I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 335 
To amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 to 
increase the availability and affordability of quality child care services 
by creating incentives for older individuals to join the child care work-
force, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 25, 2005 
Mr. LYNCH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the Committee on 
Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 
the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant 
Act of 1990 to increase the availability and affordability 
of quality child care services by creating incentives for 
older individuals to join the child care workforce, and 
for other purposes. 
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 ‘‘Seniors Offering Qual-
ity Child Care Act of 2005’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) Approximately 13,000,000 infants, toddlers, 
and preschool children receive child care services 
outside of their homes for part of or all of the work 
day. 
(2) Increasing the pool of child care workers is 
an important means of improving the overall quality 
and affordability of child care services. 
(3) The Bureau of the Census has determined 
that the number of people between the ages of 55 
and 64 will grow by about 17,800,000 between 2000 
and 2020. Many of these older individuals are skilled 
workers, such as health care professionals and teach-
ers, who could offer a significant contribution to the 
size and quality of the child care workforce. 
(4) We must increase the supply of child care 
workers by creating incentives for older individuals 
to enter into the child care workforce in order to de-
crease the costs to families of accessing affordable 
child care services. 
SEC. 3. ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF THE 
CHILD CARE SERVICES. 
Section 658G of the Child Care Development Block 
Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858e) is amended to read 
as follows:
‘‘SEC. 658G. ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF 
CHILD CARE SERVICES. 
‘‘A State that receives funds to carry out this sub-
chapter for a fiscal year, shall use not less than 6 percent 
of the amount of such funds for activities provided 
through resource and referral services or other means, 
that are designed to improve the quality of child care serv-
ices for which financial assistance is made available under 
this subchapter. Such activities include— 
‘‘(1) programs that provide training, education, 
and other professional development activities to en-
hance the skills of the child care workforce, includ-
ing training opportunities for caregivers in informal 
care settings; 
‘‘(2) developing proposals to enhance the qual-
ity and quantity of the child care workforce by ex-
amining methods for increasing the recruitment, re-
tention, and compensation of skilled individuals who 
are 55 years of age or older, as members of the child 
care workforce; 
‘‘(3) activities within child care settings to en-
hance early learning for young children, to promote 
early literacy, and to foster school readiness; 
‘‘(4) initiatives to increase the retention and 
compensation of child care providers, including
tiered reimbursement rates for providers that meet 
quality standards as defined by the State; or 
‘‘(5) other activities deemed by the State to im-
prove the quality of child care services provided in 
such State.‘’. ’’. 
SEC. 4. EXPANSION OF BENEFITS FOR THE CHILD CARE 
WORKFORCE. 
Section 658S of the Child Care Development Block 
Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858q) is amended to read 
as follows: 
‘‘SEC. 658S. MISCELLANEOUS. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other law, 
the value of any child care provided or arranged (or any 
amount received as payment for such care or reimburse-
ment for costs incurred for such care) under this sub-
chapter shall not be treated as income for purposes of any 
other Federal or federally assisted program that bases eli-
gibility, or the amount of benefits, on need. 
‘‘(b) OLDER INDIVIDUALS.—Allowances, earnings, 
and payments under this subchapter to individuals who 
are 55 years of age or older shall not be considered as 
income for the purposes determining eligibility for and the 
amount of income transfer and in-kind aid under any Fed-
eral or federally assisted program based on need.’’.
SEC. 5. COMPENSATION FOR CHILD CAREGIVING SERVICES 
OF EMPLOYEES OF ELIGIBLE CHILD CARE 
PROVIDERS DISREGARDED FOR PURPOSES 
OF THE SOCIAL SECURITY EARNINGS TEST. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 203(f)(3) of the Social 
Security Act (42 U.S.C. 403(f)(3)) is amended by insert-
ing ‘‘, and in determining an individual’s excess earnings 
for any taxable year, there shall be excluded any earnings 
of such individual from employment as a caregiver (as de-
fined in section 658P(1) of the Child Care and Develop-
ment Block Grant Act of 1990) employed by an eligible 
child care provider (as defined in section 658P(5)(A) of 
such Act),’’ before the period at the end of the 1st sen-
tence. 
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 
subsection (a) shall apply with respect to taxable years 
ending on or after the date of the enactment of this Act. 
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