ACCESS Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4383 To amend the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965 to make projects that directly or indirectly increase the accessibility of affordable, quality child care eligible for certain grants, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JULY 30, 2020 Ms. ERNST introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works A BILL To amend the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965 to make projects that directly or indirectly increase the accessibility of affordable, quality child care eligible for certain grants, 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 ‘‘Affordable Child Care 4 for Economic Strategies and Success Act’’ or the ‘‘AC- 5 CESS Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:14 Aug 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4383.IS S4383 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4383 IS SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR PUBLIC WORKS AND ECONOMIC DE- 1 VELOPMENT. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 201 of the Public Works 3 and Economic Development Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 3141) 4 is amended— 5 (1) in subsection (a)— 6 (A) in paragraph (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ 7 after the semicolon at the end; 8 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking the pe- 9 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 10 (C) by adding at the end the following: 11 ‘‘(3) planning, developing, or creating a project 12 or facility that will directly or indirectly increase the 13 accessibility of affordable, quality child care.’’; and 14 (2) in subsection (b)(1)— 15 (A) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘or’’ 16 at the end; 17 (B) in subparagraph (C), by inserting ‘‘or’’ 18 after the semicolon at the end; and 19 (C) by adding at the end the following: 20 ‘‘(D) increase the accessibility of afford- 21 able, quality child care;’’. 22 (b) REGULATIONS.— 23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days 24 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec- 25 retary of Commerce, in consultation with the Sec- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:14 Aug 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4383.IS S4383 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4383 IS retary of Health and Human Services, shall issue 1 such regulations as are necessary to establish cri- 2 teria for whether, for purposes of section 201 of the 3 Public Works and Economic Development Act of 4 1965 (42 U.S.C. 3141), a project directly or indi- 5 rectly increases the accessibility of affordable, qual- 6 ity child care. 7 (2) CONSIDERATIONS.—The criteria referred to 8 in paragraph (1) shall take into consideration the 9 following: 10 (A) The availability, validity, and accessi- 11 bility of timely data. 12 (B) The extent to which a project contrib- 13 utes to the financial security of a family. 14 (C) The extent to which a project address 15 child care needs in child care deserts or areas 16 otherwise recognized as experiencing a child 17 care shortage. 18 (3) CHILD CARE DESERT DEFINED.—In this 19 subsection, the term ‘‘child care desert’’ means— 20 (A) an area— 21 (i) within a census tract; and 22 (ii) in which the number of children 23 who are under age 5 (as determined using 24 the most recent American Community Sur- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:14 Aug 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4383.IS S4383 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4383 IS vey 1-year Estimates, as published by the 1 Bureau of the Census) is more than 3 2 times the number of slots provided by child 3 care providers who are licensed or reg- 4 istered by the applicable State; or 5 (B) a community that has a low supply of 6 quality, affordable child care, as determined by 7 the applicable State or Tribal entity. 8 SEC. 3. GRANTS FOR PLANNING AND GRANTS FOR ADMIN- 9 ISTRATIVE EXPENSES. 10 Section 203(b) of the Public Works and Economic 11 Development Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 3143(b)) is amended 12 by striking paragraph (4) and inserting the following: 13 ‘‘(4) formulating and implementing an economic 14 development program that includes systematic ef- 15 forts— 16 ‘‘(A) to reduce unemployment and increase 17 incomes; or 18 ‘‘(B) to increase the accessibility of afford- 19 able, quality child care.’’. 20 SEC. 4. GRANTS FOR TRAINING, RESEARCH, AND TECH- 21 NICAL ASSISTANCE. 22 Section 207(a)(2) of the Public Works and Economic 23 Development Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 3147(a)(2)) is 24 amended— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:14 Aug 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4383.IS S4383 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4383 IS (1) in subparagraph (H), by striking ‘‘and’’ 1 after the semicolon at the end; 2 (2) by redesignating subparagraph (I) as sub- 3 paragraph (J); and 4 (3) by inserting after subparagraph (H) the fol- 5 lowing: 6 ‘‘(I) the planning, development, or creation 7 of a project or facility that will directly or indi- 8 rectly increase the accessibility of affordable, 9 quality child care; and’’. 10 SEC. 5. COMPREHENSIVE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT 11 STRATEGIES. 12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 302(a)(3)(A) of the Pub- 13 lic Works and Economic Development Act of 1965 (42 14 U.S.C. 3162(a)(3)(A)) is amended by inserting ‘‘(includ- 15 ing by directly or indirectly increasing the accessibility of 16 affordable, quality child care)’’ after ‘‘promotes economic 17 development and opportunity’’. 18 (b) GUIDANCE.—In carrying out the amendment 19 made by subsection (a), the Secretary of Commerce, in 20 consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human 21 Services, shall issue guidance on how to include the acces- 22 sibility of affordable, quality child care in a comprehensive 23 economic development strategy developed under section 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:14 Aug 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4383.IS S4383 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4383 IS 302 of the Public Works and Economic Development Act 1 of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 3162). 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:14 Aug 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4383.IS S4383 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS