“Children Learning, Parents Earning, Communities Growing"

The content on this page is to serve as a resource of pending federal legislation, information from national partners and relevant updates to the Child Care Development & Block Grant (CCDBG) law and to the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF).  Click here to watch live US Senate Floor proceedings.  Click here to watch US House of Representatives hearings.

Federal Legislation 

  • Most viewed federal bill for week of September 27, 2020
    • H.R.6800 - The Heroes Act
    • H.Res.908 - Condemning all forms of anti-Asian sentiment as related to COVID-19
    • H.R.748 - CARES Act
    • H.R.2574 - Equity and Inclusion Enforcement Act of 2019
    • H.R.8337 - Continuing Appropriations Act, 2021 and Other Extensions Act
    • H.R.6666 - COVID-19 Testing, Reaching, And Contacting Everyone (TRACE) Act
    • S.3548 - CARES Act
    • H.R.6210 - Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act
    • H.R.4447 - Expanding Access to Sustainable Energy Act of 2019
    • S.3955 - Justice for Breonna Taylor Act
  • September 10, 2020 Proposed Information Collection Activity; Child Care and Development Fund Plan for States/Territories for FFY 2022-2024 (ACF-118; OMB #0970-0114)
The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) is requesting a 3-year extension of the form ACF-118: Child Care and Development Fund Plan for States/Territories (OMB #0970-0114, expiration 12/31/2021) for FFY 2022-2024. There are changes requested to the form to improve formatting and streamline questions.
Click  here to see the Federal Register.
  • July 2, 2020

    House passes $10 billion in funding for child-care facilities to improve safety amid pandemic

    The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed the Moving Forward Act, a $1.5 trillion infrastructure package that included funds to help child-care providers make the necessary modifications to their facilities in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. 

    The Moving Forward Act specifically allocates $10 billion over the next four years to finance grants to improve child-care centers, including construction, renovations and improvement to facilities to address both longstanding issues and new challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. 

    The legislation calls for the Secretary of Health and Human Services to conduct an assessment of the conditions within the child-care industry in order to ensure that funds are being distributed in a way that improves the availability of quality child care and that funding is given to centers that demonstrate high need. The grants will be distributed across public and private sectors.

    “The Moving Forward Act recognizes that child care is infrastructure, central to rebuilding our economy, stabilizing our workforce and educating our children,” Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) said Wednesday in a floor speech in support of the bill. “The pandemic has pushed this vital sector to its breaking point and we cannot afford to let it fail.”

    About 60% of child-care programs temporarily closed at some point during the last four months due to coronavirus, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center. While states are starting to allow child-care facilities to reopen, providers may be slow to return because of strict capacity and operating rules that create financial burdens. 
    Click here to read the article.


  • June 17, 2020
    Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act
    This is a message on behalf of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Child Care (OCC).
    On March 27,2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was enacted. The CARES Act provides $3.5 billion and various flexibilities for state, territory, and tribal lead agencies to operate their Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) programs to prevent, prepare for, and respond to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) public health emergency and to ensure the supply of child care after the emergency subsides.
    The CARES Act includes additional provisions that, although not specific to child care, address the needs of child care providers and child care workers, as does the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“Families First Act”), which was enacted on March 18,2020. State, territory, and tribal governments now face the complexities of blending COVID-19 funding programs across multiple agencies to best support children, families, and child care providers. To aid with these decisions, the OCC has prepared guidance listing the funding programs outside of the CCDF program that affect child care providers and staff. The information can be accessed, along with updates reflecting ongoing legislation, on the OCC COVID-19 Legislation Guide for CCDF Administrators web page at https://www.acf.hhs.gov/occ/resource/covid-19-legislation-guide-for-ccdf-administrators.
  • HEROES Act Language- Introduced May 15, 2020
  • The HEROES Act and What it Means for Child Care- Child Care Aware

  • Speaker Pelosi Unveils the HEROES Act Which Takes Needed Steps to Support Children and Families through the COVID-19 Pandemic- Children's Defense Fund

  • Center for Disease Control 

  • ACT NOW:  03/13/2020 - Tell Congress to act now by passing legislation that includes paid sick leave, free testing and treatment for COVID-19, unemployment protections, nutrition assistance, and help for states.
  • 03/14/2020 - CCDF Recovery Flexibilities  
The Administration for Children and Families has released materials to help Lead Agencies understand the flexibilities in the CCDF law as they try to help meet the needs of families and communities in response to the spread of COVID-19.  Options available to State, Territory, and Tribal Lead Agencies include: 
  • Flexibility to change eligibility or priority criteria to permit uninterrupted child care 
  • Flexibility to define income and set the income threshold for purposes of CCDF eligibility  
  • Option to waive family co-payment requirements for families that meet criteria established by the Lead Agency – which may include, for example, families impacted by federal or state declared emergency situations  
  • Option to use quality dollars to provide immediate assistance to impacted families, including families that do not participate in CCDF 
States may also enact legislation or regulation in order to take advantage of these flexibilities. States may also need to submit a Plan amendment or waiver request to the Office of Child Care. Click here to access ACF’s full memo on CCDF flexibility during state or federal emergencies.  
 In addition, ACF has released a letter with updated resources and information about administrative relief strategies, as well as a list of FAQs about CCDF and COVID-19.   

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Archive

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Federal Legislation of Relevance  

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Federal Updates from Partners

May 26, 2020
National Women's Law Center
This week, House Democrats released their draft of the next COVID-19 stimulus package, the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act, known as the   HEROES ACT.   The package includes only $7 billion in additional funding for child care, allocated through CCDBG.  According to a recent NWLC and CLASP analysis  , this will not even be enough to stabilize the child care industry for one month.  In the coming days it is crucial that you continue to reach out to your congressional delegations and your Hill contacts to demand more funding for child care so the industry can survive the COVID-19 pandemic. 
 
The HEROES Act was passed by the House on Friday.  The legislation will now move to the Senate, where a number of Republican senators already plan to oppose it.
 
Here are some other legislative proposals included in the HEROES Act:
  • $875 billion in fiscal relief for state and local governments
  • Establishing a $200 billion "heroes fund" for hazard pay for essential workers
  • Improving emergency paid leave by eliminating large and small employer exemptions, eliminating exclusions for health care providers and emergency responders, expanding qualifying uses for paid leave, and increasing wage replacement for caregiving leave
  • $850 million for "family care" for essential workers
  • Extension of UI benefits
  • Temporary boost in SNAP benefits, along with an increase in minimum benefit amount and suspension of SNAP work requirements
  • $100 billion in emergency rental assistance
  • 12-month national moratorium on eviction filings for nonpayment of rent and expanded moratorium on foreclosures
  • Retroactive improvements to recovery rebates (including expanding eligibility to older dependents and immigrant families who file taxes without an SSN)
  • Additional $1200 recovery rebate

Why $7 Billion for Child Care is Not Enough

On Thursday, CNBC published an article detailing why the $7 billion in relief funding for the child care sector included in the HEROES Act will not be enough to stabilize the American child care system. The article, which includes perspectives from national child care advocates and local providers, outlines the need for at least $50 billion in immediate relief funding to keep the child care sector afloat throughout this crisis, and shows how the American child care system will not be able to weather the storm without it.  To read and share the article, click here.
May 11, 2020
New Analysis Shows Child Care System needs $9.6 Billion per Month to Survive the Pandemic!  Below is the first page of a 13 page document.   Click here to read the full document via CLASP & the National Women's Law Center