[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 335 Introduced in House (IH)]






109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 335

  To amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 to 
   increase the availability and affordability of quality child care 
services by creating incentives for older individuals to join the child 
                care workforce, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 25, 2005

  Mr. Lynch introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
   Committee on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the 
Committee on Ways and Means, 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 amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 to 
   increase the availability and affordability of quality child care 
services by creating incentives for older individuals to join the child 
                care workforce, 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 ``Seniors Offering Quality Child Care 
Act of 2005''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

     Congress finds the following:
            (1) Approximately 13,000,000 infants, toddlers, and 
        preschool children receive child care services outside of their 
        homes for part of or all of the work day.
            (2) Increasing the pool of child care workers is an 
        important means of improving the overall quality and 
        affordability of child care services.
            (3) The Bureau of the Census has determined that the number 
        of people between the ages of 55 and 64 will grow by about 
        17,800,000 between 2000 and 2020. Many of these older 
        individuals are skilled workers, such as health care 
        professionals and teachers, who could offer a significant 
        contribution to the size and quality of the child care 
        workforce.
            (4) We must increase the supply of child care workers by 
        creating incentives for older individuals to enter into the 
        child care workforce in order to decrease the costs to families 
        of accessing affordable child care services.

SEC. 3. ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF THE CHILD CARE SERVICES.

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

``SEC. 658G. ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF CHILD CARE SERVICES.

    ``A State that receives funds to carry out this subchapter for a 
fiscal year, shall use not less than 6 percent of the amount of such 
funds for activities provided through resource and referral services or 
other means, that are designed to improve the quality of child care 
services for which financial assistance is made available under this 
subchapter. Such activities include--
            ``(1) programs that provide training, education, and other 
        professional development activities to enhance the skills of 
        the child care workforce, including training opportunities for 
        caregivers in informal care settings;
            ``(2) developing proposals to enhance the quality and 
        quantity of the child care workforce by examining methods for 
        increasing the recruitment, retention, and compensation of 
        skilled individuals who are 55 years of age or older, as 
        members of the child care workforce;
            ``(3) activities within child care settings to enhance 
        early learning for young children, to promote early literacy, 
        and to foster school readiness;
            ``(4) initiatives to increase the retention and 
        compensation of child care providers, including tiered 
        reimbursement rates for providers that meet quality standards 
        as defined by the State; or
            ``(5) other activities deemed by the State to improve the 
        quality of child care services provided in such State.`'. ''.

SEC. 4. EXPANSION OF BENEFITS FOR THE CHILD CARE WORKFORCE.

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

``SEC. 658S. MISCELLANEOUS.

    ``(a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other law, the value of any 
child care provided or arranged (or any amount received as payment for 
such care or reimbursement for costs incurred for such care) under this 
subchapter shall not be treated as income for purposes of any other 
Federal or federally assisted program that bases eligibility, or the 
amount of benefits, on need.
    ``(b) Older Individuals.--Allowances, earnings, and payments under 
this subchapter to individuals who are 55 years of age or older shall 
not be considered as income for the purposes determining eligibility 
for and the amount of income transfer and in-kind aid under any Federal 
or federally assisted program based on need.''.

SEC. 5. COMPENSATION FOR CHILD CAREGIVING SERVICES OF EMPLOYEES OF 
              ELIGIBLE CHILD CARE PROVIDERS DISREGARDED FOR PURPOSES OF 
              THE SOCIAL SECURITY EARNINGS TEST.

    (a) In General.--Section 203(f)(3) of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 403(f)(3)) is amended by inserting ``, and in determining an 
individual's excess earnings for any taxable year, there shall be 
excluded any earnings of such individual from employment as a caregiver 
(as defined in section 658P(1) of the Child Care and Development Block 
Grant Act of 1990) employed by an eligible child care provider (as 
defined in section 658P(5)(A) of such Act),'' before the period at the 
end of the 1st sentence.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
apply with respect to taxable years ending on or after the date of the 
enactment of this Act.
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