Child Care for Working Families Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1364 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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 26, 2019 Mr. SCOTT of Virginia (for himself, Mr. SABLAN, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mr. NADLER, Mr. SCHIFF, Mrs. DINGELL, Mr. MCNERNEY, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Mr. LUJA´N, Ms. PINGREE, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. POCAN, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. CICILLINE, Mr. CRIST, Ms. MOORE, Ms. BLUNT ROCH- ESTER, Mr. KHANNA, Ms. OMAR, Mr. DEFAZIO, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. GALLEGO, Ms. BONAMICI, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Ms. MENG, Ms. HAALAND, Mr. RYAN, Ms. NORTON, Mr. DESAULNIER, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. GOMEZ, Ms. DELBENE, Mr. LEVIN of Michigan, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. VELA, Ms. HILL of California, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. NORCROSS, Mr. HAS- TINGS, Mr. VARGAS, Ms. KAPTUR, Ms. SPEIER, Ms. FUDGE, Mr. KIL- MER, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. PRICE of North Carolina, Mr. QUIGLEY, Ms. FRANKEL, Mr. DEUTCH, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY of New York, Mr. WELCH, Mr. COHEN, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. HECK, Ms. SCHRIER, Mrs. HAYES, Ms. WILD, Mrs. LOWEY, Ms. BROWNLEY of Cali- fornia, Mr. MOULTON, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. SERRANO, Ms. KUSTER of New Hampshire, Mr. MCEACHIN, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Mrs. TRAHAN, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. BEYER, Ms. ADAMS, Ms. TLAIB, Ms. PRESSLEY, Mr. BROWN of Maryland, Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. CASTRO of Texas, Mr. RICHMOND, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mrs. NAPOLI- TANO, Mrs. LAWRENCE, Mr. TED LIEU of California, Mrs. TORRES of California, Mr. KENNEDY, Ms. SHALALA, Mr. COURTNEY, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. DELAURO, Ms. UNDERWOOD, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. COX of California, Mr. MORELLE, and Mr. BLUMENAUER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Mar 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H1364.IH H1364 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1364 IH 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 TITLE I—CHILD CARE AND 6 DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE 7 SEC. 101. PURPOSES. 8 Section 658A(b) of the Child Care and Development 9 Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9801 note) is amend- 10 ed— 11 (1) by striking paragraph (1) and inserting the 12 following: 13 ‘‘(1) to ensure that no low- to moderate-income 14 family pays more than 7 percent of its household in- 15 come on child care;’’; 16 (2) by striking paragraph (2) and inserting the 17 following: 18 ‘‘(2) to support working parents in making 19 their own decisions regarding the child care services 20 that best suit their family’s needs;’’; 21 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Mar 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1364.IH H1364 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1364 IH (3) in paragraph (4)— 1 (A) by striking ‘‘high-quality,’’ and insert- 2 ing ‘‘high-quality and inclusive, and’’; and 3 (B) by inserting ‘‘, including before- and 4 after-school and summer care for school-age 5 children,’’ after ‘‘services’’; 6 (4) in paragraph (5), by inserting before the 7 semicolon the following: ‘‘, and to help child care 8 programs meet evidence-based or national standards 9 to improve the quality of child care’’; 10 (5) in paragraph (6)— 11 (A) by inserting ‘‘, including children with 12 disabilities and infants and toddlers with dis- 13 abilities’’ before the semicolon; and 14 (B) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 15 (6) in paragraph (7)— 16 (A) by striking ‘‘high-quality’’ and insert- 17 ing ‘‘high-quality and inclusive’’; and 18 (B) by striking the period at the end and 19 inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 20 (7) by adding at the end the following: 21 ‘‘(8) to support statewide systems to support 22 the needs of infants and toddlers with disabilities, 23 better coordinate child care and other services, and 24 assist States in increasing the number of child care 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Mar 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1364.IH H1364 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1364 IH providers that provide high-quality and inclusive 1 care to families of infants or toddlers with disabil- 2 ities and families of children with disabilities.’’. 3 SEC. 102. APPROPRIATIONS. 4 Section 658B of the Child Care and Development 5 Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858) is amended 6 by striking all that follows the section heading and insert- 7 ing the following: 8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be ap- 9 propriated and there are appropriated to carry out this 10 subchapter (other than paragraphs (1) and (2) of section 11 658O(a)) $20,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2020, 12 $30,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2021, $40,000,000,000 13 for fiscal year 2022, and such sums as may be necessary 14 for fiscal year 2023 and each subsequent fiscal year. 15 ‘‘(b) TERRITORIES; INDIAN TRIBES.—There are au- 16 thorized to be appropriated and there are appropriated to 17 carry out paragraphs (1) and (2) of section 658O(a) such 18 sums as may be necessary for fiscal year 2020 and each 19 subsequent fiscal year.’’. 20 SEC. 103. ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM. 21 Section 658C of the Child Care and Development 22 Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858a) is amended 23 to read as follows: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Mar 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1364.IH H1364 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1364 IH ‘‘SEC. 658C. ESTABLISHMENT OF CHILD CARE PROGRAM. 1 ‘‘The Secretary is authorized to administer a child 2 care program under which families in the State shall be 3 provided an opportunity to obtain child care for eligible 4 children, subject to the requirements of this subchapter.’’. 5 SEC. 104. LEAD AGENCY. 6 Section 658D of the Child Care and Development 7 Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858b) is amended— 8 (1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘a grant’’ and 9 inserting ‘‘payments’’; and 10 (2) in subsection (b)(1)(A), by inserting before 11 the semicolon the following: ‘‘, including by certi- 12 fying the eligibility of children’’. 13 SEC. 105. APPLICATION AND PLAN. 14 (a) PLAN REQUIREMENTS.—Section 658E(c) of the 15 Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 16 U.S.C. 9858c(c)) is amended— 17 (1) in paragraph (2)— 18 (A) in subparagraph (A)— 19 (i) by striking the matter preceding 20 clause (i) and inserting the following: 21 ‘‘(A) SUPPORTING WORKING PARENTS.— 22 Support working parents by providing assur- 23 ances that—’’; and 24 (ii) by striking clause (i)(II) and in- 25 serting the following: 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Mar 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1364.IH H1364 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1364 IH ‘‘(II) to enroll such child with a 1 child care provider who has received a 2 child care certificate from such parent 3 or parents;’’; 4 (B) in subparagraph (E)— 5 (i) in clause (i)— 6 (I) by striking subclause (II) and 7 inserting the following: 8 ‘‘(II) the State’s tiered and 9 transparent system for measuring the 10 quality of child care providers, de- 11 scribed in subparagraph (W)(i), in- 12 cluding— 13 ‘‘(aa) a description of the 14 national standards or other 15 equally rigorous and evidence- 16 based standards tied to child out- 17 comes that the State uses for 18 purposes of subparagraph 19 (W)(i)(II)(aa); 20 ‘‘(bb) the payment rates re- 21 ferred to in paragraph (4), for 22 providers at each tier of such 23 system; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Mar 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1364.IH H1364 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 1364 IH ‘‘(cc) the number and per- 1 centage of eligible providers at 2 each tier of such system, in total 3 and disaggregated by geographic 4 location;’’; 5 (II) in subclause (IV), by insert- 6 ing ‘‘the program carried out under 7 title II of the Child Care for Working 8 Families Act,’’ after ‘‘9831 et seq.),’’; 9 and 10 (III) in subclause (VII), by strik- 11 ing ‘‘and’’ at the end; 12 (ii) in clause (ii), by striking the pe- 13 riod at the end and inserting a semicolon; 14 and 15 (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 16 lowing: 17 ‘‘(iii) information about the State’s 18 wage ladder described in subparagraph 19 (G)(iii); and 20 ‘‘(iv) information on opportunities for 21 staff of child care providers to improve 22 their skills and credentials, including infor- 23 mation about training opportunities and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Mar 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1364.IH H1364 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 1364 IH professional organizations that provide 1 such training.’’; 2 (C) in subparagraph (G)— 3 (i) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘and pro- 4 fessional development requirements’’ and 5 inserting ‘‘, professional development, and 6 compensation requirements’’; 7 (ii) in clause (ii)(V)— 8 (I) by redesignating item (dd) as 9 item (ee); 10 (II) in item (cc), by striking 11 ‘‘and’’; and 12 (III) by inserting after item (cc) 13 the following: 14 ‘‘(dd) infants and toddlers 15 with disabilities; and’’; 16 (iii) by redesignating clauses (iii) and 17 (iv) as clauses (v) and (vi), respectively; 18 and 19 (iv) by inserting after clause (ii) the 20 following: 21 ‘‘(iii) COMPENSATION.—The plan 22 shall provide a description of the State’s 23 wage ladder for staff of eligible child care 24 providers, and an assurance that wages for 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Mar 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1364.IH H1364 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 1364 IH such staff will, at a minimum, meet the re- 1 quirements of paragraph (4)(B)(iii)(II). 2 ‘‘(iv) STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT.— 3 The plan shall demonstrate how the State 4 will facilitate participation of staff of eligi- 5 ble child care providers in organizations 6 that foster the professional development 7 and stakeholder engagement of the child 8 care workforce.’’; 9 (D) in subparagraph (I)— 10 (i) in clause (i)(XI), by striking ‘‘and’’ 11 at the end; 12 (ii) in clause (ii), by striking the pe- 13 riod and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 14 (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 15 lowing: 16 ‘‘(iii) may include a requirement to 17 comply with the standards recommended in 18 the Department of Health and Human 19 Services’ report entitled ‘Caring for Our 20 Children Basics: Health and Safety Foun- 21 dations for Early Care and Education’, 22 issued on June 25, 2015.’’; 23 (E) in subparagraph (K)(i), in the matter 24 preceding subclause (I), by striking ‘‘, not later 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Mar 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1364.IH H1364 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 1364 IH than 2 years after the date of enactment of the 1 Child Care and Development Block Grant Act 2 of 2014,’’; 3 (F) in subparagraph (M)— 4 (i) by adding ‘‘investment of quality 5 child care amounts described in section 6 658G(a)(1),’’ after ‘‘parents,’’; 7 (ii) by redesignating clause (iv) as 8 clause (v); 9 (iii) in clause (iii), by striking ‘‘, as 10 defined by the State; and’’ and inserting a 11 semicolon; and 12 (iv) by inserting after clause (iii) the 13 following: 14 ‘‘(iv) infants and toddlers with disabil- 15 ities; and’’; 16 (G) in subparagraph (N)— 17 (i) in clause (i)(I), by striking ‘‘, if 18 that family income does not exceed 85 per- 19 cent of the State median income for a fam- 20 ily of the same size’’; 21 (ii) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘(espe- 22 cially parents in families receiving assist- 23 ance under the program of block grants to 24 States for temporary assistance for needy 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Mar 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1364.IH H1364 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 1364 IH families under part A of title IV of the So- 1 cial Security Act (42 U.S.C. 601 et 2 seq.))’’; and 3 (iii) by striking clause (iv); 4 (H) in subparagraph (O)— 5 (i) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘with pro- 6 grams operating’’ and all that follows and 7 inserting ‘‘with programs, operating at the 8 Federal, State, and local levels for chil- 9 dren, that are— 10 ‘‘(I) preschool programs, pro- 11 grams funded under title II of the 12 Child Care for Working Families Act, 13 programs funded under section 657C 14 of the Head Start Act, tribal early 15 childhood programs, and other early 16 childhood programs, including those 17 serving infants and toddlers with dis- 18 abilities; 19 ‘‘(II) programs serving homeless 20 children and children in foster care; 21 and 22 ‘‘(III) programs funded under 23 the Individuals with Disabilities Edu- 24 cation Act (20 U.S.C. 1400 et seq.).’’; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Mar 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1364.IH H1364 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 1364 IH (ii) by striking clause (ii); and 1 (iii) by redesignating clause (iii) as 2 clause (ii); 3 (I) in subparagraph (Q)— 4 (i) by striking ‘‘LOW-INCOME POPU- 5 LATIONS’’ and inserting ‘‘CHILDREN IN 6 UNDERSERVED AREAS, CHILDREN WITH 7 DISABILITIES, AND INFANTS AND TOD- 8 DLERS WITH DISABILITIES’’; 9 (ii) by striking ‘‘high-quality’’ and in- 10 serting ‘‘high-quality and inclusive’’; and 11 (iii) by inserting before the period the 12 following: ‘‘and to children with disabilities 13 and infants and toddlers with disabilities’’; 14 (J) by striking subparagraph (S) and in- 15 serting the following: 16 ‘‘(S) PROHIBITION ON SUSPENSIONS, EX- 17 PULSIONS, AND AVERSIVE BEHAVIORAL INTER- 18 VENTIONS.—The State plan shall provide an as- 19 surance that the State will provide assistance to 20 carry out this subchapter only to eligible child 21 care providers that prohibit— 22 ‘‘(i) the use of suspension and expul- 23 sion of children; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:29 Mar 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1364.IH H1364 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 13 •HR 1364 IH ‘‘(ii) the use of aversive behavioral 1 interventions.’’; 2 (K) in subparagraph (T)— 3 (i) in clause (i)— 4 (I) in the matter preceding sub- 5 clause (I), by striking ‘‘(or develop 6 such guidelines if the State does not 7 have such guidelines as of the date of 8 enactment of the Child Care and De- [Text truncated for display. 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