agency systems and practices to protect children and 
prevent child abuse and neglect; and 
(7) Congress in recent years has taken a num-
ber of steps to reduce child fatalities from abuse and 
neglect, such as— 
(A) 
providing 
States 
with 
flexibility 
through the Child and Family Services Im-
provement and Innovation Act of 2011 to oper-
ate child welfare demonstration projects to test 
services focused on preventing abuse and ne-
glect and ensuring that children remain safely 
in their own homes; 
(B) providing funding through the Child 
and Family Services Improvement Act of 2006 
for services and activities to enhance the safety 
of children who are at risk of being placed in 
foster care as a result of a parent’s substance 
abuse; 
(C) providing funding through the Fos-
tering Connections to Success and Increasing 
Adoptions Act of 2008 for grants to facilitate 
activities such as family group decisionmaking 
meetings and residential family treatment pro-
grams to support parents in caring for their 
children; and
(D) requiring States through the Child and 
Family Services Improvement and Innovation 
Act of 2011 to describe how they will improve 
the quality of data collected on fatalities from 
child abuse and neglect. 
SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMISSION. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established the Com-
mission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities 
(in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Commission’’). 
(b) MEMBERSHIP.— 
(1) COMPOSITION.— 
(A) MEMBERS.—The Commission shall be 
composed of 12 members, of whom— 
(i) 6 shall be appointed by the Presi-
dent; 
(ii) 2 shall be appointed by the Speak-
er of the House of Representatives; 
(iii) 1 shall be appointed by the mi-
nority leader of the House of Representa-
tives; 
(iv) 2 shall be appointed by the major-
ity leader of the Senate; and 
(v) 1 shall be appointed by the minor-
ity leader of the Senate.
(B) QUALIFICATIONS.—Each member ap-
pointed under subparagraph (A) shall have ex-
perience in one or more of the following areas: 
(i) child welfare administration; 
(ii) child welfare research; 
(iii) child development; 
(iv) legislation, including legislation 
involving child welfare matters; 
(v) trauma and crisis intervention; 
(vi) pediatrics; 
(vii) psychology and mental health; 
(viii) emergency medicine; 
(ix) forensic pathology or medical in-
vestigation of injury and fatality; 
(x) social work with field experience; 
(xi) academia at an institution of 
higher education, as that term is defined in 
section 101 of the Higher Education Act 
of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001), with a focus on 
one or more of the other areas listed under 
this subparagraph; 
(xii) law enforcement, with experience 
handling child abuse and neglect matters; 
(xiii) civil law, with experience han-
dling child abuse and neglect matters;
(xiv) criminal law, with experience 
handling child abuse and neglect matters; 
(xv) substance abuse treatment; 
(xvi) education at an elementary 
school or secondary school, as those terms 
are defined in section 9101 of the Elemen-
tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 
(20 U.S.C. 7801); 
(xvii) epidemiology; and 
(xviii) computer science or software 
engineering with a background in inter-
operability standards. 
(C) DIVERSITY
OF
QUALIFICATIONS.—In 
making appointments to the Commission under 
subparagraph (A), the President and the con-
gressional leaders shall make every effort to se-
lect individuals whose qualifications are not al-
ready represented by other members of the 
Commission. 
(2) DATE.—The appointments of the members 
of the Commission shall be made not later than 90 
days after the date of enactment of this Act. 
(c) PERIOD OF APPOINTMENT; VACANCIES.—Mem-
bers shall be appointed for the life of the Commission. Any 
vacancy in the Commission shall not affect its powers, but
shall be filled in the same manner as the original appoint-
ment. 
(d) INITIAL MEETING.—Not later than 60 days after 
the date on which a majority of the members of the Com-
mission have been appointed, the Commission shall hold 
its first meeting. 
(e) MEETINGS.—The Commission shall meet at the 
call of the Chairperson. 
(f) QUORUM.—A majority of the members of the 
Commission shall constitute a quorum, but a lesser num-
ber of members may hold hearings. 
(g) CHAIRPERSON.—The President shall select a 
Chairperson for the Commission from among its members. 
SEC. 4. DUTIES OF THE COMMISSION. 
(a) STUDY.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall con-
duct a thorough study on the use of child protective 
services and child welfare services funded under title 
IV and subtitle A of title XX of the Social Security 
Act to reduce fatalities from child abuse and neglect. 
(2) MATTERS STUDIED.—The matters studied 
by the Commission shall include— 
(A) the effectiveness of the services de-
scribed in paragraph (1) and best practices in 
preventing child and youth fatalities that are
intentionally caused or that occur due to neg-
ligence, neglect, or a failure to exercise proper 
care; 
(B) the effectiveness of Federal, State, and 
local policies and systems within such services 
aimed at collecting accurate, uniform data on 
child fatalities in a coordinated fashion, includ-
ing the identification of the most and least ef-
fective policies and systems in practice; 
(C) the current (as of the date of the 
study) barriers to preventing fatalities from 
child abuse and neglect, and how to improve ef-
ficiency to improve child welfare outcomes; 
(D) trends in demographic and other risk 
factors that are predictive of or correlated with 
child maltreatment, such as age of the child, 
child behavior, family structure, parental stress, 
and poverty; 
(E) methods of prioritizing child abuse and 
neglect prevention within such services for fami-
lies with the highest need; and 
(F) methods of improving data collection 
and utilization, such as increasing interoper-
ability among State and local and other data 
systems.
(3) MATERIALS
STUDIED.—The Commission 
shall review— 
(A) all current (as of the date of the 
study) research and documentation, including 
the National Survey of Child and Adolescent 
Well-Being and research and recommendations 
from the Government Accountability Office, to 
identify lessons, solutions, and needed improve-
ments related to reducing fatalities from child 
abuse and neglect; and 
(B) recommendations from the Advisory 
Board on Child Abuse and Neglect. 
(b) COORDINATION.—The Commission shall provide 
opportunities for graduate and doctoral students to coordi-
nate research with the Commission. 
(c) RECOMMENDATIONS.—The Commission shall— 
(1) develop recommendations to reduce fatali-
ties from child abuse and neglect for Federal, State, 
and local agencies, and private sector and nonprofit 
organizations, including recommendations to imple-
ment a comprehensive national strategy for such 
purpose; and 
(2) develop guidelines for the type of informa-
tion that should be tracked to improve interventions 
to prevent fatalities from child abuse and neglect.
(d) REPORT.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after 
the date on which a majority of the members of the 
Commission have been appointed, the Commission 
shall submit a report to the President and Congress, 
which shall contain a detailed statement of the find-
ings and conclusions of the Commission, together 
with its recommendations for such legislation and 
administrative actions as it considers appropriate. 
(2) EXTENSION.—The President may extend 
the date on which the report described in paragraph 
(1) shall be submitted by an additional 1 year. 
(3) ONLINE
ACCESS.—The Commission shall 
make the report under paragraph (1) available on 
the publicly available Internet Web site of the De-
partment of Health and Human Services. 
SEC. 5. POWERS OF THE COMMISSION. 
(a) HEARINGS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission may hold 
such hearings, sit and act at such times and places, 
take such testimony, and receive such evidence as 
the Commission considers advisable to carry out this 
Act. 
(2) LOCATION.—The location of hearings under 
paragraph (1) shall include—
(A) areas with high fatality rates from 
child abuse and neglect; and 
(B) areas that have shown a decrease in 
fatalities from child abuse and neglect. 
(3) SUBJECT.—The Commission shall hold 
hearings under paragraph (1)— 
(A) to examine the Federal, State, and 
local policies and available resources that affect 
fatalities from child abuse and neglect; and 
(B) to explore the matters studied under 
section 4(a)(2). 
(b) INFORMATION FROM FEDERAL AGENCIES.—The 
Commission may secure directly from any Federal depart-
ment or agency such information as the Commission con-
siders necessary to carry out this Act. Upon request of 
the Chairperson of the Commission, the head of such de-
partment or agency shall furnish such information to the 
Commission. 
(c) POSTAL SERVICES.—The Commission may use 
the United States mails in the same manner and under 
the same conditions as other departments and agencies of 
the Federal Government. 
(d) GIFTS.—The Commission may accept, use, and 
dispose of gifts or donations of services or property.
SEC. 6. COMMISSION PERSONNEL MATTERS. 
(a) TRAVEL EXPENSES.—The members of the Com-
mission shall be allowed travel expenses, including per 
diem in lieu of subsistence, at rates authorized for employ-
ees of agencies under subchapter I of chapter 57 of title 
5, United States Code, while away from their homes or 
regular places of business in the performance of services 
for the Commission. 
(b) STAFF.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Chairperson of the 
Commission may, without regard to the civil service 
laws and regulations, appoint and terminate an exec-
utive director and such other additional personnel as 
may be necessary to enable the Commission to per-
form its duties. The employment of an executive di-
rector shall be subject to confirmation by the Com-
mission. 
(2) COMPENSATION.—The Chairperson of the 
Commission may fix the compensation of the execu-
tive director and other personnel without regard to 
chapter 51 and subchapter III of chapter 53 of title 
5, United States Code, relating to classification of 
positions and General Schedule pay rates, except 
that the rate of pay for the executive director and 
other personnel may not exceed the rate payable for
level V of the Executive Schedule under section 5316 
of such title. 
(c) DETAIL OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES.—At the 
discretion of the relevant agency, any Federal Government 
employee may be detailed to the Commission without reim-
bursement, and such detail shall be without interruption 
or loss of civil service status or privilege. 
(d) PROCUREMENT OF TEMPORARY AND INTERMIT-
TENT SERVICES.—The Chairperson of the Commission 
may procure temporary and intermittent services under 
section 3109(b) of title 5, United States Code, at rates 
for individuals that do not exceed the daily equivalent of 
the annual rate of basic pay prescribed for level V of the 
Executive Schedule under section 5316 of such title. 
SEC. 7. TERMINATION OF THE COMMISSION. 
The Commission shall terminate on the earlier of— 
(1) the 30th day after the date on which the 
Commission submits its report under section 4(d); or 
(2) the date that is 3 years after the initial 
meeting under section 3(d). 
SEC. 8. FEDERAL AGENCY RESPONSE. 
Not later than 6 months after the submission of the 
report required under section 4(d), any Federal agency 
that is affected by a recommendation described in the re-
port shall submit to Congress a report containing the re-
sponse of the Federal agency to the recommendation and 
the plans of the Federal agency to address the rec-
ommendation. 
SEC. 9. ADJUSTMENT TO THE TANF CONTINGENCY FUND 
FOR STATE WELFARE PROGRAMS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 403(b)(2) of the Social 
Security Act (42 U.S.C. 603(b)(2)) is amended by striking 
‘‘for fiscal years 2011 and 2012’’ and all that follows 
through the end of the paragraph and inserting ‘‘for fiscal 
years 2013 and 2014 such sums as are necessary for pay-
ment to the Fund in a total amount not to exceed 
$612,000,000 for each fiscal year, of which $2,000,000 
shall be reserved for carrying out the activities of the com-
mission established by the Protect our Kids Act of 2012 
to reduce fatalities resulting from child abuse and ne-
glect.’’ 
(b) PREVENTION OF DUPLICATE APPROPRIATIONS 
FOR FISCAL YEAR 2013.—Expenditures made pursuant 
to section 148 of the Continuing Appropriations Resolu-
tion, 2013, for fiscal year 2013, shall be charged to the
applicable appropriation provided by the amendments 
made by this section for such fiscal year. 
Passed the House of Representatives December 19, 
2012. 
Attest: 
Clerk.