[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2236 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2236

  To establish programs to improve the health and safety of children 
     receiving child care outside the home, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 9, 2000

  Mr. Frist (for himself and Mr. Dodd) introduced the following bill; 
     which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, 
                     Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To establish programs to improve the health and safety of children 
     receiving child care outside the home, 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.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Children's Day Care Health and 
Safety Improvement Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) of the 21,000,000 children under age 6 in the United 
        States, almost 13,000,000 spend some part of their day in child 
        care;
            (2) a review of State child care regulations in 47 States 
        found that more than half of the States had inadequate 
        standards or no standards for \2/3\ of the safety topics 
        reviewed;
            (3) a research study conducted by the Consumer Product 
        Safety Commission in 1998 found that \2/3\ of the 200 licensed 
        child care settings investigated in the study exhibited at 
        least 1 of 8 safety hazards investigated, including 
        insufficient child safety gates, cribs with soft bedding, and 
        unsafe playground surfacing;
            (4) compliance with recently published voluntary national 
        safety standards developed by public health and pediatric 
        experts was found to vary considerably by State, and the States 
        ranged from a 20 percent to a 99 percent compliance rate;
            (5) in 1997, approximately 31,000 children ages 4 and 
        younger were treated in hospital emergency rooms for injuries 
        in child care or school settings;
            (6) the Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that at 
        least 56 children have died in child care settings since 1990;
            (7) the American Academy of Pediatrics identifies safe 
        facilities, equipment, and transportation as elements of 
        quality child care; and
            (8) a research study of 133 child care centers revealed 
        that 85 percent of the child care center directors believe that 
        health consultation is important or very important for child 
        care centers.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Child with a disability; infant or toddler with a 
        disability.--The terms ``child with a disability'' and ``infant 
        or toddler with a disability'' have the meanings given the 
        terms in section 602 of the Individuals with Disabilities 
        Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1401).
            (2) Eligible child care provider.--The term ``eligible 
        child care provider'' means a provider of child care services 
        for compensation, including a provider of care for a school-age 
        child during non-school hours, that--
                    (A) is licensed, regulated, registered, or 
                otherwise legally operating, under State and local law; 
                and
                    (B) satisfies the State and local requirements,
        applicable to the child care services the provider provides.
            (3) Family child care provider.--The term ``family child 
        care provider'' means 1 individual who provides child care 
        services for fewer than 24 hours per day, as the sole 
        caregiver, and in a private residence.
            (4) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Health and Human Services.
            (5) State.--The term ``State'' means any of the several 
        States of the United States, the District of Columbia, the 
        Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, 
        Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern 
        Mariana Islands.

SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act 
$200,000,000 for fiscal year 2001 and such sums as may be necessary for 
each subsequent fiscal year.

SEC. 5. PROGRAMS.

    The Secretary shall make allotments to eligible States under 
section 6. The Secretary shall make the allotments to enable the States 
to establish programs to improve the health and safety of children 
receiving child care outside the home, by preventing illnesses and 
injuries associated with that care and promoting the health and well-
being of children receiving that care.

SEC. 6. AMOUNTS RESERVED; ALLOTMENTS.

    (a) Amounts Reserved.--The Secretary shall reserve not more than 
\1/2\ of 1 percent of the amount appropriated under section 4 for each 
fiscal year to make allotments to Guam, American Samoa, the United 
States Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana 
Islands to be allotted in accordance with their respective needs.
    (b) State Allotments.--
            (1) General rule.--From the amounts appropriated under 
        section 4 for each fiscal year and remaining after reservations 
        are made under subsection (a), the Secretary shall allot to 
        each State an amount equal to the sum of--
                    (A) an amount that bears the same ratio to 50 
                percent of such remainder as the product of the young 
                child factor of the State and the allotment percentage 
                of the State bears to the sum of the corresponding 
                products for all States; and
                    (B) an amount that bears the same ratio to 50 
                percent of such remainder as the product of the school 
                lunch factor of the State and the allotment percentage 
of the State bears to the sum of the corresponding products for all 
States.
            (2) Young child factor.--In this subsection, the term 
        ``young child factor'' means the ratio of the number of 
        children under 5 years of age in a State to the number of such 
        children in all States, as provided by the most recent annual 
        estimates of population in the States by the Census Bureau of 
        the Department of Commerce.
            (3) School lunch factor.--In this subsection, the term 
        ``school lunch factor'' means the ratio of the number of 
        children who are receiving free or reduced price lunches under 
        the school lunch program established under the National School 
        Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) in the State to the number 
        of such children in all States, as determined annually by the 
        Department of Agriculture.
            (4) Allotment percentage.--
                    (A) In general.--For purposes of this subsection, 
                the allotment percentage for a State shall be 
                determined by dividing the per capita income of all 
                individuals in the United States, by the per capita 
                income of all individuals in the State.
                    (B) Limitations.--If an allotment percentage 
                determined under subparagraph (A) for a State--
                            (i) is more than 1.2 percent, the allotment 
                        percentage of the State shall be considered to 
                        be 1.2 percent; and
                            (ii) is less than 0.8 percent, the 
                        allotment percentage of the State shall be 
                        considered to be 0.8 percent.
                    (C) Per capita income.--For purposes of 
                subparagraph (A), per capita income shall be--
                            (i) determined at 2-year intervals;
                            (ii) applied for the 2-year period 
                        beginning on October 1 of the first fiscal year 
                        beginning after the date such determination is 
                        made; and
                            (iii) equal to the average of the annual 
                        per capita incomes for the most recent period 
                        of 3 consecutive years for which satisfactory 
                        data are available from the Department of 
                        Commerce on the date such determination is 
                        made.
    (c) Data and Information.--The Secretary shall obtain from each 
appropriate Federal agency, the most recent data and information 
necessary to determine the allotments provided for in subsection (b).
    (d) Definition.--In this section, the term ``State'' includes only 
the several States of the United States, the District of Columbia, and 
the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

SEC. 7. STATE APPLICATIONS.

    To be eligible to receive an allotment under section 6, a State 
shall submit an application to the Secretary at such time, in such 
manner, and containing such information as the Secretary may require. 
The application shall contain information assessing the needs of the 
State with regard to child care health and safety, the goals to be 
achieved through the program carried out by the State under this Act, 
and the measures to be used to assess the progress made by the State 
toward achieving the goals.

SEC. 8. USE OF FUNDS.

    (a) In General.--A State that receives an allotment under section 6 
shall use the funds made available through the allotment to carry out 2 
or more activities consisting of--
            (1) providing training and education to eligible child care 
        providers on preventing injuries and illnesses in children, and 
        promoting health-related practices;
            (2) strengthening licensing, regulation, or registration 
        standards for eligible child care providers;
            (3) assisting eligible child care providers in meeting 
        licensing, regulation, or registration standards, including 
        rehabilitating the facilities of the providers, in order to 
        bring the facilities into compliance with the standards;
            (4) enforcing licensing, regulation, or registration 
        standards for eligible child care providers, including holding 
        increased unannounced inspections of the facilities of those 
        providers;
            (5) providing health consultants to provide advice to 
        eligible child care providers;
            (6) assisting eligible child care providers in enhancing 
        the ability of the providers to serve children with 
        disabilities and infants and toddlers with disabilities;
            (7) conducting criminal background checks for eligible 
        child care providers and other individuals who have contact 
        with children in the facilities of the providers;
            (8) providing information to parents on what factors to 
        consider in choosing a safe and healthy child care setting; or
            (9) assisting in improving the safety of transportation 
        practices for children enrolled in child care programs with 
        eligible child care providers.
    (b) Supplement, Not Supplant.--Funds appropriated pursuant to the 
authority of this Act shall be used to supplement and not supplant 
other Federal, State, and local public funds expended to provide 
services for eligible individuals.

SEC. 9. REPORTS.

    Each State that receives an allotment under section 6 shall 
annually prepare and submit to the Secretary a report that describes--
            (1) the activities carried out with funds made available 
        through the allotment; and
            (2) the progress made by the State toward achieving the 
        goals described in the application submitted by the State under 
        section 7.
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