Child Care for Working Families Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 568 To amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 and the Head Start Act to promote child care and early learning, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 26, 2019 Mrs. MURRAY (for herself, Mr. CASEY, Ms. HIRONO, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. BOOKER, Mr. BROWN, Ms. CANTWELL, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. COONS, Ms. CORTEZ MASTO, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Mr. DURBIN, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Ms. HARRIS, Ms. HASSAN, Ms. KLO- BUCHAR, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. MURPHY, Mr. PETERS, Mr. REED, Ms. ROSEN, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. SCHATZ, Mr. SCHUMER, Ms. SMITH, Mr. UDALL, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Ms. WARREN, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, and Mr. WYDEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Edu- cation, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 and the Head Start Act to promote child care and early learning, 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 ‘‘Child Care for Work- 4 ing Families Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:07 Mar 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S568.IS S568 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 568 IS TITLE I—CHILD CARE AND 1 DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE 2 SEC. 101. PURPOSES. 3 Section 658A(b) of the Child Care and Development 4 Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9801 note) is amend- 5 ed— 6 (1) by striking paragraph (1) and inserting the 7 following: 8 ‘‘(1) to ensure that no low- to moderate-income 9 family pays more than 7 percent of its household in- 10 come on child care;’’; 11 (2) by striking paragraph (2) and inserting the 12 following: 13 ‘‘(2) to support working parents in making 14 their own decisions regarding the child care services 15 that best suit their family’s needs;’’; 16 (3) in paragraph (4)— 17 (A) by striking ‘‘high-quality,’’ and insert- 18 ing ‘‘high-quality and inclusive, and’’; and 19 (B) by inserting ‘‘, including before- and 20 after-school and summer care for school-age 21 children,’’ after ‘‘services’’; 22 (4) in paragraph (5), by inserting before the 23 semicolon the following: ‘‘, and to help child care 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:07 Mar 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S568.IS S568 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 568 IS programs meet evidence-based or national standards 1 to improve the quality of child care’’; 2 (5) in paragraph (6)— 3 (A) by inserting ‘‘, including children with 4 disabilities and infants and toddlers with dis- 5 abilities’’ before the semicolon; and 6 (B) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 7 (6) in paragraph (7)— 8 (A) by striking ‘‘high-quality’’ and insert- 9 ing ‘‘high-quality and inclusive’’; and 10 (B) by striking the period at the end and 11 inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 12 (7) by adding at the end the following: 13 ‘‘(8) to support statewide systems to support 14 the needs of infants and toddlers with disabilities, 15 better coordinate child care and other services, and 16 assist States in increasing the number of child care 17 providers that provide high-quality and inclusive 18 care to families of infants or toddlers with disabil- 19 ities and families of children with disabilities.’’. 20 SEC. 102. APPROPRIATIONS. 21 Section 658B of the Child Care and Development 22 Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858) is amended 23 by striking all that follows the section heading and insert- 24 ing the following: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:07 Mar 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S568.IS S568 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 568 IS ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be ap- 1 propriated and there are appropriated to carry out this 2 subchapter (other than paragraphs (1) and (2) of section 3 658O(a)) $20,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2020, 4 $30,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2021, $40,000,000,000 5 for fiscal year 2022, and such sums as may be necessary 6 for fiscal year 2023 and each subsequent fiscal year. 7 ‘‘(b) TERRITORIES; INDIAN TRIBES.—There are au- 8 thorized to be appropriated and there are appropriated to 9 carry out paragraphs (1) and (2) of section 658O(a) such 10 sums as may be necessary for fiscal year 2020 and each 11 subsequent fiscal year.’’. 12 SEC. 103. ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM. 13 Section 658C of the Child Care and Development 14 Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858a) is amended 15 to read as follows: 16 ‘‘SEC. 658C. ESTABLISHMENT OF CHILD CARE PROGRAM. 17 ‘‘The Secretary is authorized to administer a child 18 care program under which families in the State shall be 19 provided an opportunity to obtain child care for eligible 20 children, subject to the requirements of this subchapter.’’. 21 SEC. 104. LEAD AGENCY. 22 Section 658D of the Child Care and Development 23 Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858b) is amended— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:07 Mar 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S568.IS S568 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 568 IS (1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘a grant’’ and 1 inserting ‘‘payments’’; and 2 (2) in subsection (b)(1)(A), by inserting before 3 the semicolon the following: ‘‘, including by certi- 4 fying the eligibility of children’’. 5 SEC. 105. APPLICATION AND PLAN. 6 (a) PLAN REQUIREMENTS.—Section 658E(c) of the 7 Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 8 U.S.C. 9858c(c)) is amended— 9 (1) in paragraph (2)— 10 (A) in subparagraph (A)— 11 (i) by striking the matter preceding 12 clause (i) and inserting the following: 13 ‘‘(A) SUPPORTING WORKING PARENTS.— 14 Support working parents by providing assur- 15 ances that—’’; and 16 (ii) by striking clause (i)(II) and in- 17 serting the following: 18 ‘‘(II) to enroll such child with a 19 child care provider who has received a 20 child care certificate from such parent 21 or parents;’’; 22 (B) in subparagraph (E)— 23 (i) in clause (i)— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:07 Mar 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S568.IS S568 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 568 IS (I) by striking subclause (II) and 1 inserting the following: 2 ‘‘(II) the State’s tiered and 3 transparent system for measuring the 4 quality of child care providers, de- 5 scribed in subparagraph (W)(i), in- 6 cluding— 7 ‘‘(aa) a description of the 8 national standards or other 9 equally rigorous and evidence- 10 based standards tied to child out- 11 comes that the State uses for 12 purposes of subparagraph 13 (W)(i)(II)(aa); 14 ‘‘(bb) the payment rates re- 15 ferred to in paragraph (4), for 16 providers at each tier of such 17 system; and 18 ‘‘(cc) the number and per- 19 centage of eligible providers at 20 each tier of such system, in total 21 and disaggregated by geographic 22 location;’’; 23 (II) in subclause (IV), by insert- 24 ing ‘‘the program carried out under 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:07 Mar 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S568.IS S568 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 568 IS title II of the Child Care for Working 1 Families Act,’’ after ‘‘9831 et seq.),’’; 2 and 3 (III) in subclause (VII), by strik- 4 ing ‘‘and’’ at the end; 5 (ii) in clause (ii), by striking the pe- 6 riod at the end and inserting a semicolon; 7 and 8 (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 9 lowing: 10 ‘‘(iii) information about the State’s 11 wage ladder described in subparagraph 12 (G)(iii); and 13 ‘‘(iv) information on opportunities for 14 staff of child care providers to improve 15 their skills and credentials, including infor- 16 mation about training opportunities and 17 professional organizations that provide 18 such training.’’; 19 (C) in subparagraph (G)— 20 (i) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘and pro- 21 fessional development requirements’’ and 22 inserting ‘‘, professional development, and 23 compensation requirements’’; 24 (ii) in clause (ii)(V)— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:07 Mar 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S568.IS S568 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 568 IS (I) by redesignating item (dd) as 1 item (ee); 2 (II) in item (cc), by striking 3 ‘‘and’’; and 4 (III) by inserting after item (cc) 5 the following: 6 ‘‘(dd) infants and toddlers 7 with disabilities; and’’; 8 (iii) by redesignating clauses (iii) and 9 (iv) as clauses (v) and (vi), respectively; 10 and 11 (iv) by inserting after clause (ii) the 12 following: 13 ‘‘(iii) COMPENSATION.—The plan 14 shall provide a description of the State’s 15 wage ladder for staff of eligible child care 16 providers, and an assurance that wages for 17 such staff will, at a minimum, meet the re- 18 quirements of paragraph (4)(B)(iii)(II). 19 ‘‘(iv) STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT.— 20 The plan shall demonstrate how the State 21 will facilitate participation of staff of eligi- 22 ble child care providers in organizations 23 that foster the professional development 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:07 Mar 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S568.IS S568 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 568 IS and stakeholder engagement of the child 1 care workforce.’’; 2 (D) in subparagraph (I)— 3 (i) in clause (i)(XI), by striking ‘‘and’’ 4 at the end; 5 (ii) in clause (ii), by striking the pe- 6 riod and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 7 (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 8 lowing: 9 ‘‘(iii) may include a requirement to 10 comply with the standards recommended in 11 the Department of Health and Human 12 Services’ report entitled ‘Caring for Our 13 Children Basics: Health and Safety Foun- 14 dations for Early Care and Education’, 15 issued on June 25, 2015.’’; 16 (E) in subparagraph (K)(i), in the matter 17 preceding subclause (I), by striking ‘‘, not later 18 than 2 years after the date of enactment of the 19 Child Care and Development Block Grant Act 20 of 2014,’’; 21 (F) in subparagraph (M)— 22 (i) by adding ‘‘investment of quality 23 child care amounts described in section 24 658G(a)(1),’’ after ‘‘parents,’’; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:07 Mar 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S568.IS S568 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 568 IS (ii) by redesignating clause (iv) as 1 clause (v); 2 (iii) in clause (iii), by striking ‘‘, as 3 defined by the State; and’’ and inserting a 4 semicolon; and 5 (iv) by inserting after clause (iii) the 6 following: 7 ‘‘(iv) infants and toddlers with disabil- 8 ities; and’’; 9 (G) in subparagraph (N)— 10 (i) in clause (i)(I), by striking ‘‘, if 11 that family income does not exceed 85 per- 12 cent of the State median income for a fam- 13 ily of the same size’’; 14 (ii) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘(espe- 15 cially parents in families receiving assist- 16 ance under the program of block grants to 17 States for temporary assistance for needy 18 families under part A of title IV of the So- 19 cial Security Act (42 U.S.C. 601 et 20 seq.))’’; and 21 (iii) by striking clause (iv); 22 (H) in subparagraph (O)— 23 (i) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘with pro- 24 grams operating’’ and all that follows and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:07 Mar 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S568.IS S568 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 568 IS inserting ‘‘with programs, operating at the 1 Federal, State, and local levels for chil- 2 dren, that are— 3 ‘‘(I) preschool programs, pro- 4 grams funded under title II of the 5 Child Care for Working Families Act, 6 programs funded under section 657C 7 of the Head Start Act, tribal early 8 childhood programs, and other early 9 childhood programs, including those 10 serving infants and toddlers with dis- 11 abilities; 12 ‘‘(II) programs serving homeless 13 children and children in foster care; 14 and 15 ‘‘(III) programs funded under 16 the Individuals with Disabilities Edu- 17 cation Act (20 U.S.C. 1400 et seq.).’’; 18 (ii) by striking clause (ii); and 19 (iii) by redesignating clause (iii) as 20 clause (ii); 21 (I) in subparagraph (Q)— 22 (i) by striking ‘‘LOW-INCOME POPU- 23 LATIONS’’ and inserting ‘‘CHILDREN IN 24 UNDERSERVED AREAS, CHILDREN WITH 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:07 Mar 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S568.IS S568 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •S 568 IS DISABILITIES, AND INFANTS AND TOD- 1 DLERS WITH DISABILITIES’’; 2 (ii) by striking ‘‘high-quality’’ and in- 3 serting ‘‘high-quality and inclusive’’; and 4 (iii) by inserting before the period the 5 following: ‘‘and to children with disabilities 6 and infants and toddlers with disabilities’’; 7 (J) by striking subparagraph (S) and in- 8 serting the following: 9 ‘‘(S) PROHIBITION ON SUSPENSIONS, EX- 10 PULSIONS, AND AVERSIVE BEHAVIORAL INTER- 11 VENTIONS.—The State plan shall provide an as- 12 surance that the State will provide assistance to 13 carry out this subchapter only to eligible child 14 care providers that prohibit— 15 ‘‘(i) the use of suspension and expul- 16 sion of children; and 17 ‘‘(ii) the use of aversive behavioral 18 interventions.’’; 19 (K) in subparagraph (T)— 20 (i) in clause (i)— 21 (I) in the matter preceding sub- 22 clause (I), by striking ‘‘(or develop 23 such guidelines if the State does not 24 have such guidelines as of the date of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:07 Mar 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S568.IS S568 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 13 •S 568 IS enactment of the Child Care and De- 1 velopment Block Grant Act of 2014)’’; 2 and 3 (II) in subclause (I), by striking 4 ‘‘research-based’’ and inserting ‘‘evi- 5 dence-based’’; and 6 (ii) in clause (iv)— 7 (I) by striking subclauses (II) 8 and (III); 9 (II) by striking ‘‘Federal Govern- 10 ment’’ and all that follows through 11 ‘‘mandate’’ and inserting ‘‘Federal 12 Government to mandate’’; and 13 (III) by striking ‘‘section;’’ and 14 inserting ‘‘section.’’; 15 (L) in subparagraph (U)— 16 (i) in clause (ii), by inserting ‘‘the 17 State’s lead agency established or des- 18 ignated under section 635(a)(10) of the In- 19 dividuals with Disabilities Education Act 20 (20 U.S.C. 1435(a)(10)),’’ after ‘‘the State 21 resource and referral system,’’; and 22 (ii) in clause (iii)(I), by inserting ‘‘in- 23 fants and toddlers with disabilities,’’ after 24 ‘‘children with disabilities,’’; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:07 Mar 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S568.IS S568 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 14 •S 568 IS (M) by adding at the end the following: 1 ‘‘(W) TIERED AND TRANSPARENT SYSTEM 2 FOR MEASURING THE QUALITY OF CHILD [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]