Child Care Protection Improvement Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1408 To amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 to improve child care protections provided through interstate background checks. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 9, 2019 Mr. BURR (for himself and Mr. VAN HOLLEN) 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 to improve child care protections provided through interstate background checks. 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 Protection 4 Improvement Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. TASK FORCE. 6 Section 658H of the Child Care and Development 7 Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858f) is amended— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:39 May 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1408.IS S1408 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 1408 IS (1) by redesignating subsection (j) as sub- 1 section (k); 2 (2) in subsection (d)(2)(A), by striking ‘‘sub- 3 section (j)(1)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (k)(1)’’; 4 and 5 (3) by inserting after subsection (i) the fol- 6 lowing: 7 ‘‘(j) TASK FORCE TO ASSIST IN IMPLEMENTING 8 INTERSTATE CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECKS FOR 9 CHILD CARE STAFF MEMBERS.— 10 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a 11 task force, to be known as the Interagency Task 12 Force for Child Safety (referred to in this section as 13 the ‘Task Force’), to identify, evaluate, and rec- 14 ommend best practices and technical assistance to 15 assist Federal and State agencies in fully imple- 16 menting the requirements of subsection (b) for child 17 care staff members. 18 ‘‘(2) COMPOSITION.—Not later than 60 days 19 after the date of enactment of the Child Care Pro- 20 tection Improvement Act of 2019, the President 21 shall appoint the members of the Task Force, which 22 shall include— 23 ‘‘(A) the Director of the Office of Child 24 Care of the Department of Health and Human 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:39 May 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1408.IS S1408 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 1408 IS Services, the Associate Commissioner of the 1 Children’s Bureau of the Department of Health 2 and Human Services, the Director of the Fed- 3 eral Bureau of Investigation, or their designees; 4 and 5 ‘‘(B) such other Federal officials as may 6 be designated by the President. 7 ‘‘(3) CHAIRPERSON.—The chairperson of the 8 Task Force shall be the Assistant Secretary of the 9 Administration for Children and Families. 10 ‘‘(4) CONSULTATION.—The Task Force shall 11 consult with representatives from State child care 12 agencies, State child protective services, State crimi- 13 nal justice agencies, and other relevant stakeholders 14 on identifying problems in implementing, and pro- 15 posing solutions to implement, the requirements of 16 subsection (b), as described in that subsection. 17 ‘‘(5) TASK FORCE DUTIES.—The Task Force 18 shall— 19 ‘‘(A) develop recommendations for improv- 20 ing implementation of the requirements of sub- 21 section (b), including recommendations about 22 how the Task Force and member agencies will 23 collaborate and coordinate efforts to implement 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:39 May 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1408.IS S1408 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 1408 IS such requirements, as described in subsection 1 (b); and 2 ‘‘(B) develop recommendations in which 3 the Task Force identifies best practices and 4 evaluates technical assistance to assist relevant 5 Federal and State agencies in implementing 6 subsection (b), which identification and evalua- 7 tion shall include— 8 ‘‘(i) an analysis of available research 9 and information at the Federal and State 10 level regarding the status of the interstate 11 requirements of subsection (b) for child 12 care staff members who have resided in 13 one or more States during the previous 5 14 years and who seek employment in a child 15 care program in a different State; 16 ‘‘(ii) a list of State agencies that are 17 not responding to interstate requests cov- 18 ered by subsection (b) for relevant infor- 19 mation on child care staff members; 20 ‘‘(iii) identification of the challenges 21 State agencies are experiencing in respond- 22 ing to such interstate requests; 23 ‘‘(iv) an analysis of the length of time 24 it takes the State agencies in a State to re- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:39 May 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1408.IS S1408 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 1408 IS ceive such results from State agencies in 1 another State in response to such an inter- 2 state request in accordance with subsection 3 (b); 4 ‘‘(v) an analysis of the average proc- 5 essing time for the interstate requests, in 6 accordance with subsection (b); 7 ‘‘(vi) identification of the fees associ- 8 ated with the interstate requests in each 9 State to meet requirements in accordance 10 with subsection (b); 11 ‘‘(vii) a list of States that are partici- 12 pating in the National Fingerprint File 13 program, as administered by the Federal 14 Bureau of Investigation, and an analysis of 15 reasons States have or have not chosen to 16 participate in the program, including bar- 17 riers to participation such as barriers re- 18 lated to State regulatory requirements and 19 statutes; and 20 ‘‘(viii) a list of States that have closed 21 record laws or systems that prevent the 22 States from sharing complete criminal 23 records data or information with State 24 agencies in another State. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:39 May 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1408.IS S1408 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 1408 IS ‘‘(6) MEETINGS.—Not later than 3 months 1 after the date of enactment of the Child Care Pro- 2 tection Improvement Act of 2019, the Task Force 3 shall hold its first meeting. 4 ‘‘(7) FINAL REPORT.—Not later than 1 year 5 after the first meeting of the Task Force, the Task 6 Force shall submit to the Secretary of Health and 7 Human Services, the Committee on Health, Edu- 8 cation, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate, and the 9 Committee on Education and Labor of the House of 10 Representatives a final report containing all of the 11 recommendations required by subparagraphs (A) 12 and (B) of paragraph (5). 13 ‘‘(8) SUNSET.—The Task Force shall terminate 14 1 year after submitting its final report, but not later 15 than the end of fiscal year 2021.’’. 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:39 May 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1408.IS S1408 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS