[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3862 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3862

  To amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 to 
   require States to make payments to child care providers based on 
  verified attendance in child care programs, and for other purposes.


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                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 12, 2026

 Mr. Cruz (for himself, Mr. Scott of Florida, and Mr. Lee) introduced 
the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 
               on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 to 
   require States to make payments to child care providers based on 
  verified attendance in child care programs, 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 ``Payment Integrity Act''.

SEC. 2. PAYMENT PRACTICES.

    Section 658E of the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 
1990 (42 U.S.C. 9858c) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (c)(2), by adding by striking 
        subparagraph (S) and inserting the following:
                    ``(S) Attendance-based billing.--The plan shall 
                include an assurance that the lead agency will provide 
                payment under this subchapter to a child care provider 
                based on verified attendance, rather than enrollment 
                alone, in the program of the provider, and will conduct 
                that verification through the use of attendance records 
                or another reasonable verification method.''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(e) Timing of Payment.--Nothing in this subchapter shall be 
construed to require a lead agency to make a payment to a child care 
provider prior to the provision of child care services. The lead agency 
may make a payment to such a provider under this subchapter after the 
provider's provision of child care services.''.
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