Building Child Care for a Better Future Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1842 To amend title IV of the Social Security Act to provide funding to sustain and increase the supply and quality of child care, access to child care, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 26, 2021 Mr. WYDEN (for himself, Ms. WARREN, Mr. BROWN, Ms. SMITH, and Mr. CASEY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To amend title IV of the Social Security Act to provide funding to sustain and increase the supply and quality of child care, access to child care, 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 ‘‘Building Child Care 4 for a Better Future Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:34 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1842.IS S1842 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1842 IS SEC. 2. INCREASED FUNDING FOR THE CHILD CARE ENTI- 1 TLEMENT TO STATES. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 418(a)(3) of the Social 3 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 618(a)(3)) is amended to read 4 as follows: 5 ‘‘(3) APPROPRIATION.— 6 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For grants under this 7 section, there are appropriated— 8 ‘‘(i) for fiscal year 2022, 9 $10,000,000,000; and 10 ‘‘(ii) for each fiscal year after fiscal 11 year 2022, the greater of— 12 ‘‘(I) the amount appropriated 13 under this subparagraph for the pre- 14 vious fiscal year, increased by the per- 15 centage increase (if any) in the con- 16 sumer price index for all urban con- 17 sumers (all items; United States city 18 average) for the most recent 12- 19 month period for which data is avail- 20 able; and 21 ‘‘(II) the amount appropriated 22 under this subparagraph for the pre- 23 vious fiscal year. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:34 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1842.IS S1842 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1842 IS ‘‘(B) AMOUNTS RESERVED.—Of the 1 amount appropriated under subparagraph (A) 2 for a fiscal year— 3 ‘‘(i) an amount equal to 5 percent of 4 such amount shall be available for grants 5 to Indian tribes and tribal organizations; 6 ‘‘(ii) an amount equal to 4 percent of 7 such amount shall be available for grants 8 to territories; 9 ‘‘(iii) an amount, not to exceed 1⁄2 of 10 1 percent of such amount, shall be re- 11 served by the Secretary to support tech- 12 nical assistance and dissemination activi- 13 ties under paragraphs (3) and (4) of sec- 14 tion 658I(a) of the Child Care and Devel- 15 opment Block Grant Act of 1990; and 16 ‘‘(iv) an amount equal to 1⁄2 of 1 per- 17 cent of such amount appropriated may be 18 reserved by the Secretary to conduct re- 19 search and demonstration activities, as well 20 as periodic external, independent evalua- 21 tions of the impact of the Child Care and 22 Development Block Grant program estab- 23 lished under subchapter C of chapter 8 of 24 title VI of the Omnibus Budget Reconcili- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:34 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1842.IS S1842 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1842 IS ation Act of 1981 (Public Law 97–35), as 1 carried out under this subsection and 2 under such subchapter, on increasing ac- 3 cess to child care services and improving 4 the safety and quality of child care serv- 5 ices, using scientifically valid research 6 methodologies, and to disseminate the key 7 findings of those evaluations widely and on 8 a timely basis.’’. 9 (b) REDISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS RESERVED FOR 10 TRIBAL GRANTS.—Section 418(a) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 11 618(a)) is amended— 12 (1) by redesignating paragraph (5) as para- 13 graph (6); and 14 (2) by inserting after paragraph (4), the fol- 15 lowing: 16 ‘‘(5) REDISTRIBUTION OF UNUSED TRIBAL 17 GRANTS.— 18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 19 determine an appropriate procedure for redis- 20 tributing the amounts described in subpara- 21 graph (B) for each fiscal year to each Indian 22 tribe and tribal organization that applies for 23 such amounts, to the extent the Secretary de- 24 termines that the Indian tribe or tribal organi- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:34 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1842.IS S1842 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1842 IS zation will be able to use such additional 1 amounts to provide child care assistance. 2 ‘‘(B) AMOUNTS DESCRIBED.—The 3 amounts described in this subparagraph are, 4 with respect to a fiscal year, the unused 5 amounts of any payment made to an Indian 6 tribe or tribal organization under this sub- 7 section for the fiscal year which the Secretary 8 determines will not be used by the Indian tribe 9 or tribal organization during the period in 10 which such payments are available to be obli- 11 gated.’’. 12 (c) REMOVAL OF RESTRICTION ON APPLICATION OF 13 UPDATED FMAP.—Section 418(a)(2)(C) of such Act (42 14 U.S.C. 618(a)(2)(C)) is amended by striking ‘‘, as such 15 section was in effect on September 30, 1995’’. 16 (d) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 17 Section 418 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 618(a)) is amended— 18 (1) in subsection (a)— 19 (A) in paragraph (1), in the matter pre- 20 ceding subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘para- 21 graph (3)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph (3)(A) 22 and remaining after the application of para- 23 graph (3)(B),’’; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:34 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1842.IS S1842 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1842 IS (B) in paragraph (2)(A), by striking 1 ‘‘paragraph (3)(A),’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph 2 (3)(A) and remaining after the application of 3 paragraph (3)(B) and’’; 4 (C) in paragraph (4)— 5 (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 6 ‘‘paragraph (3)(C)’’ and inserting ‘‘para- 7 graph (3)(B)(ii)’’; and 8 (ii) by striking subparagraph (E); and 9 (D) in paragraph (6), (as redesignated by 10 subsection (b)(1)), by inserting ‘‘(as in effect on 11 June 29, 2003)’’ after ‘‘section 403(a)(1)(D)’’; 12 (2) in subsection (b)(1), by striking ‘‘by a State 13 under this section’’ and inserting ‘‘by a State, a ter- 14 ritory, or an Indian tribe or tribal organization 15 under subsection (a)’’; 16 (3) by striking subsection (c) and inserting the 17 following: 18 ‘‘(c) APPLICATION OF CHILD CARE AND DEVELOP- 19 MENT BLOCK GRANT ACT of 1990.—Notwithstanding any 20 other provision of law, amounts provided to a State, a ter- 21 ritory, or a Indian tribe or tribal organization under sub- 22 section (a) shall be transferred to the lead agency under 23 the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990, 24 integrated by the State, territory, or Indian tribe or tribal 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:34 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1842.IS S1842 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1842 IS organization into the programs established by the State, 1 territory, Indian tribe or tribal organization under such 2 Act, and be subject to requirements and limitations of 3 such Act.’’; and 4 (4) by striking subsection (d) and inserting the 5 following: 6 ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 7 ‘‘(1) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘Indian tribe’ 8 means entities included on the list published pursu- 9 ant to section 104(a) of the Federally Recognized 10 Indian Tribe List Act of 1994 (25 U.S.C. 5131(a)). 11 ‘‘(2) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means each of 12 the 50 States and the District of Columbia. 13 ‘‘(3) TERRITORY.—The term ‘territory’ means 14 the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the United 15 States Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and 16 the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Is- 17 lands. 18 ‘‘(4) TRIBAL ORGANIZATION.—The term ‘tribal 19 organization’ means— 20 ‘‘(A) the recognized governing body of any 21 Indian tribe, and any legally established organi- 22 zation of Indians which is controlled, sanc- 23 tioned, or chartered by such governing body or 24 which is democratically elected by the adult 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:34 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1842.IS S1842 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1842 IS members of the Indian community to be served 1 by such organization and which includes the 2 maximum participation of Indians in all phases 3 of its activities, except that in any case where 4 a contract is let or grant made to an organiza- 5 tion to perform services benefitting more than 6 one Indian tribe, the approval of each such In- 7 dian tribe shall be a prerequisite to the letting 8 or making of such contract or grant; and 9 ‘‘(B) includes a Native Hawaiian organiza- 10 tion, as defined in section 6207 of the Elemen- 11 tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 12 U.S.C. 7517) and a private nonprofit organiza- 13 tion established for the purpose of serving 14 youth who are Indians or Native Hawaiians.’’. 15 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 16 this section take effect on October 1, 2021. 17 SEC. 3. GRANTS TO IMPROVE CHILD CARE SUPPLY, QUAL- 18 ITY, AND ACCESS IN AREAS OF PARTICULAR 19 NEED. 20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 418 of the Social Security 21 Act (42 U.S.C. 618), as amended by section 2, is further 22 amended by adding at the end the following: 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:34 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1842.IS S1842 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1842 IS ‘‘(e) GRANTS TO IMPROVE CHILD CARE SUPPLY, 1 QUALITY, AND ACCESS IN AREAS OF PARTICULAR 2 NEED.— 3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as otherwise pro- 4 vided in this subsection, the preceding provisions of 5 this section shall not apply to this subsection. 6 ‘‘(2) APPROPRIATIONS.— 7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For grants under this 8 subsection to improve child care supply, quality, 9 and access in areas of particular need, there are 10 appropriated $5,000,000,000 for each fiscal 11 year. 12 ‘‘(B) AMOUNTS RESERVED.—Of the 13 amount appropriated under subparagraph (A) 14 for a fiscal year, the Secretary shall reserve— 15 ‘‘(i) an amount equal to 5 percent of 16 such amount for grants to Indian tribes 17 and tribal organizations; 18 ‘‘(ii) an amount equal to 4 percent of 19 such amount for grants to territories; 20 ‘‘(iii) an amount, not to exceed 1⁄2 of 21 1 percent of such amount, to support tech- 22 nical assistance and dissemination activi- 23 ties related to improving child care supply, 24 quality, and access, including in areas of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:34 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1842.IS S1842 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 1842 IS particular need, under paragraphs (3) and 1 (4), respectively, of section 658I(a) of the 2 Child Care and Development Block Grant 3 Act of 1990; 4 ‘‘(iv) an amount equal to 1⁄2 of 1 per- 5 cent of such amount to carry out the eval- 6 uation required under paragraph (8); and 7 ‘‘(v) an amount, not to exceed 3 per- 8 cent of such amount, for administrative ex- 9 penses of the Secretary in administering 10 this subsection. 11 ‘‘(3) GRANTS.— 12 ‘‘(A) INDIAN TRIBES AND TRIBAL ORGANI- 13 ZATIONS.—The Secretary shall use the amount 14 reserved under paragraph (2)(B)(i) for a fiscal 15 year to make grants under this subsection for 16 the fiscal year to Indian tribes and tribal orga- 17 nizations in amounts that shall be allotted 18 among Indian tribes and tribal organizations in 19 proportion to their respective needs. 20 ‘‘(B) TERRITORIES.—The Secretary shall 21 use the amount reserved under paragraph 22 (2)(B)(ii) for a fiscal year to make grants 23 under this subsection for the fiscal year to each 24 territory in amounts that shall be allotted 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:34 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1842.IS S1842 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •S 1842 IS among the territories in proportion to their re- 1 spective needs. 2 ‘‘(C) STATES.—The Secretary shall use the 3 amount appropriated under subparagraph (A) 4 of paragraph (2) for a fiscal year that remains 5 after the application of subparagraph (B) of 6 that paragraph, to make grants for the fiscal 7 year under this subsection to each State in 8 amounts that bear the same proportion to the 9 amount so remaining as the sum of the amount 10 granted under paragraph (1) of subsection (a) 11 and the amount allotted and paid under para- 12 graph (2) of subsection (a) to each such State 13 for the fiscal year (without regard to amounts 14 redistributed under subparagraph (D) of sub- 15 section (a)(2) for the fiscal year) bears to the 16 total amounts granted and allotted to all of the 17 States under paragraphs (1) and (2) of that 18 subsection for such fiscal year. 19 ‘‘(4) INCORPORATION INTO CCDBG PLAN.— 20 ‘‘(A) CONTENTS.—In order to be paid a 21 grant under this subsection for a fiscal year, 22 the lead agency of a State, territory, Indian 23 tribe, or tribal organization shall submit to the 24 Secretary, as part of the initial submission of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:34 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1842.IS S1842 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •S 1842 IS the Child Care and Development Block Grant 1 plan for the period that includes such fiscal 2 year, or as an amendment to that plan, a de- 3 scription of the planned use of grant funds 4 that— 5 ‘‘(i) describes the demographic and 6 economic data and other criteria the lead 7 agency proposes to use to determine 8 whether an area is in particular need of 9 child care; 10 ‘‘(ii) describes how community mem- 11 bers were engaged to identify community- 12 specific needs such as diverse types of care 13 delivery, care for infant and toddlers, mul- 14 tilingual care, and nontraditional oper- 15 ational hours; 16 ‘‘(iii) identifies specific areas deter- 17 mined to be in particular need of child 18 care, where such areas are located, the size 19 and scope of such areas, and the age 20 groups of children in need of child care in 21 such areas; 22 ‘‘(iv) outlines how the lead agency 23 proposes to use the grant funds to increase 24 child care supply, quality, and access for 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:34 Jun 11, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1842.IS S1842 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 13 •S 1842 IS all families, including families who are eli- 1 gible for subsidies under the Child Care 2 and Development Block Grant Act of 3 1990, in the areas determined to be in par- 4 ticular need of child care through activities 5 such as— 6 ‘‘(I) contracting and providing 7 grants to child care providers to pay 8 for specified numbers of child care 9 slots (including slots in family child 10 [Text truncated for display. 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