I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3287 

To require a criminal background check for a child care staff member of 

any child care provider in a State that receives funds from the Child 

Care and Development Block Grant Program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 22, 2009 

Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin (for herself, Ms. GRANGER, and Ms. SCHAKOWSKY) 

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 

Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To require a criminal background check for a child care 

staff member of any child care provider in a State that 

receives funds from the Child Care and Development 

Block Grant Program, 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 ‘‘Childcare Account5 ability and Responsibility Act of 2009’’ or the ‘‘CARE for 

6 Kids Act of 2009’’. 


tjames on DSKG8SOYB1PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 3287 IH

1 SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT OF A CRIMINAL BACKGROUND 

2 CHECK. 

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. REQUIREMENT OF A CRIMINAL BACKGROUND 

7 CHECK FOR A CHILD CARE STAFF MEMBER 

8 OF ANY CHILD CARE PROVIDER IN A STATE 

9 THAT RECEIVES FUNDS FROM THE CHILD 

10 CARE AND DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT 

11 PROGRAM. 

12 ‘‘(a) CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECK.— 

13 ‘‘(1) REQUIREMENT OF A CRIMINAL BACK14 GROUND CHECK.—A State and national criminal 

15 background check for a child care staff member of 

16 a child care provider is required in any State that 

17 receives funds under this subchapter. The criminal 

18 background check shall include— 

19 ‘‘(A) a search of the National Sex Offender 

20 Registry established pursuant to the Adam 

21 Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 

22 (42 U.S.C. 16901 et seq.); 

23 ‘‘(B) a search of the National Crime Infor24 mation Center; 

25 ‘‘(C) a search of the State criminal reg26 istry or repository in the State in which the 


tjames on DSKG8SOYB1PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 3287 IH

1 child care staff member resides and each State 

2 where such staff member previously resided; 

3 ‘‘(D) a search of State-based abuse and 

4 neglect registries and databases, including the 

5 abuse and neglect registries and databases of 

6 each State where the child care staff member 

7 previously resided; and 

8 ‘‘(E) a Federal Bureau of Investigation 

9 fingerprint check using the Integrated Auto10 mated Fingerprint Identification System. 

11 ‘‘(2) SUBMITTAL OF REQUESTS.—Subject to 

12 paragraph (3), a child care provider shall submit a 

13 request for a State and national criminal back14 ground check to the appropriate State agency des15 ignated by the State— 

16 ‘‘(A) for each child care staff member prior 

17 to its submission of an application for a State 

18 child care license, except that this subparagraph 

19 shall not apply to any additional applications 

20 submitted within a 5-year period after such re21 quest for a criminal background check under 

22 paragraph (2) and such submission of an appli23 cation under this subparagraph is made by the 

24 child care provider; 

25 ‘‘(B) for each child care staff member; 


tjames on DSKG8SOYB1PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 3287 IH

1 ‘‘(C) for each prospective child care staff 

2 member prior to their beginning date of em3 ployment; and 

4 ‘‘(D) in each 5-year period after the date 

5 of the child care provider’s first request for a 

6 criminal background check for the child care 

7 staff member. 

8 ‘‘(3) LIMITATION ON REQUESTS.—Not more 

9 than 1 request for a State and national criminal 

10 background check under paragraph (2) is required 

11 for any child care staff member for each 5-year pe12 riod after such request for the criminal background 

13 check for such staff member. 

14 ‘‘(4) RESULTS.—Not later than 10 business 

15 days after the date of which a request by a child 

16 care provider is made for a State and national crimi17 nal background check and is received by the appro18 priate State agency, such agency shall provide the 

19 results of the criminal background check to such 

20 provider. 

21 ‘‘(5) INELIGIBILITY.—A child care provider 

22 shall be ineligible for receipt of a child care certifi23 cate as payment for child care services, and a child 

24 care staff member shall be ineligible for employment 

25 by any child care provider in a State, if any such 


tjames on DSKG8SOYB1PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 3287 IH

1 criminal background check of the child care staff 

2 member of the provider reveals a felony conviction 

3 for— 

4 ‘‘(A) child abuse or neglect; 

5 ‘‘(B) spousal abuse; 

6 ‘‘(C) a crime against children (including 

7 child pornography); 

8 ‘‘(D) a violent crime, including— 

9 ‘‘(i) physical assault or battery; 

10 ‘‘(ii) rape; 

11 ‘‘(iii) sexual assault; or 

12 ‘‘(iv) homicide; or 

13 ‘‘(E) a drug-related offense committed 

14 within 5 years prior to submission to a criminal 

15 background check. 

16 ‘‘(6) APPEALS.—Not later than 30 days after 

17 receipt of the results of a criminal background 

18 check, a child care provider may appeal such results 

19 to the appropriate State agency designated by the 

20 State. 

21 ‘‘(7) FEES.—To defray the costs of carrying 

22 out the duties described in this subsection, a State 

23 may collect 1 fee per criminal background check 

24 from a child care provider in an amount not to ex25 ceed the actual costs to the State for the administraVerDate Nov 24 2008 04:51 Jul 23, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3287.IH H3287

tjames on DSKG8SOYB1PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 3287 IH

1 tion of all required criminal background checks, and 

2 such fee for all required criminal background checks 

3 may not exceed a total of $36. 

4 ‘‘(b) STATE COMPLIANCE.— 

5 ‘‘(1) NONCOMPLIANCE.— 

6 ‘‘(A) PENALTY.—A State that fails to sat7 isfy the requirements of this section shall not 

8 receive 2 percent of the grant funds that it 

9 would otherwise be allocated for that fiscal 

10 year. 

11 ‘‘(B) UNALLOCATED GRANT FUNDS.— 

12 Grant funds not allocated under subparagraph 

13 (A) shall be distributed in the first fiscal year 

14 that the State meets the requirements. 

15 ‘‘(2) TIME LIMITATION.—A State shall have 3 

16 years to implement the requirements of this section. 

17 ‘‘(3) EXTENSION OF TIME.—The Secretary may 

18 grant an extension, no longer than 2 years, to a 

19 State that makes a good faith effort to satisfy the 

20 requirements of this section. 

21 ‘‘(c) DEFINITION.—The term ‘child care staff mem22 ber’ means an individual that provides child care services 

23 for compensation and on a regular basis (other than an 

24 individual who is related to the child or children for whom 

25 services are provided), regardless of whether the services 


tjames on DSKG8SOYB1PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 3287 IH

1 are provided for a child care provider or a family child 

2 care provider. 

3 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS TO CON4 DUCT CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECKS.—There are au5 thorized to be appropriated such sums as necessary to off6 set the administrative costs to conduct State and national 

7 criminal background checks under this section.’’. 

Æ 


tjames on DSKG8SOYB1PROD with BILLS