[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 116 Introduced in House (IH)]
107th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 116
To establish a program to promote child literacy by making books
available through early learning and other child care programs, and for
other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 3, 2001
Mr. Holt introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the
Committee on Government Reform, for a period to be subsequently
determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To establish a program to promote child literacy by making books
available through early learning and other child care programs, 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 ``Book Stamp Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Literacy is fundamental to all learning.
(2) Between 40 and 60 percent of the Nation's children do
not read at grade level, particularly children in families or
school districts that are challenged by significant financial
or social instability.
(3) Increased investments in child literacy are needed to
improve opportunities for children and the efficacy of the
Nation's education investments.
(4) Increasing access to books in the home is an important
means of improving child literacy, which can be accomplished
nationally at modest cost.
(5) Effective channels for book distribution already exist
through child care providers.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Early learning program.--The term ``early learning'',
used with respect to a program, means a program of activities
designed to facilitate development of cognitive, language,
motor, and social-emotional skills in children under age 6 as a
means of enabling the children to enter school ready to learn,
such as a Head Start or Early Head Start program carried out
under the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9831 et seq.), or a State
pre-kindergarten program.
(2) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of Health and Human Services.
(3) State.--The term ``State'' means the 50 States, the
District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam,
the United States Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
(4) State agency.--The term ``State agency'' means an
agency designated under section 658D of the Child Care and
Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858b).
SEC. 4. GRANTS TO STATE AGENCIES.
(a) Establishment of Program.--The Secretary shall establish and
carry out a program to promote child literacy and improve children's
access to books at home and in early learning and other child care
programs, by making books available through early learning and other
child care programs.
(b) Grants.--
(1) In general.--In carrying out the program, the Secretary
shall make grants to State agencies from allotments determined
under paragraph (2).
(2) Allotments.--For each fiscal year, the Secretary shall
allot to each State an amount that bears the same ratio to the
total of the available funds for the fiscal year as the amount
the State receives under section 658O(b) of the Child Care and
Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858m(b)) for
the fiscal year bears to the total amount received by all
States under that section for the fiscal year.
(c) Applications.--To be eligible to receive an allotment under
this section, a State shall submit an application to the Secretary at
such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the
Secretary may require.
(d) Accountability.--The provisions of sections 658I(b) and 658K(b)
of the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C.
9858g(b), 9858i(b)) shall apply to States receiving grants under this
Act, except that references in those sections--
(1) to a subchapter shall be considered to be references to
this Act; and
(2) to a plan or application shall be considered to be
references to an application submitted under subsection (c).
(e) Definition.--In this section, the term ``available funds'',
used with respect to a fiscal year, means the total of--
(1) the funds made available under section 416(c)(1) of
title 39, United States Code for the fiscal year; and
(2) the amounts appropriated under section 9 for the fiscal
year.
SEC. 5. CONTRACTS TO CHILD CARE RESOURCE AND
REFERRAL AGENCIES.
A State agency that receives a grant under section 4 shall use
funds made available through the grant to enter into contracts with
local child care resource and referral agencies to carry out the
activities described in section 6. The State agency may reserve not
more than 3 percent of the funds made available through the grant to
support a public awareness campaign relating to the activities.
SEC. 6. USE OF FUNDS.
(a) Activities.--
(1) Book payments for eligible providers.--A child care
resource and referral agency that receives a contract under
section 5 shall use the funds made available through the grant
to provide payments for eligible early learning program and
other child care providers, on the basis of local needs, to
enable the providers to make books available, to promote child
literacy and improve children's access to books at home and in
early learning and other child care programs.
(2) Eligible providers.--To be eligible to receive a
payment under paragraph (1), a provider shall--
(A)(i) be a center-based child care provider, a
group home child care provider, or a family child care
provider, described in section 658P(5)(A) of the Child
Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C.
9858n(5)(A)); or
(ii) be a Head Start agency designated under
section 641 of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9836), an
entity that receives assistance under section 645A of
such Act to carry out an Early Head Start program or
another provider of an early learning program; and
(B) provide services in an area where children face
high risks of literacy difficulties, as defined by the
Secretary.
(b) Responsibilities.--A child care resource and referral agency
that receives a contract under section 5 to provide payments to
eligible providers shall--
(1) consult with local individuals and organizations
concerned with early literacy (including parents and
organizations carrying out the Reach Out and Read, First Book,
and Reading Is Fundamental programs) regarding local book
distribution needs;
(2) make reasonable efforts to learn public demographic and
other information about local families and child literacy
programs carried out by the eligible providers, as needed to
inform the agency's decisions as the agency carries out the
contract;
(3) coordinate local orders of the books made available
under this Act;
(4) distribute, to each eligible provider that receives a
payment under this Act, not fewer than 1 book every 6 months
for each child served by the provider for more than 3 of the
preceding 6 months;
(5) use not more than 5 percent of the funds made available
through the contract to provide training and technical
assistance to the eligible providers on the effective use of
books with young children at different stages of development;
and
(6) be a training resource for eligible providers that want
to offer parent workshops on developing reading readiness.
(c) Discounts.--
(1) In general.--Federal funds made available under this
Act for the purchase of books may only be used to purchase
books on the same terms as are customarily available in the
book industry to entities carrying out nonprofit bulk book
purchase and distribution programs.
(2) Terms.--An entity offering books for purchase under
this Act shall be present to have met the requirements of
paragraph (1), absent contrary evidence, if the terms include a
discount of 43 percent off the catalogue price of the books,
with no additional charge for shipping and handling of the
books.
(d) Administration.--The child care resource and referral agency
may not use more than 6 percent of the funds made available through the
contract for administrative costs.
SEC. 7. REPORT TO CONGRESS.
Not later than 2 years of the date of enactment of this Act, the
Secretary shall prepare and submit to Congress a report on the
implementation of the activities carried out under this Act.
SEC. 8. SPECIAL POSTAGE STAMPS FOR CHILD LITERACY.
Chapter 4 of title 39, United States Code is amended by adding at
the end the following:
``Sec. 416. Special postage stamps for child literacy
``(a) In order to afford the public a convenient way to contribute
to funding for child literacy, the Postal Service shall establish a
special rate of postage for first-class mail under this section. The
stamps that bear the special rate of postage shall promote childhood
literacy and shall, to the extent practicable, contain an image
relating to a character in a children's book or cartoon.
``(b)(1) The rate of postage established under this section--
``(A) shall be equal to the regular first-class rate of
postage, plus a differential of not to exceed 25 percent;
``(B) shall be set by the Governors in accordance with such
procedures as the Governors shall by regulation prescribe (in
lieu of the procedures described in chapter 36); and
``(C) shall be offered as an alternative to the regular
first-class rate of postage.
``(2) The use of the special rate of postage established under this
section shall be voluntary on the part of postal patrons.
``(c)(1) Of the amounts becoming available for child literacy
pursuant to this section, the Postal Service shall pay 100 percent to
the Department of Health and Human Services.
``(2) Payments made under this subsection to the Department shall
be made under such arrangements as the Postal Service shall by mutual
agreement with such Department establish in order to carry out the
objectives of this section, except that, under those arrangements,
payments to such agency shall be made at least twice a year.
``(3) In this section, the term `amounts becoming available for
child literacy pursuant to this section' means--
``(A) the total amounts received by the Postal Service that
the Postal Service would not have received but for the
enactment of this section; reduced by
``(B) an amount sufficient to cover reasonable costs
incurred by the Postal Service in carrying out this section,
including costs attributable to the printing, sale, and
distribution of stamps under this section,
as determined by the Postal Service under regulations that the Postal
Service shall prescribe.
``(d) It is the sense of Congress that nothing in this section
should--
``(1) directly or indirectly cause a net decrease in total
funds received by the Department of Health and Human Services,
or any other agency of the Government (or any component or
program of the Government), below the level that would
otherwise have been received but for the enactment of this
section; or
``(2) affect regular first-class rates of postage or any
other regular rates of postage.
``(e) Special postage stamps made available under this section
shall be made available to the public beginning on such date as the
Postal Service shall by regulation prescribe, but in no event later
than 12 months after the date of enactment of this section.
``(f) The Postmaster General shall include in each report provided
under section 2402, with respect to any period during any portion of
which this section is in effect, information concerning the operation
of this section, except that, at a minimum, each report shall include
information on--
``(1) the total amounts described in subsection (c)(3)(A)
that were received by the Postal Service during the period
covered by such report; and
``(2) of the amounts described in paragraph (1), how much
(in the aggregate and by category) was required for the
purposes described in subsection (c)(3)(B).
``(g) This section shall cease to be effective at the end of the 2-
year period beginning on the date on which special postage stamps made
available under this section are first made available to the public.''.
SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this Act
$50,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2002 through 2006.
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