I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3986 
To establish a task force to improve child care protections provided through 
interstate criminal background checks. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 25, 2019 
Mrs. MCBATH (for herself, Mr. TAYLOR, Mrs. AXNE, Mr. KELLER, and Ms. 
FINKENAUER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Education and Labor 
A BILL 
To establish a task force to improve child care protections 
provided through interstate criminal background checks. 
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 Protection 
Improvement Act of 2019’’. 
SEC. 2. TASK FORCE TO ASSIST IN IMPLEMENTING INTER-
STATE CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECKS FOR 
CHILD CARE STAFF MEMBERS. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 
Department of Health and Human Services a task force, 
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to be known as the Interagency Task Force for Child Safe-
ty (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Task Force’’), to 
identify, evaluate, and recommend best practices and tech-
nical assistance to assist Federal and State agencies in 
fully implementing the requirements of section 658H(b) 
of the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 
1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858f(b)) for child care staff members. 
(b) COMPOSITION.—Not later than 60 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall ap-
point the members of the Task Force which shall in-
clude— 
(1) the Director of the Office of Child Care of 
the Department of Health and Human Services, the 
Associate Commissioner of the Children’s Bureau of 
the Department of Health and Human Services, the 
Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, or 
their respective designees; and 
(2) such other Federal officials as may be des-
ignated by the President. 
(c) CHAIRPERSON.—The chairperson of the Task 
Force shall be the Assistant Secretary of the Administra-
tion for Children and Families of the Department of 
Health and Human Services. 
(d) CONSULTATION.—The Task Force shall consult 
with representatives from State child care agencies, State 
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child protective services, State criminal justice agencies, 
providers of child care services, including those in the pri-
vate sector, and other relevant stakeholders on identifying 
problems in implementing, and proposing solutions to im-
plement, the requirements of section 658H(b) of the Child 
Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 
U.S.C. 9858f(b)) as described in such section. Such con-
sultation shall include State agencies that have been able 
to implement such requirements as well as State agencies 
that have not. 
(e) TASK FORCE DUTIES.—The Task Force shall— 
(1) develop recommendations for improving im-
plementation of the requirements of section 658H(b) 
of the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act 
of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858f(b)), including rec-
ommendations about how the member agencies of 
the Task Force will collaborate and coordinate ef-
forts to implement such requirements; and 
(2) develop recommendations that identify best 
practices and evaluate technical assistance to assist 
relevant Federal and State agencies in implementing 
section 658H(b) of the Child Care and Development 
Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858f(b)), 
which identification and evaluation shall include— 
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(A) an analysis of available research and 
information at the Federal, State, and local lev-
els regarding the status of the interstate re-
quirements of such section for child care staff 
members who have resided in one or more 
States during the previous 5 years and who 
seek employment in a child care program in a 
different State; 
(B) a list of State agencies that are not re-
sponding to interstate requests covered by such 
section for relevant information on child care 
staff members, and why they are not respond-
ing if aware of such requests; 
(C) identification of the challenges State 
agencies are experiencing in responding to such 
interstate requests; 
(D) an analysis of the length of time it 
takes the State agencies in a State to receive 
such results from State agencies in another 
State in response to such an interstate request 
in accordance with such section; 
(E) an analysis of the average processing 
time for the interstate requests, after such re-
sponse has been received, in accordance with 
such section; 
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(F) identification of the fees and work bur-
den associated with the interstate requests in 
each State to meet requirements in accordance 
with such section, including information regard-
ing who pays the fees and whether and how the 
cost of the fees may be changed; 
(G) a list of States that are participating 
in the National Fingerprint File program, as 
administered by the Federal Bureau of Inves-
tigation, and an analysis of reasons States have 
or have not chosen to participate in the pro-
gram, including barriers to participation such 
as barriers related to State regulatory require-
ments and statutes; and 
(H) a list of States that have closed record 
laws or systems that prevent the States from 
sharing complete criminal records data or infor-
mation with State agencies in another State. 
(f) MEETINGS.—Not later than 3 months after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Task Force shall 
hold its first meeting. 
(g) FINAL REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the 
first meeting of the Task Force, the Task Force shall sub-
mit to the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the 
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of 
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the Senate, and the Committee on Education and Labor 
of the House of Representatives a final report containing 
all of the recommendations required by subsection (e). 
(h) SUNSET.—The Task Force shall terminate 1 year 
after submitting its final report under subsection (g), but 
not later than September 30, 2021. 
Æ 
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