Helping Health Care Workers Afford Child and Elder Care Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 3567 To provide State funding to ensure that essential workers can access child care. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 22, 2020 Mrs. SHAHEEN (for herself, Ms. BALDWIN, Ms. HASSAN, Ms. HARRIS, Mr. REED, and Mr. DURBIN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To provide State funding to ensure that essential workers can access child care. 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 ‘‘Helping Health Care 4 Workers Afford Child and Elder Care Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. STATE FUNDING TO ENSURE THAT ESSENTIAL 6 WORKERS CAN ACCESS CHILD CARE. 7 (a) INCREASE IN FUNDING.— 8 (1) IN GENERAL.—The amount specified in 9 subsection (c) of section 2003 of the Social Security 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:55 Apr 04, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3567.IS S3567 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 3567 IS Act for purposes of subsections (a) and (b) of such 1 section is deemed to be $6,700,000,000 for fiscal 2 year 2020, of which $5,000,000,000 shall be obli- 3 gated by States during calendar year 2020 in ac- 4 cordance with subsection (b) of this section. 5 (2) APPROPRIATION.—Out of any money in the 6 Treasury of the United States not otherwise appro- 7 priated, there are appropriated $5,000,000,000 for 8 fiscal year 2020 to carry out this section. 9 (b) RULES GOVERNING USE OF ADDITIONAL 10 FUNDS.— 11 (1) IN GENERAL.—Funds are used in accord- 12 ance with this subsection if— 13 (A) the funds are used for— 14 (i) child care services for a child of an 15 essential worker; or 16 (ii) daytime care services or other 17 adult protective services for an individual 18 who— 19 (I) is a dependent, or a member 20 of the household of, an essential work- 21 er; and 22 (II) requires the services; 23 (B) the funds are provided to reimburse an 24 essential worker for the cost of obtaining the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:55 Apr 04, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3567.IS S3567 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 3567 IS services (including child care services obtained 1 on or after the date the Secretary of Health 2 and Human Services declared a public health 3 emergency pursuant to section 319 of the Pub- 4 lic Health Service Act on January 31, 2020, en- 5 titled ‘‘Determination that a Public Health 6 Emergency Exists Nationwide as the Result of 7 the 2019 Novel Coronavirus’’), to a provider of 8 child care services, or to establish a temporary 9 child care facility operated by a State or local 10 government; 11 (C) eligibility for the funds or services, and 12 the amount of funds or services provided, is not 13 conditioned on a means test; 14 (D) the funds are used subject to the limi- 15 tations in section 2005 of the Social Security 16 Act, except that, for purposes of this subpara- 17 graph— 18 (i) paragraphs (3), (5), and (8) of sec- 19 tion 2005(a) of such Act shall not apply; 20 and 21 (ii)(I) the limitation in section 22 2005(a)(7) of such Act shall not apply 23 with respect to any standard which the 24 State involved determines would impede 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:55 Apr 04, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3567.IS S3567 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 3567 IS the ability of the State to provide emer- 1 gency temporary care to a child, depend- 2 ent, or household member referred to in 3 subparagraph (A) of this paragraph; and 4 (II) if the State determines that such 5 a standard would be so impeding, the 6 State shall report the determination to the 7 Secretary, separately from the annual re- 8 port to the Secretary by the State; 9 (E) the funds are used to supplement, not 10 supplant, State general revenue funds for child 11 care assistance; and 12 (F) the funds are not used for child care 13 costs that are— 14 (i) covered by funds provided under 15 the Child Care and Development Block 16 Grant Act of 1990 or section 418 of the 17 Social Security Act; or 18 (ii) reimbursable by the Federal 19 Emergency Management Agency. 20 (2) ESSENTIAL WORKER DEFINED.—In para- 21 graph (1), the term ‘‘essential worker’’ means— 22 (A) a health sector employee, including but 23 not limited to a licensed nurse, clinical nurse 24 assistant, medical nurse assistant, nurse practi- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:55 Apr 04, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3567.IS S3567 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 3567 IS tioner, physician assistant, physician, home 1 health aide, laboratory technician, or other li- 2 censed health care professionals as determined 3 appropriate by the Secretary of Health and 4 Human Services; 5 (B) an emergency response worker; 6 (C) a sanitation worker; 7 (D) a worker at a business which a State 8 or local government official has determined 9 must remain open to serve the public during the 10 emergency referred to in paragraph (1)(B); and 11 (E) any other worker who cannot telework, 12 and whom the State deems to be essential dur- 13 ing the emergency referred to in paragraph 14 (1)(B). 15 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:55 Apr 04, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S3567.IS S3567 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS