Military Child Care Expansion Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3121 To expand child care opportunities for members of the Armed Forces, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 11, 2021 Ms. SPEIER (for herself, Mrs. BICE of Oklahoma, Ms. JACOBS of California, Ms. BONAMICI, Ms. BROWNLEY, Mr. CARSON, Mr. CASE, Mr. CASTRO of Texas, Mr. CICILLINE, Mr. GALLEGO, Ms. HOULAHAN, Mr. KAHELE, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. MORELLE, Mr. MOULTON, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Ms. NOR- TON, Ms. PORTER, Ms. ROSS, Mr. RYAN, Ms. SHERRILL, Ms. STRICK- LAND, Ms. TITUS, Mr. TURNER, Mr. VELA, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, and Ms. WILD) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services A BILL To expand child care opportunities for members of the Armed Forces, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Military Child Care 4 Expansion Act of 2021’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:13 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3121.IH H3121 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3121 IH SEC. 2. EXPANSION OF PILOT PROGRAM TO PROVIDE FI- 1 NANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO MEMBERS OF THE 2 ARMED FORCES FOR IN-HOME CHILD CARE. 3 Section 589 of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry Na- 4 tional Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 5 (Public Law 116–283) is amended— 6 (1) in subsection (a)(3)— 7 (A) by striking ‘‘Secretary shall—’’ and all 8 that follows through ‘‘private sector; and’’ and 9 inserting ‘‘Secretary shall take into consider- 10 ation qualifications for in-home child care pro- 11 viders in the private sector.’’; and 12 (B) by striking subparagraph (B); and 13 (2) in subsection (b), by adding at the end the 14 following: ‘‘The Secretary of Defense may expand 15 the pilot program to additional locations.’’. 16 SEC. 3. PILOT PROGRAM TO EXPAND ACCESS TO CHILD 17 CARE TO THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE. 18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 19 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense 20 shall establish a pilot program to expand access to child 21 care for members of the Armed Forces by entering into 22 agreements with public or private child care facilities or 23 development centers. 24 (b) SCOPE.—In carrying out the pilot program, the 25 Secretary shall— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:13 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3121.IH H3121 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3121 IH (1) seek to enter into one or more memoranda 1 of understanding with one or more eligible civilian 2 child care centers or facilities to reserve slots for 3 qualified families in locations in which— 4 (A) the Department of Defense lacks a 5 child development center; or 6 (B) the wait lists for the nearest Depart- 7 ment of Defense child development center, 8 where applicable, indicate that qualified families 9 may not be accommodated; and 10 (2) select five locations that the Secretary de- 11 termines have the greatest unmet demand for child 12 care services for children of members of the Armed 13 Forces, including at least one facility in each loca- 14 tion that offers extended or flexible hours to provide 15 care after hours and on weekends. 16 (c) ANNUAL ASSESSMENT OF RESULTS.—Not later 17 than one year after establishing the pilot program under 18 subsection (a), the Secretary shall undertake a current as- 19 sessment of the impact of the pilot program on access to 20 childcare facilities or child development centers for quali- 21 fied families. 22 (d) REPORTS.— 23 (1) INTERIM REPORTS.—Not later than one 24 year after the Secretary establishes the pilot pro- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:13 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3121.IH H3121 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3121 IH gram and twice annually thereafter, the Secretary 1 shall submit to the Committees on Armed Services 2 of the Senate and the House of Representatives an 3 interim report on the pilot program. Each interim 4 report shall include the following elements: 5 (A) The number of military families par- 6 ticipating in the pilot program, disaggregated 7 by location and duration of participation. 8 (B) A breakdown of the total cost, includ- 9 ing any subsidies or financial assistance, 10 charged by the childcare facility or child devel- 11 opment center. 12 (C) The impact of the program on wait 13 times at Department of Defense child care de- 14 velopment centers. 15 (D) The feasibility of expanding the pilot 16 program. 17 (E) Recommendations for legislation or ad- 18 ministrative actions that the Secretary deter- 19 mines necessary to make the pilot program per- 20 manent. 21 (F) Any other information the Secretary 22 determines appropriate. 23 (2) FINAL REPORT.—Not later than 90 days 24 after the termination of the pilot program, the Sec- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:13 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3121.IH H3121 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3121 IH retary shall submit to the Committees on Armed 1 Services of the Senate and the House of Representa- 2 tives a final report on the pilot program. The report 3 shall include the following elements: 4 (A) The elements specified in paragraph 5 (1). 6 (B) The recommendation of the Secretary 7 whether to make the pilot program permanent. 8 (e) EXPANSION.—Based on the recommendations in- 9 cluded in the interim reports, the Secretary may expand 10 the scope of the pilot program to include more than five 11 locations if the Secretary determines access to childcare 12 is improved and such expansion would likely benefit De- 13 partment of Defense families. 14 (f) TERMINATION.—The pilot program shall termi- 15 nate 10 years after the date on which the Secretary estab- 16 lishes the pilot program. 17 (g) ELIGIBLE CIVILIAN CHILD CARE CENTER OR FA- 18 CILITY DEFINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘eligible civil- 19 ian child care center or facility’’ has the meaning given 20 the term ‘‘eligible provider’’ in section 1798(b) of title 10, 21 United States Code. 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:13 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3121.IH H3121 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3121 IH SEC. 4. DETERMINATION OF CAUSES OF POOR OR FAILING 1 CONDITIONS AT CHILD DEVELOPMENT CEN- 2 TERS OF DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE AND 3 COSTS TO IMPROVE SUCH CONDITIONS. 4 (a) DETERMINATIONS.— 5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Defense 6 shall determine— 7 (A) the root causes contributing to poor or 8 failing facility conditions at child development 9 centers of the Department of Defense; and 10 (B) the total cost to improve the facility 11 conditions of such centers to at least fair condi- 12 tion, as determined by the Secretary. 13 (2) REPORT.—Not later than one year after the 14 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 15 shall submit to Congress a report on the determina- 16 tions of the Secretary under paragraph (1). 17 (b) COMPTROLLER GENERAL REVIEW AND REC- 18 OMMENDATIONS.—Not later than one year after the date 19 on which the Secretary submits to Congress the report 20 under subsection (a)(2) on the determinations of the Sec- 21 retary under subsection (a)(1), the Comptroller General 22 of the United States shall— 23 (1) review such determinations; and 24 (2) submit to the Secretary and Congress rec- 25 ommendations on how to improve the facility condi- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:13 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3121.IH H3121 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3121 IH tions at child development centers of the Depart- 1 ment. 2 SEC. 5. TEMPORARY PROGRAM TO USE MINOR MILITARY 3 CONSTRUCTION AUTHORITY FOR CONSTRUC- 4 TION OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTERS. 5 (a) THRESHOLDS ON CONSTRUCTION AUTHOR- 6 IZED.—The Secretary of Defense shall establish a pro- 7 gram to carry out minor military construction projects 8 under section 2805 of title 10, United States Code, to con- 9 struct child development centers. 10 (b) INCREASED MAXIMUM AMOUNTS APPLICABLE TO 11 MINOR CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS.—For the purpose of 12 any military construction project carried out under the 13 program under this section, the amounts specified in sec- 14 tion 2805 of title 10, United States Code, are modified 15 as follows: 16 (1) The amount specified in subsection (a)(2) of 17 such section is deemed to be $25,000,000. 18 (2) The amount specified in subsection (c) of 19 such section is deemed to be $25,000,000. 20 (c) NOTIFICATION AND APPROVAL REQUIRE- 21 MENTS.— 22 (1) IN GENERAL.—The notification and ap- 23 proval requirements under section 2805(b) of title 24 10, United States Code, shall remain in effect for 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:13 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3121.IH H3121 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3121 IH construction projects carried out under the program 1 under this section. 2 (2) PROCEDURES.—The Secretary shall estab- 3 lish procedures for the review and approval of re- 4 quests from the Secretaries of military departments 5 to carry out construction projects under the program 6 under this section. 7 (d) REPORT REQUIRED.— 8 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 9 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec- 10 retary of Defense shall submit to the congressional 11 defense committees a report on the program under 12 this section. 13 (2) ELEMENTS.—The report required by para- 14 graph (1) shall include a list and description of the 15 construction projects carried out under the program 16 under this section, including the location and cost of 17 each project. 18 (e) EXPIRATION OF AUTHORITY.—The authority to 19 carry out a minor military construction project under the 20 program under this section expires on the date that is 10 21 years after the date of the enactment of this Act. 22 (f) CONSTRUCTION OF AUTHORITY.—Nothing in this 23 section may be construed to limit any other authority pro- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:13 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3121.IH H3121 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 3121 IH vided by law for a military construction project at a child 1 development center. 2 (g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 3 (1) The term ‘‘child development center’’ has 4 the meaning given that term in section 2871 of title 5 10, United States Code. 6 (2) The term ‘‘congressional defense commit- 7 tees’’ has the meaning given that term in section 8 101 of title 10, United States Code. 9 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:13 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3121.IH H3121 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS