[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1482 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1482

 To amend part A of title IV of the Social Security Act to require the 
     Secretary of Health and Human Services to conduct research on 
                    indicators of child well-being.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 24, 2007

 Mr. Rockefeller (for himself and Ms. Snowe) introduced the following 
  bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend part A of title IV of the Social Security Act to require the 
     Secretary of Health and Human Services to conduct research on 
                    indicators of child well-being.

    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 ``State Child Well-Being Research Act 
of 2007''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The well-being of children is a paramount concern for 
        our Nation and for every State, and most programs for children 
        and families are managed at the State or local level.
            (2) Child well-being varies over time and across social, 
        economic, and geographic groups, and can be affected by changes 
        in the circumstances of families, by the economy, by the social 
        and cultural environment, and by public policies and programs 
        at the Federal, State, and local level.
            (3) States, including small States, need information about 
        child well-being that is specific to their State and that is 
        up-to-date, cost-effective, and consistent across States and 
        over time.
            (4) Regular collection of child well-being information at 
        the State level is essential so that Federal and State 
        officials can track child well-being over time.
            (5) Information on child well-being is necessary for all 
        States, particularly small States that do not have State-level 
        data in other federally supported databases. Information is 
        needed on the well-being of all children, not just children 
        participating in Federal programs.
            (6) Telephone surveys of parents represent a relatively 
        cost-effective strategy for obtaining information on child 
        well-being at the State level for all States, including small 
        States, and can be conducted alone or in mixed mode strategy 
        with other survey techniques.
            (7) Data from telephone surveys of the population are 
        currently used to monitor progress toward many important 
        national goals, including immunization of preschool children 
        with the National Immunization Survey, and the identification 
        of health care issues of children with special needs with the 
        National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs.
            (8) A State-level telephone survey, alone or in combination 
        with other techniques, can provide information on a range of 
        topics, including children's social and emotional development, 
        education, health, safety, family income, family employment, 
        and child care. Information addressing marriage and family 
        structure can also be obtained for families with children. 
        Information obtained from such a survey would not be available 
        solely for children or families participating in programs but 
        would be representative of the entire State population and 
        consequently, would not only inform welfare policymaking, but 
        policymaking on a range of other important issues, such as 
        child care, child welfare, child health, family formation, and 
        education.

SEC. 3. RESEARCH ON INDICATORS OF CHILD WELL-BEING.

    Section 413 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 613) is amended 
by adding at the end the following:
    ``(k) Indicators of Child Well-Being.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall develop 
        comprehensive indicators to assess child well-being in each 
        State by directing the Director of the Maternal and Child 
        Health Bureau of the Health Resources and Services 
        Administration (in this subsection referred to as the 
        `Director') to expand the National Survey of Children's Health.
            ``(2) Requirements.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The indicators developed under 
                paragraph (1) shall include measures related to the 
                following:
                            ``(i) Education.
                            ``(ii) Social and emotional development.
                            ``(iii) Physical and mental health and 
                        safety.
                            ``(iv) Family well-being, such as family 
                        structure, income, employment, child care 
                        arrangements, and family relationships.
                    ``(B) Collection requirements.--The data collected 
                with respect to the indicators developed under 
                paragraph (1) shall be--
                            ``(i) statistically representative at the 
                        State and National level;
                            ``(ii) consistent across States;
                            ``(iii) collected on an annual basis for at 
                        least the 5 years following the first year of 
                        collection;
                            ``(iv) measured with reliability;
                            ``(v) current;
                            ``(vi) over-sampled, with respect to low-
                        income children and families, so that subgroup 
                        estimates can be produced by a variety of 
                        income categories (such as for 50, 100, and 200 
                        percent of the poverty level, and for children 
                        of varied ages, such as 0-5, 6-11, and 12-17 
                        years of age); and
                            ``(vii) made publicly available.
                    ``(C) Other requirements.--
                            ``(i) Publication.--The data collected with 
                        respect to the indicators developed under 
                        paragraph (1) shall be published as both actual 
                        numbers and expressed in terms of rates or 
                        percentages.
                            ``(ii) Sample sizes.--Sample sizes used for 
                        the collected data shall be adequate for 
                        microdata on the categories included in clause 
                        (vi) to be made publicly available without 
                        violating confidentiality standards.
                    ``(D) Consultation.--
                            ``(i) In general.--In developing the 
                        indicators required under paragraph (1) and the 
                        means to collect the data required with respect 
                        to the indicators, the Secretary shall require 
                        the Director to consult and collaborate with a 
                        subcommittee of the Federal Interagency Forum 
                        on Child and Family Statistics, which shall 
                        include representatives with expertise on all 
                        the domains of child well-being described in 
                        subparagraph (A). The subcommittee shall have 
                        appropriate staff assigned to work with the 
                        Maternal and Child Health Bureau during the 
                        design phase of the survey.
                            ``(ii) Duties.--The Director shall consult 
                        with the subcommittee referred to in clause (i) 
                        with respect to the design, content, and 
                        methodology for the development of the 
                        indicators required under paragraph (1) and the 
                        collection of data regarding the indicators, 
                        and the availability or lack thereof of similar 
                        data through other Federal data collection 
                        efforts.
                            ``(iii) Costs.--Costs incurred by the 
                        subcommittee with respect to the development of 
                        the indicators and the collection of data 
                        related to the indicators shall be treated as 
                        costs of the National Survey of Children's 
                        Health.
            ``(3) Advisory panel.--
                    ``(A) Establishment.--The Secretary shall require 
                the Director to establish, with the advice of the 
                Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family 
                Statistics, an advisory panel of experts to make 
                recommendations regarding the appropriate measures, 
                methods, dissemination strategies, and statistical 
                tools necessary for making the assessment required 
                under paragraph (1) based on the indicators developed 
                under that paragraph and the data collected with 
                respect to the indicators.
                    ``(B) Membership.--
                            ``(i) In general.--The advisory panel 
                        established under subparagraph (A) shall 
                        include experts on each of the domains of child 
                        well-being described in paragraph (2)(A), 
                        experts on child indicators, experts from State 
                        agencies and from nonprofit organizations that 
                        use child indicator data at the State level, 
                        and experts on survey methodology.
                            ``(ii) Deadline.--The members of the 
                        advisory panel shall be appointed not later 
                        than 2 months after the date of enactment of 
                        the State Child Well-Being Research Act of 
                        2007.
                    ``(C) Meetings.--The advisory panel established 
                under subparagraph (A) shall meet--
                            ``(i) at least 3 times during the first 
                        year after the date of enactment of the State 
                        Child Well-Being Research Act of 2007; and
                            ``(ii) annually thereafter for the 4 
                        succeeding years.
            ``(4) Authorization of appropriations.--There are 
        authorized to be appropriated for each of fiscal years 2008 
        through 2012, $20,000,000 for the purpose of carrying out this 
        subsection.''.
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