I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1963 
To amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 to 
modify certain State uses of funds. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 17, 2021 
Mrs. FISCHBACH (for herself, Mrs. MILLER of Illinois, Mr. JACOBS of New 
York, Mr. STIVERS, Mr. FEENSTRA, and Mr. ARMSTRONG) 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 modify certain State uses of funds. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Child Care Choices 
Act of 2021’’. 
SEC. 2. APPLICATION AND PLAN. 
Section 658E(c) of the Child Care and Development 
Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858c(c)) is amend-
ed— 
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(1) in paragraph (2)— 
(A) by striking subparagraph (A) and in-
serting the following: 
‘‘(A) PRIORITIZATION
OF
CHILD
CARE 
CERTIFICATES.—Provide assurances that— 
‘‘(i) in using funding made available 
to a State pursuant to this subchapter, the 
State shall prioritize the availability of 
child care certificates (as defined in section 
658P(2)) for child care services over other 
payment methods, such as grants or con-
tracts; 
‘‘(ii) in cases in which a parent choos-
es to enroll such child with a child care 
provider that has a grant or contract for 
the provision of child care services, the 
child will be enrolled with the eligible pro-
vider selected by the parent to the max-
imum extent practicable; and 
‘‘(iii) in cases in which a parent 
chooses to receive a child care certificate, 
the certificate shall be of a value commen-
surate with the subsidy value of child care 
services provided if the child were enrolled 
with a child care provider that has a grant 
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or contract for the provision of child care 
services.’’, 
(B) in subparagraph (M) by inserting ‘‘in 
accordance with subparagraph (E)(c)(2)(A)(i)’’ 
after ‘‘strategies’’, and 
(C) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(W) PRIORITIZATION
OF
CHILD
CARE 
CERTIFICATES.—The plan shall provide assur-
ances and describe how the State prioritizes the 
use of child care certificates (as defined in sec-
tion 658P(2)) for child care services for which 
financial assistance is provided under this sub-
chapter in preference to other payment methods 
such as grants, contracts, or cash.’’, and 
(2) in paragraph (4)(C), by adding at the end 
the following: 
‘‘(iii) PROHIBITION ON CERTAIN DIF-
FERENT RATES.—When setting differential 
rates on the basis of child care quality, 
States are prohibited from using type of 
child care (such as family child care or 
center-based care) or type of provider 
(such as nonprofit providers, for-profit pro-
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viders, or faith-based providers) as the sole 
differential factor.’’. 
Æ 
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