[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6655 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        H.R.6655

                      One Hundred Twelfth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE SECOND SESSION

          Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
            the third day of January, two thousand and twelve


                                 An Act


 
      To establish a commission to develop a national strategy and 
 recommendations for reducing fatalities resulting from child abuse and 
                                neglect.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. COMMISSION.
    This Act may be cited as the ``Protect our Kids Act of 2012''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
    Congress finds that--
        (1) deaths from child abuse and neglect are preventable;
        (2) deaths from child abuse and neglect are significantly 
    underreported and there is no national standard for reporting such 
    deaths;
        (3) according to the Child Maltreatment Report of 2011, in 
    fiscal year 2011, 1,545 children in the United States are reported 
    to have died from child abuse and neglect, and many experts believe 
    that the actual number may be significantly more;
        (4) over 42 percent of the number of children in the United 
    States who die from abuse are under the age of 1, and almost 82 
    percent are under the age of 4;
        (5) of the children who died in fiscal year 2011, 70 percent 
    suffered neglect either exclusively or in combination with another 
    maltreatment type and 48 percent suffered physical abuse either 
    exclusively or in combination;
        (6) increased understanding of deaths from child abuse and 
    neglect can lead to improvement in agency systems and practices to 
    protect children and prevent child abuse and neglect; and
        (7) Congress in recent years has taken a number of steps to 
    reduce child fatalities from abuse and neglect, such as--
            (A) providing States with flexibility through the Child and 
        Family Services Improvement and Innovation Act of 2011 to 
        operate child welfare demonstration projects to test services 
        focused on preventing abuse and neglect and ensuring that 
        children remain safely in their own homes;
            (B) providing funding through the Child and Family Services 
        Improvement Act of 2006 for services and activities to enhance 
        the safety of children who are at risk of being placed in 
        foster care as a result of a parent's substance abuse;
            (C) providing funding through the Fostering Connections to 
        Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 for grants to 
        facilitate activities such as family group decisionmaking 
        meetings and residential family treatment programs to support 
        parents in caring for their children; and
            (D) requiring States through the Child and Family Services 
        Improvement and Innovation Act of 2011 to describe how they 
        will improve the quality of data collected on fatalities from 
        child abuse and neglect.
SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMISSION.
    (a) Establishment.--There is established the Commission to 
Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities (in this Act referred to 
as the ``Commission'').
    (b) Membership.--
        (1) Composition.--
            (A) Members.--The Commission shall be composed of 12 
        members, of whom--
                (i) 6 shall be appointed by the President;
                (ii) 2 shall be appointed by the Speaker of the House 
            of Representatives;
                (iii) 1 shall be appointed by the minority leader of 
            the House of Representatives;
                (iv) 2 shall be appointed by the majority leader of the 
            Senate; and
                (v) 1 shall be appointed by the minority leader of the 
            Senate.
            (B) Qualifications.--Each member appointed under 
        subparagraph (A) shall have experience in one or more of the 
        following areas:
                (i) child welfare administration;
                (ii) child welfare research;
                (iii) child development;
                (iv) legislation, including legislation involving child 
            welfare matters;
                (v) trauma and crisis intervention;
                (vi) pediatrics;
                (vii) psychology and mental health;
                (viii) emergency medicine;
                (ix) forensic pathology or medical investigation of 
            injury and fatality;
                (x) social work with field experience;
                (xi) academia at an institution of higher education, as 
            that term is defined in section 101 of the Higher Education 
            Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001), with a focus on one or more 
            of the other areas listed under this subparagraph;
                (xii) law enforcement, with experience handling child 
            abuse and neglect matters;
                (xiii) civil law, with experience handling child abuse 
            and neglect matters;
                (xiv) criminal law, with experience handling child 
            abuse and neglect matters;
                (xv) substance abuse treatment;
                (xvi) education at an elementary school or secondary 
            school, as those terms are defined in section 9101 of the 
            Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
            7801);
                (xvii) epidemiology; and
                (xviii) computer science or software engineering with a 
            background in interoperability standards.
            (C) Diversity of qualifications.--In making appointments to 
        the Commission under subparagraph (A), the President and the 
        congressional leaders shall make every effort to select 
        individuals whose qualifications are not already represented by 
        other members of the Commission.
        (2) Date.--The appointments of the members of the Commission 
    shall be made not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of 
    this Act.
    (c) Period of Appointment; Vacancies.--Members shall be appointed 
for the life of the Commission. Any vacancy in the Commission shall not 
affect its powers, but shall be filled in the same manner as the 
original appointment.
    (d) Initial Meeting.--Not later than 60 days after the date on 
which a majority of the members of the Commission have been appointed, 
the Commission shall hold its first meeting.
    (e) Meetings.--The Commission shall meet at the call of the 
Chairperson.
    (f) Quorum.--A majority of the members of the Commission shall 
constitute a quorum, but a lesser number of members may hold hearings.
    (g) Chairperson.--The President shall select a Chairperson for the 
Commission from among its members.
SEC. 4. DUTIES OF THE COMMISSION.
    (a) Study.--
        (1) In general.--The Commission shall conduct a thorough study 
    on the use of child protective services and child welfare services 
    funded under title IV and subtitle A of title XX of the Social 
    Security Act to reduce fatalities from child abuse and neglect.
        (2) Matters studied.--The matters studied by the Commission 
    shall include--
            (A) the effectiveness of the services described in 
        paragraph (1) and best practices in preventing child and youth 
        fatalities that are intentionally caused or that occur due to 
        negligence, neglect, or a failure to exercise proper care;
            (B) the effectiveness of Federal, State, and local policies 
        and systems within such services aimed at collecting accurate, 
        uniform data on child fatalities in a coordinated fashion, 
        including the identification of the most and least effective 
        policies and systems in practice;
            (C) the current (as of the date of the study) barriers to 
        preventing fatalities from child abuse and neglect, and how to 
        improve efficiency to improve child welfare outcomes;
            (D) trends in demographic and other risk factors that are 
        predictive of or correlated with child maltreatment, such as 
        age of the child, child behavior, family structure, parental 
        stress, and poverty;
            (E) methods of prioritizing child abuse and neglect 
        prevention within such services for families with the highest 
        need; and
            (F) methods of improving data collection and utilization, 
        such as increasing interoperability among State and local and 
        other data systems.
        (3) Materials studied.--The Commission shall review--
            (A) all current (as of the date of the study) research and 
        documentation, including the National Survey of Child and 
        Adolescent Well-Being and research and recommendations from the 
        Government Accountability Office, to identify lessons, 
        solutions, and needed improvements related to reducing 
        fatalities from child abuse and neglect; and
            (B) recommendations from the Advisory Board on Child Abuse 
        and Neglect.
    (b) Coordination.--The Commission shall provide opportunities for 
graduate and doctoral students to coordinate research with the 
Commission.
    (c) Recommendations.--The Commission shall--
        (1) develop recommendations to reduce fatalities from child 
    abuse and neglect for Federal, State, and local agencies, and 
    private sector and nonprofit organizations, including 
    recommendations to implement a comprehensive national strategy for 
    such purpose; and
        (2) develop guidelines for the type of information that should 
    be tracked to improve interventions to prevent fatalities from 
    child abuse and neglect.
    (d) Report.--
        (1) In general.--Not later than 2 years after the date on which 
    a majority of the members of the Commission have been appointed, 
    the Commission shall submit a report to the President and Congress, 
    which shall contain a detailed statement of the findings and 
    conclusions of the Commission, together with its recommendations 
    for such legislation and administrative actions as it considers 
    appropriate.
        (2) Extension.--The President may extend the date on which the 
    report described in paragraph (1) shall be submitted by an 
    additional 1 year.
        (3) Online access.--The Commission shall make the report under 
    paragraph (1) available on the publicly available Internet Web site 
    of the Department of Health and Human Services.
SEC. 5. POWERS OF THE COMMISSION.
    (a) Hearings.--
        (1) In general.--The Commission may hold such hearings, sit and 
    act at such times and places, take such testimony, and receive such 
    evidence as the Commission considers advisable to carry out this 
    Act.
        (2) Location.--The location of hearings under paragraph (1) 
    shall include--
            (A) areas with high fatality rates from child abuse and 
        neglect; and
            (B) areas that have shown a decrease in fatalities from 
        child abuse and neglect.
        (3) Subject.--The Commission shall hold hearings under 
    paragraph (1)--
            (A) to examine the Federal, State, and local policies and 
        available resources that affect fatalities from child abuse and 
        neglect; and
            (B) to explore the matters studied under section 4(a)(2).
    (b) Information From Federal Agencies.--The Commission may secure 
directly from any Federal department or agency such information as the 
Commission considers necessary to carry out this Act. Upon request of 
the Chairperson of the Commission, the head of such department or 
agency shall furnish such information to the Commission.
    (c) Postal Services.--The Commission may use the United States 
mails in the same manner and under the same conditions as other 
departments and agencies of the Federal Government.
    (d) Gifts.--The Commission may accept, use, and dispose of gifts or 
donations of services or property.
SEC. 6. COMMISSION PERSONNEL MATTERS.
    (a) Travel Expenses.--The members of the Commission shall be 
allowed travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, at 
rates authorized for employees of agencies under subchapter I of 
chapter 57 of title 5, United States Code, while away from their homes 
or regular places of business in the performance of services for the 
Commission.
    (b) Staff.--
        (1) In general.--The Chairperson of the Commission may, without 
    regard to the civil service laws and regulations, appoint and 
    terminate an executive director and such other additional personnel 
    as may be necessary to enable the Commission to perform its duties. 
    The employment of an executive director shall be subject to 
    confirmation by the Commission.
        (2) Compensation.--The Chairperson of the Commission may fix 
    the compensation of the executive director and other personnel 
    without regard to chapter 51 and subchapter III of chapter 53 of 
    title 5, United States Code, relating to classification of 
    positions and General Schedule pay rates, except that the rate of 
    pay for the executive director and other personnel may not exceed 
    the rate payable for level V of the Executive Schedule under 
    section 5316 of such title.
    (c) Detail of Government Employees.--At the discretion of the 
relevant agency, any Federal Government employee may be detailed to the 
Commission without reimbursement, and such detail shall be without 
interruption or loss of civil service status or privilege.
    (d) Procurement of Temporary and Intermittent Services.--The 
Chairperson of the Commission may procure temporary and intermittent 
services under section 3109(b) of title 5, United States Code, at rates 
for individuals that do not exceed the daily equivalent of the annual 
rate of basic pay prescribed for level V of the Executive Schedule 
under section 5316 of such title.
SEC. 7. TERMINATION OF THE COMMISSION.
    The Commission shall terminate on the earlier of--
        (1) the 30th day after the date on which the Commission submits 
    its report under section 4(d); or
        (2) the date that is 3 years after the initial meeting under 
    section 3(d).
SEC. 8. FEDERAL AGENCY RESPONSE.
    Not later than 6 months after the submission of the report required 
under section 4(d), any Federal agency that is affected by a 
recommendation described in the report shall submit to Congress a 
report containing the response of the Federal agency to the 
recommendation and the plans of the Federal agency to address the 
recommendation.
SEC. 9. ADJUSTMENT TO THE TANF CONTINGENCY FUND FOR STATE WELFARE 
PROGRAMS.
    (a) In General.--Section 403(b)(2) of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 603(b)(2)) is amended by striking ``for fiscal years 2011 and 
2012'' and all that follows through the end of the paragraph and 
inserting ``for fiscal years 2013 and 2014 such sums as are necessary 
for payment to the Fund in a total amount not to exceed $612,000,000 
for each fiscal year, of which $2,000,000 shall be reserved for 
carrying out the activities of the commission established by the 
Protect our Kids Act of 2012 to reduce fatalities resulting from child 
abuse and neglect.''
    (b) Prevention of Duplicate Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2013.--
Expenditures made pursuant to section 148 of the Continuing 
Appropriations Resolution, 2013, for fiscal year 2013, shall be charged 
to the applicable appropriation provided by the amendments made by this 
section for such fiscal year.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.