I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3315 

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

require criminal background checks of child care providers. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 23, 2009 

Mr. CARSON of Indiana (for himself, Ms. BORDALLO, Ms. CORRINE BROWN

of Florida, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. STARK, Mr. 

SHIMKUS, Mr. MEEKS of New York, Mr. GRAYSON, and Mr. SABLAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant 

Act of 1990 to require criminal background checks of 

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 Criminal 

5 Background Check Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 

7 The purpose of this Act is to assist States in improv8 ing the overall quality of child care services in the State 


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1 by requiring national criminal background checks of child 

2 care providers that are licensed by the State or that re3 ceive funds under the Child Care and Development Block 

4 Grant Act of 1990. 

5 SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS. 

6 (a) STATE PLAN.—Section 658E(c)(2) of the Child 

7 Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 

8 U.S.C. 9858c(c)(2)) is amended by adding at the end the 

9 following: 

10 ‘‘(I) CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECK.— 

11 Certify that the State will— 

12 ‘‘(i) require each eligible child care 

13 provider (excluding an eligible child care 

14 provider described in section 658P(5)(B)) 

15 that is licensed by the State or receives 

16 funds provided under this subchapter— 

17 ‘‘(I) to obtain from the State a 

18 comprehensive criminal background 

19 check of— 

20 ‘‘(aa) each employee who 

21 provides child care services; 

22 ‘‘(bb) each applicant for em23 ployment to provide such serv24 ices; and 


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1 ‘‘(cc) each family child care 

2 provider who provides or applies 

3 to provide such services; 

4 ‘‘(II) to refuse to employ an indi5 vidual to provide such services— 

6 ‘‘(aa) if such individual was 

7 convicted, in the then most re8 cent 5-year period ending on the 

9 date of receipt of such a criminal 

10 background check, of— 

11 ‘‘(AA) a crime of vio12 lence (as defined in section 

13 20101 of subtitle A of title 

14 II of the Violent Crime Con15 trol and Law Enforcement 

16 Act of 1994 (42 U.S.C. 

17 13701)); or 

18 ‘‘(BB) a crime against 

19 a child for which the penalty 

20 exceeds imprisonment for a 

21 term exceeding 1 year; 

22 ‘‘(bb) to an eligible child 

23 without the supervision of an em24 ployee whose criminal back25 ground check satisfies the reVerDate Nov 24 2008 17:47 Jul 24, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3315.IH H3315

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1 quirements of the subparagraph, 

2 pending receipt of such a crimi3 nal background check of such in4 dividual; and 

5 ‘‘(cc) to an eligible child 

6 with the supervision of an em7 ployee whose criminal back8 ground check satisfies the re9 quirements of the subparagraph 

10 and for a period exceeding 90 

11 days, pending receipt of such a 

12 criminal background check of 

13 such individual; and 

14 ‘‘(ii) carry out at the request of an eli15 gible child care provider, as soon as prac16 ticable, a comprehensive criminal back17 ground check (at the State option for a fee 

18 not to exceed the actual cost to the State) 

19 of each employee of, and each applicant for 

20 employment by, a child care provider that 

21 is licensed by the State or receives funds 

22 provided under this subchapter by the 

23 State, and make the results of such check 

24 available to such provider and to such em25 ployee or applicant. 


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1 At the request of a State, the Secretary may 

2 waive for 1 fiscal year the application of this 

3 subparagraph to the State if the State dem4 onstrates a good faith effort to comply with the 

5 requirements specified in this subparagraph and 

6 its inability to so comply.’’. 

7 (b) ENFORCEMENT.—Section 658I(b)(2) of the Child 

8 Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 

9 U.S.C. 9858g(i)(b)(2)) is amended by adding at the end 

10 the following: 

11 ‘‘If a State fails to comply substantially with 

12 the requirements specified in section 

13 658e(c)(2)(I), the Secretary shall reduce by 10 

14 percent the State allotment for the fiscal year 

15 following the fiscal year with respect to which 

16 noncompliance is found.’’. 

17 SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICATION OF AMENDMENTS. 

18 This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall 

19 take effect 2 years after the date of the enactment of this 

20 Act. 

Æ 


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