I
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2694
To increase the availability of child care for children whose parents work
nontraditional hours or shifts.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
AUGUST 3, 1999
Ms. WOOLSEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Education and the Workforce
A BILL
To increase the availability of child care for children whose
parents work nontraditional hours or shifts.
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 ‘‘Community of Care
Act of 1999’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Many families need child care during non-
traditional hours, and such care is likely to be par-
ticularly important for families working to get off
welfare.
(2) Nearly 1⁄5 of full-time workers work non-
standard hours. More than 1⁄3 of these workers are
women.
(3) One-third of working mothers with incomes
below the poverty line work during weekends.
(4) More than 1⁄4 of mothers with incomes
above the poverty line but below $25,000 work week-
ends.
(5) A study of 207 Illinois families who needed
transitional child care after leaving welfare found
that nearly 75 percent of these families had one or
more members who were working irregular hours.
(6) Almost 1⁄2 of low-income working parents
work on a rotating or changing schedule. This pre-
sents an even greater obstacle to finding child care
than either a regular weekend or evening schedule.
(7) The demand for child care during nontradi-
tional hours outstrips the supply.
SEC. 3. CHILD CARE FOR NONTRADITIONAL HOURS AND
VARIED SHIFTS.
The Child Care and Development Block Grant Act
of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9801 et seq.) is amended by inserting
after section 658G the following new section:
‘‘SEC. 658H. CHILD CARE FOR NONTRADITIONAL HOURS
AND VARIED SHIFTS.
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may make grants
under this subchapter for activities designed to increase
the availability of child care for children whose parents
work nontraditional hours or varied shifts. Such activities
shall include the following:
‘‘(1) Creating incentives for resource and refer-
ral agencies to engage in activities that are designed
to increase the awareness of parents who work non-
traditional hours or varied shifts about the avail-
ability of communities of care.
‘‘(2) Providing funds to increase compensation,
including bonuses, to communities of care and their
employees.
‘‘(3) Providing start-up funds for communities
of care.
‘‘(4) Providing grants to resource and referral
agencies, child care organizations, and nonprofit or-
ganizations for activities that encourage and recruit
caregivers, eligible child care providers, and family
child care providers to start new communities of
care.
‘‘(5) Creating other incentives to increase the
number and availability of communities of care.
‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—For the purposes of this section,
the following definitions apply:
‘‘(1) COMMUNITY OF CARE.—The term ‘com-
munity of care’ means caregivers, eligible child care
providers, or family child care providers that, alone
or in cooperation with other such caregivers or pro-
viders, provide child care for an average of 7 or
more nontraditional hours daily or for children
whose parents work varied shifts.
‘‘(2) 
NONTRADITIONAL
HOURS.—The 
term
‘nontraditional hours’ means those hours—
‘‘(A) between 6:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m.; and
‘‘(B) between 7:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. on
Saturday and Sunday.
‘‘(3) VARIED SHIFTS.—The term ‘varied shifts’
means a schedule requiring work hours that change
from pay period to pay period.’’.
SEC. 4. FUNDING.
Section 658B (42 U.S.C. 9858) is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘There’’ and inserting ‘‘(a) IN
GENERAL.—There’’; and
(2) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
‘‘(b) COMMUNITIES
OF
CARE.—In addition to
amounts appropriated under subsection (a), there is au-
thorized to be appropriated to carry out community of care