After Hours Child Care Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3639 To establish and expand child care programs for parents who work nontraditional hours, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 24, 2023 Mrs. HINSON (for herself, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. POCAN, and Ms. STEFANIK) in- troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Edu- cation and the Workforce A BILL To establish and expand child care programs for parents who work nontraditional hours, 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 ‘‘After Hours Child 4 Care Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. CHILD CARE AND DEVELOPMENT INNOVATION 6 FUND. 7 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Child Care and Develop- 8 ment Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9857 et seq.) 9 is amended— 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:06 Jun 15, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3639.IH H3639 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 3639 IH (1) by redesignating section 658P as section 1 658T, and moving that section 658T to follow sec- 2 tion 658S; and 3 (2) by adding at the end the following: 4 ‘‘SEC. 658U. CHILD CARE AND DEVELOPMENT INNOVATION 5 FUND. 6 ‘‘(a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to— 7 ‘‘(1) improve child care access for parents 8 working hours outside of traditional 9 to 5 work 9 hours, such as parents working an evening, night, or 10 weekend shift; and 11 ‘‘(2) address the needs of working parents with 12 young children, so that the parents are able to stay 13 attached to the workforce, attain eligibility for pro- 14 motions and salary increases, and amass savings. 15 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 16 ‘‘(1) CHILD CARE PROGRAM.—The term ‘child 17 care program’ means the child care activities of an 18 eligible child care provider. 19 ‘‘(2) NONTRADITIONAL WORK HOURS.—The 20 term ‘nontraditional work hours’ means work hours 21 at least 25 percent of which— 22 ‘‘(A) are before 9 a.m. or after 5 p.m. on 23 a weekday; 24 ‘‘(B) are on a Saturday or Sunday; or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:06 Jun 15, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3639.IH H3639 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 3639 IH ‘‘(C) are scheduled within 7 days before re- 1 quired attendance at work for those work 2 hours. 3 ‘‘(3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 4 the Secretary of Health and Human Services. 5 ‘‘(4) STATE EDUCATIONAL AGENCY; LOCAL 6 EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—The terms ‘State edu- 7 cational agency’ and ‘local educational agency’ have 8 the meanings given the terms in section 8101 of the 9 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 10 (20 U.S.C. 7801 et seq.). 11 ‘‘(c) GENERAL AUTHORITY.— 12 ‘‘(1) GRANTS.—Not later than 90 days after 13 the date of enactment of the After Hours Child Care 14 Act, the Secretary shall establish a pilot program, 15 through which the Secretary shall award grants on 16 a competitive basis to eligible entities to pay for the 17 Federal share of the cost of— 18 ‘‘(A) expanding capacity for an existing (as 19 of January 1, 2024) child care program, includ- 20 ing such a program of a family child care pro- 21 vider to serve families in which a parent is 22 working nontraditional work hours; 23 ‘‘(B) entering into an enrollment-based 24 contract with— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:06 Jun 15, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3639.IH H3639 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 3639 IH ‘‘(i) an eligible child care provider to 1 serve such families; or 2 ‘‘(ii) a fiscal intermediary such as a 3 staffed network of family child care pro- 4 viders, child care resource and referral or- 5 ganization, or entity operating a child care 6 facilities fund for the services of multiple 7 eligible child care providers to serve such 8 families; 9 ‘‘(C) planning activities, including con- 10 ducting a needs assessment and outreach to ex- 11 isting eligible child care providers (existing on 12 the date of the outreach); 13 ‘‘(D) establishing an onsite child care pro- 14 gram at a workplace to serve such families; 15 ‘‘(E) expanding capacity for an onsite child 16 care program at a workplace to serve such fam- 17 ilies; or 18 ‘‘(F) establishing a child care program, in- 19 cluding a program of a family child care pro- 20 vider with the primary goal of serving such 21 families. 22 ‘‘(2) DURATION.—The Secretary shall award 23 the grant for a period of 5 years. A grant awarded 24 under this section may not be renewed. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:06 Jun 15, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3639.IH H3639 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 3639 IH ‘‘(3) AMOUNT.—The Secretary shall award the 1 grant in an amount of not less than $25,000 and 2 not more than $500,000. 3 ‘‘(d) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—To be eligible to receive 4 a grant under this section, an entity shall be— 5 ‘‘(1) an eligible child care provider; or 6 ‘‘(2) a partnership of— 7 ‘‘(A) an eligible child care provider; and 8 ‘‘(B) a lead agency, business, child care re- 9 source and referral organization, community de- 10 velopment financial institution, staffed network 11 of family child care providers, another inter- 12 mediary with experience supporting child care 13 providers, or another appropriate entity. 14 ‘‘(e) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a grant 15 under this section, an entity shall submit an application 16 to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and con- 17 taining such information as the Secretary may require. 18 ‘‘(f) USE OF FUNDS.—An entity that receives a grant 19 under this section may use the grant funds for activities 20 that may include— 21 ‘‘(1) staffing the child care program involved; 22 ‘‘(2) improving the child care facility and re- 23 lated equipment; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:06 Jun 15, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3639.IH H3639 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •HR 3639 IH ‘‘(3) establishing or improving the curriculum 1 of the child care program; 2 ‘‘(4) assisting eligible child care providers in 3 meeting health and safety requirements, achieving li- 4 censure or registration as a child care provider, or 5 improving quality; 6 ‘‘(5) acquiring other items needed for the child 7 care program; and 8 ‘‘(6) providing training in the prevention of 9 sudden infant death syndrome and safe sleep prac- 10 tices. 11 ‘‘(g) MATCH.—The non-Federal share of the cost de- 12 scribed in subsection (c)(1) shall be 25 percent. 13 ‘‘(h) REPORT.—Not less often than every 2 years, the 14 Secretary shall prepare and submit to Congress a report 15 that includes information on the number of children served 16 under this section, the employment status of their parents, 17 general information to demonstrate the impact of activities 18 carried out under grants under this section on child care 19 availability, and other information relevant to the grants 20 made under this section. 21 ‘‘(i) RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER REQUIREMENTS.— 22 None of the requirements of this subchapter, other than 23 section 658T, shall apply to this section. No reference in 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:06 Jun 15, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3639.IH H3639 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •HR 3639 IH this subchapter to ‘this subchapter’ shall be considered to 1 include this section. 2 ‘‘(j) RESERVATION OF FUNDS.—The Secretary may 3 reserve up to 1⁄4 of 1 percent of the amount appropriated 4 under this subchapter to carry out this section for each 5 of the fiscal years 2024 through 2028.’’. 6 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 7 (1) APPLICATION PROVISIONS.—Section 8 658E(c)(2) of the Child Care and Development 9 Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858c(c)(2)) is 10 amended— 11 (A) in subparagraph (A)(i)(II), by striking 12 ‘‘658P(2)’’ and inserting ‘‘658T(2)’’; and 13 (B) in subparagraph (K)(i)(IV), by strik- 14 ing ‘‘658P(6)(B)’’ and inserting ‘‘658T(6)(B)’’. 15 (2) REPORT PROVISIONS.—Section 658K(a)(2) 16 of the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act 17 of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858i(a)(2)) is amended— 18 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking 19 ‘‘658P(6)’’ and inserting ‘‘658T(6)’’; and 20 (B) in subparagraph (F), by striking 21 ‘‘658P(6)(B)’’ and inserting ‘‘658T(6)(B)’’. 22 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:06 Jun 15, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3639.IH H3639 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB