff member on or after than that date of enact20 ment, the provider shall submit such a request— 

21 ‘‘(A) prior to the date the individual be22 comes a child care staff member of the pro23 vider; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) not less often than once during each 

2 5-year period following the first submission date 

3 under this paragraph for that staff member. 

4 ‘‘(e) BACKGROUND CHECK RESULTS AND AP5 PEALS.— 

6 ‘‘(1) BACKGROUND CHECK RESULTS.—The 

7 State shall carry out the request of a child care pro8 vider for a criminal background check as expedi9 tiously as possible and shall provide the results of 

10 the criminal background check to such provider. 

11 ‘‘(2) APPEALS.—The State shall provide for a 

12 process by which a child care staff member (includ13 ing a prospective child care staff member) may ap14 peal the results of a criminal background check con15 ducted under this section to challenge the accuracy 

16 or completeness of the information contained in such 

17 member’s criminal background report. 

18 ‘‘(f) FEES FOR BACKGROUND CHECKS.—Fees that a 

19 State may charge for the costs of conducting a criminal 

20 background check as required by this section shall not ex21 ceed the actual costs to the State for the administration 

22 of such criminal background checks. 

23 ‘‘(g) CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this section shall 

24 be construed to prevent a State from disqualifying individ25 uals as child care staff members based on their conviction 


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1 for crimes not specifically listed in this section that bear 

2 upon an individual’s fitness to provide care for and have 

3 responsibility for the safety and well-being of children. 

4 ‘‘(h) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

5 ‘‘(1) the term ‘child care provider’ means a cen6 ter-based child care provider, a group home child 

7 care provider, a family child care provider, or other 

8 provider of child care services for compensation and 

9 on a regular basis that— 

10 ‘‘(A) is not an individual who is related to 

11 all children for whom child care services are 

12 provided; and 

13 ‘‘(B) is licensed, regulated, or registered 

14 under State law or receives funds provided 

15 under this subchapter; and 

16 ‘‘(2) the term ‘child care staff member’ means 

17 an individual (other than an individual who is re18 lated to all children for whom child care services are 

19 provided)— 

20 ‘‘(A) who is employed by a child care pro21 vider for compensation; 

22 ‘‘(B) whose activities involve the care or 

23 supervision of children for a child care provider 

24 or access to children who are cared for or su25 pervised by a child care provider; or 


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1 ‘‘(C) who is a family child care provider. 

2 ‘‘(i) EFFECTIVE DATE.— 

3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A State that receives funds 

4 to carry out this subchapter shall meet the require5 ments of this section for the provision of criminal 

6 background checks for child care staff members de7 scribed in subsection (d)(1) not later than the last 

8 day of the second full fiscal year after the date of 

9 enactment of the Child Care Protection Act of 2009. 

10 ‘‘(2) EXTENSION.—The Secretary may grant a 

11 State an extension of time, of not more than 1 fiscal 

12 year, to meet the requirements of this section if the 

13 State demonstrates a good faith effort to comply 

14 with the requirements of this section. 

15 ‘‘(3) PENALTY FOR NONCOMPLIANCE.—Except 

16 as provided in paragraphs (1) and (2), for any fiscal 

17 year that a State fails to comply substantially with 

18 the requirements of this section, the Secretary shall 

19 withhold 5 percent of the funds that would otherwise 

20 be allocated to that State under this subchapter for 

21 the following fiscal year.’’. 

Æ 


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