[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6655 Referred in Senate (RFS)]

112th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6655


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           December 19, 2012

     Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, 
                     Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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.

            Passed the House of Representatives December 19, 2012.

            Attest:

                                                 KAREN L. HAAS,

                                                                 Clerk.