[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 19 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 19

 To provide funds for child care for low-income working families, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 21, 1997

  Mr. Dodd (for himself, Mr. Daschle, Mr. Kennedy, Ms. Mikulski, Mr. 
 Rockefeller, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Torricelli, and Mrs. Boxer) introduced 
the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 
                      on Labor and Human Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide funds for child care for low-income working families, and 
                          for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Working Families 
Child Care Act of 1997''.
    (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as 
follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings.
Sec. 3. Assistance for low-income working families.
Sec. 4. Grants for child care supply shortages.
Sec. 5. Report on access to child care by low-income working families.
Sec. 6. Effective date.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Availability and affordability of quality child care is 
        a major obstacle for working parents who struggle to remain 
        self-sufficient.
                    (A) Compared to all other income groups, the 
                working poor are the least likely to receive assistance 
                with their child care costs.
                    (B) Low-income families spend 24 percent of their 
                household income on child care, whereas middle-income 
                families spend 6 percent of their household income on 
                child care.
                    (C) 38 States have waiting lists for child care for 
                the working poor. Among those States, Georgia has 
                41,000 individuals on its waiting list, Texas has 
                36,000 individuals on its waiting list, and Illinois 
                and Alabama each have 20,000 individuals on their 
                waiting lists.
                    (D) One survey of low-income families on a waiting 
                list for subsidized child care found that of those 
                families paying for child care out of their own funds, 
                71 percent faced serious debt or bankruptcy.
                    (E) Half of the States and the District of 
                Columbia, even before the enactment of the Personal 
                Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act 
                of 1996 (Public Law 104-193, 110 Stat. 2105) during the 
                104th Congress, increased the proportion of child care 
                slots or dollars going to families on welfare, rather 
                than to working poor families.
            (2) The Congressional Budget Office estimates that there 
        will be $1,400,000,000 less expenditures of child care funds 
        for working poor families as a result of the States 
        implementing the work requirements imposed under the Personal 
        Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 
        (Public Law 104-193, 110 Stat. 2105).
            (3) Important types of child care are not available in 
        certain States including infant care, school-age care, care for 
        children with disabilities and special health care needs, and 
        child care for parents with unconventional or shifting work 
        hours.
                    (A) A 1995 State study by the Comptroller General 
                of the United States found a shortage of child care for 
                infants and children with special needs in inner 
                cities, and a shortage of all types of child care in 
                rural areas.
                    (B) Only one-third of the schools in low-income 
                neighborhoods offer school-age child care, compared 
                with 52 percent of schools in more affluent areas 
                offering such care.
                    (C) Eighth-graders who are left home alone for 11 
                or more hours a week report significantly greater use 
                of cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana than eighth-
                graders who are not left home alone.
                    (D) Existing child care arrangements do not 
                accommodate the work schedules of many working women. 
                According to a 1995 statistic published by the 
                Department of Labor, 14,300,000 workers, nearly 1 in 5 
                full-time workers work nonstandard hours, and more than 
                1 in 3 of those workers are women.
                    (E) Only 10 percent of child care centers and 6 
                percent of family day care providers offer child care 
                on weekends. Yet one-third of working mothers with 
                annual incomes below the poverty level and one-quarter 
                of mothers with annual incomes above the poverty level 
                but below $25,000 work on weekends.
                    (F) Less than 30 percent of Head Start programs 
                operate on a full-time, full-year basis.

SEC. 3. ASSISTANCE FOR LOW-INCOME WORKING FAMILIES.

    Section 658B of the Child Care Development Block Grant Act of 1990 
(42 U.S.C. 9858) is amended to read as follows:

``SEC. 658B. FUNDING OF GRANTS.

    ``(a) Authorization of Appropriations.--Except as provided in 
subsection (b), there is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 
this subchapter $2,000,000,000 for each of fiscal years 1997 through 
2002.
    ``(b) Appropriation.--The Secretary shall pay, from funds in the 
Treasury not otherwise appropriated, $1,400,000,000 for fiscal years 
1997 through 2002, through the awarding of grants to States under this 
subchapter for the purpose of providing child care services for 
families who have left the State program of assistance under part A of 
title IV of the Social Security Act because of employment, families 
that are at risk of becoming dependent on such assistance program, and 
low-income working families described in section 658E(c)(3)(D). Funds 
shall be paid under this subsection to the States in the same manner, 
and subject to the same requirements and limitations, as funds are paid 
to the States under section 418 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
618).''.

SEC. 4. GRANTS FOR CHILD CARE SUPPLY SHORTAGES.

    (a) Grants for Child Care Supply Shortages.--Section 658E(c)(3) of 
the Child Care Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 
9858c(c)(3)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(E) Child care supply shortages.--
                            ``(i) In general.--A State shall ensure 
                        that 100 percent of amounts paid to the State 
                        out of funds appropriated under section 
                        658B(a)(2) with respect to each of the fiscal 
                        years 1997 through 2002 shall be used to carry 
                        out child care activities described in clause 
                        (ii) in geographic areas within the State that 
                        have a shortage, as determined by the State, in 
                        consultation with localities, of child care 
                        services.
                            ``(ii) Child care activities described.--
                        The child care activities described in this 
                        clause include the following:
                                    ``(I) Infant care programs.
                                    ``(II) Before- and after-school 
                                child care programs.
                                    ``(III) Resource and referral 
                                programs.
                                    ``(IV) Nontraditional work hours 
                                child care programs.
                                    ``(V) Extending the hours of pre-
                                kindergarten programs to provide full-
                                day services.
                                    ``(VI) Any other child care 
                                programs that the Secretary determines 
                                are appropriate.''.
    (b) Authorization of Appropriations.--Section 658B(a) of the Child 
Care Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858(a)), as 
amended by section 2, is amended--
            (1) by striking ``Except as provided in'' and inserting the 
        following:
            ``(1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2) 
        and''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(2) Child care supply shortages.--There is authorized to 
        be appropriated to carry out section 658E(c)(3)(E), 
        $500,000,000 for each of fiscal years 1997 through 2002.''.
    (c) Conforming Amendment.--Section 658(c)(3)(A) of the Child Care 
Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858c(c)(3)(A)) is 
amended by striking ``(D)'' and inserting ``(E)''.

SEC. 5. REPORT ON ACCESS TO CHILD CARE BY LOW-INCOME WORKING FAMILIES.

    (a) State Reporting Requirement.--Section 658K(a)(2) of the Child 
Care Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858i(a)(2)) is 
amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (D), by striking ``and'' at the end; 
        and
            (2) by inserting after subparagraph (E), the following:
                    ``(F) the total number of families described in 
                section 658B(b) that were eligible for but did not 
                receive assistance under this subchapter or under 
                section 418 of the Social Security Act and a 
                description of the obstacles to providing such 
                assistance; and
                    ``(G) the total number of families described in 
                section 658B(b) that received assistance provided under 
                this subchapter or under section 418 of the Social 
                Security Act and a description of the manner in which 
                that assistance was provided;''.
    (b) Secretarial Reporting Requirement.--Section 658L of the Child 
Care Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858j) is amended 
by inserting ``, with particular emphasis on access of low-income 
working families,'' after ``public''.

SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    This Act and the amendments made by this Act take effect as if 
included in the enactment of the Personal Responsibility and Work 
Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-193, 110 Stat. 
2105).
                                 <all>