Child Care Choices Act of 2021

Bill: 117-hr-1963
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Fischbach, Michelle [R-MN-7]
Introduced: 2021-03-17
Policy area: Families
Subjects: Child care and development
Latest action: action_date: 2021-03-17
text: Referred to the House Committee on Education and Labor.

Summaries:
action_date: 2021-03-17
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p><strong>Child Care Choices Act of 2021</strong></p> <p>This bill requires states to prioritize the availability of child care certificates over grants or contracts when providing federally supported child care assistance to families. A child care certificate is a voucher provided directly to a parent who may use the voucher only as payment for child care services.</p> <p>The bill also prohibits states from setting differential payment rates based solely on the type of child care or type of provider.</p>

tv_txt: I 117th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 1963 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.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Child Care Choices Act of 2021 . 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 amended— (1) in paragraph (2)— (A) by striking subparagraph (A) and inserting 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 contracts; (ii) in cases in which a parent chooses 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 provider selected by the parent to the maximum extent practicable; and (iii) in cases in which a parent chooses to receive a child care certificate, the certificate shall be of a value commensurate with the subsidy value of child care services provided if the child were enrolled with a child care provider that has a grant 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 assurances and describe how the State prioritizes the use of child care certificates (as defined in section 658P(2)) for child care services for which financial assistance is provided under this subchapter 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 different 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 providers, or faith-based providers) as the sole differential factor. .