[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2787 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2787

  To amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 to 
 increase the availability of, and improve quality care for, children 
               with disabilities, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             August 2, 2001

     Mrs. Meek of Florida (for herself, Mr. Serrano, Mr. Rush, Mr. 
Blagojevich, Mr. Petri, and Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) introduced the following 
    bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the 
                               Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 to 
 increase the availability of, and improve quality care for, children 
               with disabilities, 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. REFERENCE.

    Whenever in this Act a section or other provision is amended, such 
amendment shall be considered to be made to that section or other 
provision of the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 (42 
U.S.C. 9858 et seq.).

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

    (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Two-thirds of mothers with children under 6 years of 
        age are in the workforce.
            (2) More than 10 percent of children under the age of 6 
        have a disability; children living in low-income communities 
        have a higher incidence of disability.
            (3) The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 
        requires early intervention services to be provided to infants 
        and toddlers with disabilities in a natural environment, 
        typically the child's home or a child care setting.
            (4) The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 
        requires special education preschool services to be delivered 
        in the least restrictive environment, with a preschooler's 
        nondisabled peers.
            (5) The General Accounting Office reports that the ``supply 
        of infant care, care for special needs children, and care 
        during nonstandard hours has been more limited than the overall 
        supply''. There is even less care for those children who live 
        in low-income communities.
            (6) Children with disabilities or special health care needs 
        are barred from many child care programs due to myth, 
        stereotype, and fear about disability and because staff lack 
        sufficient training to meet the needs of such children.
    (b) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to increase the supply of 
quality child care for children with disabilities.

SEC. 3. APPLICATION AND PLAN.

    Section 658E(c) (42 U.S.C. 9858c(c)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (2)(H)--
                    (A) by striking ``, and families'' and inserting 
                ``, families''; and
                    (B) by inserting before the final period ``, and 
                families that have children with disabilities''; and
            (2) in paragraph (3)(B)--
                    (A) by striking ``size) and to'' and inserting 
                ``size), to''; and
                    (B) by inserting before the final period ``, and to 
                children with disabilities''.

SEC. 4. ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF CHILD CARE.

    Section 658G (42 U.S.C. 9858e) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``A State'' and inserting ``(a) In 
        General.--A State'';
            (2) by amending subsection (a) (as so designated by 
        paragraph (1) of this section) by adding at the end the 
        following: ``Such activities may include activities listed in 
        subsection (b).''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following new subsections:
    ``(b) Activities for Children With Disabilities.--
            ``(1) Use of funds.--A State that receives funds to carry 
        out this subchapter for a fiscal year after fiscal year 2001, 
        shall use not less than 5 percent of the total amount of such 
        funds for one or more of the activities described in paragraph 
        (2) that are designed to increase the availability of quality 
        child care for children with disabilities.
            ``(2) Eligible activities.--Activities referred to in 
        paragraph (1) are the following:
                    ``(A) Training and technical assistance.--Ongoing 
                comprehensive system of training and technical 
                assistance for the following:
                            ``(i) Training for child care providers, 
                        State licensing agencies responsible for 
                        licensing child care providers, and parents on 
                        how to collaborate with each other to help 
                        ensure appropriate implementation of the 
                        Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the 
                        Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
                            ``(ii) Technical assistance to assist 
                        family home and center child care providers to 
                        enable them to appropriately and better include 
                        children with disabilities alongside children 
                        without disabilities in child care settings.
                            ``(iii) Training for child care directors 
                        and staff on the use of assistive technology 
                        for children with special needs and children 
                        with disabilities.
                            ``(iv) Training to develop leadership 
                        skills for directors of child care facilities 
                        to operate inclusive child care programs, 
                        including leadership skills in financial 
                        development, program development, parent 
                        education, and community development.
                            ``(v) Assistance to State and local child 
                        care resource and referral agencies on 
                        compliance with the Americans with Disabilities 
                        Act of 1990 and the Individuals with 
                        Disabilities Education Act.
                    ``(B) Recruitment and retention of staff.--Grants 
                for recruitment and retention of qualified staff though 
                the following:
                            ``(i) Grants for scholarships for child 
                        care staff who work with children with and 
                        without disabilities to obtain associate, 
                        bachelor's, or master's degrees or other 
                        training in child development.
                            ``(ii) Grants to increase salaries of child 
                        care staff who obtain associate, bachelors, or 
                        masters degrees or other training in fields of 
                        child development.
                            ``(iii) Grants to retain qualified child 
                        care providers in the child care field.
    ``(c) Grants and Loans for Certain Child Care Programs.--To the 
extent provided for in advance by Acts of appropriation, the Secretary 
shall make grants and low-interest loans to public agencies and 
nonprofit organizations (including State and local governments and 
community-based organizations) for projects that increase the 
availability of 1 or more of the following:
            ``(1) Inclusive child care programs.
            ``(2) Child care for infants.
            ``(3) Child care during evenings and weekends.''.

SEC. 5. REPORTS.

    Section 658K(a)(1)(B)(iii) (42 U.S.C. 9858i(a)(1)(B)(iii)) is 
amended by striking ``and age'' and inserting ``age, and disability 
status''.

SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.

    Section 658P (42 U.S.C. 9858n) is amended--
            (1) by inserting after paragraph (2) the following new 
        paragraph:
            ``(3) Child with a disability.--The term `child with a 
        disability' has the meaning given that term and the meaning 
        given the term `infant or toddler with a disability' in section 
        602 and section 632 of the Individuals with Disabilities 
        Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1401).''; and
            (2) by inserting after paragraph (9) the following new 
        paragraph:
            ``(10) Inclusive child care program.--The term `inclusive 
        child care program' means a child care program that serves 
        children with disabilities and children without disabilities 
        together in a setting where not more than 50 percent of the 
        children enrolled are children with disabilities.''.
                                 <all>