110 HR 2392 IH: United States Business U.S. House of Representatives 2007-05-17 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

I 110th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 2392 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES May 17, 2007 Ms. Woolsey (for herself, Mr. George Miller of California, Ms. DeLauro, Mr. Ellison, Mrs. Capps, Ms. Carson, Mr. Conyers, Mr. Farr, Mr. Hinchey, Mr. Hinojosa, Ms. Jackson-Lee of Texas, Ms. Lee, Mrs. Lowey, Mrs. Maloney of New York, Ms. Matsui, Mr. McDermott, Mr. McGovern, Mr. McNulty, Ms. Moore of Wisconsin, Mr. Olver, Mr. Payne, Ms. Schakowsky, Ms. Solis, Ms. Watson, Ms. Kilpatrick, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Mr. Delahunt, Mr. Cohen, Ms. Corrine Brown of Florida, Mr. Towns, Ms. Clarke, Mr. Cummings, Mr. Davis of Illinois, Mr. Jackson of Illinois, Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Kildee, Mr. Kucinich, Mr. Lantos, Mr. Lewis of Georgia, Mrs. McCarthy of New York, Mr. Meeks of New York, Mr. Rush, Ms. Linda T. Sánchez of California, Mr. Waxman, Mr. Wexler, Mr. Stark, Mr. Clay, Mrs. Davis of California, Mr. Frank of Massachusetts, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Honda, Mr. Rahall, Mr. Rothman, Ms. Norton, Ms. Bordallo, and Ms. Waters) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor, and in addition to the Committees on House Administration, Oversight and Government Reform, Financial Services, and Armed Services, 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 improve the lives of working families by providing family and medical need assistance, child care assistance, in-school and afterschool assistance, family care assistance, and encouraging the establishment of family-friendly workplaces.

1.

Short title; table of contents

(a)

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Family and Workplace Balancing Act of 2007 or Balancing Act of 2007. (b)

Table of contents

The table of contents of this Act is as follows: Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Sec. 2. Findings. Title I—Paid Leave for new parents and family and medical Leave enhancement Act of 2003 Subtitle A—Paid Leave for New Parents Sec. 101. Short title. Sec. 102. Purpose. Sec. 103. Definitions. Sec. 104. Grants. Sec. 105. Notification. Sec. 106. Report. Sec. 107. Authorization of appropriations. Sec. 108. Technical and conforming amendments. Subtitle B—Family and Medical Leave Enhancement Act of 2003 Sec. 111. Short title. Sec. 112. Additional leave for parental involvement. Sec. 113. Additional leave for routine family medical care needs. Sec. 114. Expansion of employers covered by Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993. Sec. 115. Expanded eligibility for leave. Sec. 116. Conforming amendments. Title II—Child Care Expansion and Improvement Subtitle A—Care for Young Children Sec. 201. Expanding child care for young children. Sec. 202. Early childhood home visitation. Subtitle B—Improving Child Care Quality Through Teacher Incentives Sec. 221. Purpose. Sec. 222. Definitions. Sec. 223. Funds for child care provider development and retention grants, scholarships, and health benefits coverage. Sec. 224. Allotments to States. Sec. 225. Application and plan. Sec. 226. Child care provider development and retention grant program. Sec. 227. Child care provider scholarship program. Sec. 228. Child care provider health benefits coverage. Sec. 229. Annual report. Sec. 230. Evaluation of health benefits programs by Secretary. Sec. 231. Authorization of appropriations. Subtitle C—Child Care Construction and Renovation Incentive Grants Sec. 241. Short title. Sec. 242. Use of community development block grants to establish child care facilities. Sec. 243. Insurance for mortgages on new and rehabilitated child care facilities. Sec. 244. Insurance for mortgages for acquisition or refinancing debt of existing child care facilities. Sec. 245. Study of availability of secondary markets for mortgages on child care facilities. Sec. 246. Technical and financial assistance grants. Subtitle D—Business Child Care Incentive Grant Program Sec. 251. Business child care incentive grant program. Title III—Pre-school, in-school, and afterschool assistance Subtitle A—Universal Prekindergarten Act Sec. 301. Short title. Sec. 302. Findings and purpose. Sec. 303. Prekindergarten grant program authorization. Sec. 304. State requirements. Sec. 305. Local requirements. Sec. 306. Professional development set-aside. Sec. 307. Reporting. Sec. 308. Federal funds supplementary. Sec. 309. Definitions. Sec. 310. Authorization of appropriations. Subtitle B—Universal Free School Breakfast Program Sec. 311. Universal free school breakfast program. Subtitle C—Nutritional Improvement for Children Served under Child Nutrition Programs Sec. 321. Nutritional improvement for children served under child nutrition programs. Subtitle D—Child and Adult Care Food Program Sec. 331. Reimbursements for afterschool dinners. Sec. 332. Eligibility of private child care centers. Subtitle E—Afterschool Education Enhancement Act Sec. 341. Short title. Sec. 342. Amendments regarding 21st century community learning centers. Title IV—Improving the workplace for families Subtitle A—Part-Time and Temporary Workers Benefits Sec. 401. Treatment of employees working at less than full-time under participation, vesting, and accrual rules governing pension plans. Sec. 402. Treatment of employees working at less than full-time under group health plans. Sec. 403. Expansion of definition of employee to include certain individuals whose services are leased or contracted for. Sec. 404. Effective dates. Subtitle B—United States Business Telework Act Sec. 411. Short title. Sec. 412. Telework pilot program. Sec. 413. Report to Congress. Sec. 414. Definition. Sec. 415. Termination. Sec. 416. Authorization of appropriations.

2.

Findings

Congress finds the following: (1)Currently in 2/3 of married families with children in the United States, both parents work full-time. Seventy-one percent of mothers with children under age 18 work full-time, and another 29 percent work part-time. (2)The National Study of the Changing Workforce found that 70 percent of employed parents indicated that they don’t have enough time with their children. (3)(A)A survey conducted by the Boys and Girls Clubs of America found that more than half of the respondents indicated that they had little or no time to spend in physical activities with their children. (B)Parents in 3,500,000 households, representing 7,000,000 children, spend an hour or less a week doing physical activities with their children. (C)The primary obstacle cited by the parents to engaging in physical activities with their children was their work schedules. (4)Nearly 2/3 of employees who need to take family or medical leave do not take such leave because they cannot afford to forgo the pay. (5)Nearly every industrialized nation other than the United States, and most developing nations, provides parents with paid leave for infant care. (6)In the United States, more than half of all mothers of children under the age of one now work. Yet parents of infants and toddlers face acute problems finding child care, and child care that is available is often of mediocre quality. (7)The cost of child care averages $4,000 to $6,000 per year in the United States, and families with younger children or with more than one child face even greater costs. For example, the average annual cost of child care for a 4-year-old in an urban area center is more than the average annual cost of public college tuition in all but one State. (8)The average annual child care teacher salary is $15,430, a wage so low that many programs find it extremely challenging to recruit fully qualified teachers and to retain them. High turnover rates make it more difficult to provide quality and continuity of care. (9)Only 12 percent of eligible children receive child care assistance through the Child Care Development Block Grant, and only about 3 out of 5 eligible preschoolers are able to participate in the Head Start program. (10)Among needy students, school nutrition programs often provide the primary opportunity for consumption of nutritionally valuable foods. (11)Breakfast is a critical meal for children and provides the nutrition necessary to optimize their learning capacities. (12)According to the Bureau of the Census, nearly 7,000,000 children in the United States are left alone after school each week without adult supervision or structured activities of any kind. (13)Violent juvenile crime peaks between the hours of 3:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. and teens are more likely to be victims of serious violent crime in the hour after school lets out than any other time of the day. (14)The Nation’s communities can benefit from teleworking, which give workers more time to spend at home with their families. (15)Companies with telework programs have found that telework can boost employee productivity 5 percent to 20 percent, thereby saving businesses valuable resources and time. (16)More United States families are working more hours than ever. In 2000, the average American worker worked 36 hours more, almost a full week, than in 1990. A recent AFL–CIO poll found that nearly three-quarters of working adults indicated that they have little or no control over their work schedules. (17)The AFL–CIO’s Ask a Working Woman survey for 2002 reported that 63 percent of working women work more than 40 hours a week, 30 percent of working women work 20 to 39 hours a week, and 7 percent of working women work less than 20 hours a week.