108th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 3780
To improve the lives of working families by providing family and
medical need assistance, child care assistance, in-school and afterschool
assistance, family care assistance, and encouraging the establishment of family-friendly
workplaces.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 4, 2004
Ms. WOOLSEY (for herself, Mrs. JONES of Ohio, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. KUCINICH,
Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD, Mr. SERRANO, Ms. LEE, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts,
Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. LAMPSON, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. BALLANCE, Ms. CORRINE BROWN of
Florida, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Mr. LANTOS, Ms. KILPATRICK, Mr.
PAYNE, Ms. CARSON of Indiana, Mr. OWENS, and Ms. LINDA T. SANCHEZ of California)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education
and the Workforce, and in addition to the Committees on House Administration,
Government Reform, and Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently
determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To improve the lives of working families by providing family and
medical need assistance, child care assistance, in-school and afterschool
assistance, family care assistance, and encouraging the establishment of family-friendly
workplaces.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) SHORT TITLE- This Act may be cited as the `Family and Workplace Balancing
Act of 2004' or `Balancing Act of 2004'.
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS- The table of contents of this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
TITLE I--PAID LEAVE FOR NEW PARENTS AND FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE ENHANCEMENT
ACT OF 2003
Subtitle A--Paid Leave for New Parents
Sec. 107. Authorization of appropriations.
Sec. 108. Technical and conforming amendments.
Subtitle B--Family and Medical Leave Enhancement Act of 2003
Sec. 112. Additional leave for parental involvement.
Sec. 113. Parental involvement leave for civil servants.
Sec. 114. Clarification of leave entitlement.
Sec. 115. Definition of grandchild.
TITLE II--CHILD CARE EXPANSION AND IMPROVEMENT
Subtitle A--Care for Young Children
Sec. 201. Expanding child care for young children.
Subtitle B--Improving Child Care Quality Through Teacher Incentives
Sec. 223. Funds for child care provider development and retention grants,
scholarships, and health benefits coverage.
Sec. 224. Allotments to States.
Sec. 225. Application and plan.
Sec. 226. Child care provider development and retention grant program.
Sec. 227. Child care provider scholarship program.
Sec. 228. Child care provider health benefits coverage.
Sec. 230. Evaluation of health benefits programs by Secretary.
Sec. 231. Authorization of appropriations.
Subtitle C--Child Care Construction and Renovation Incentive Grants
Sec. 242. Use of community development block grants to establish child care
facilities.
Sec. 243. Insurance for mortgages on new and rehabilitated child care facilities.
Sec. 244. Insurance for mortgages for acquisition or refinancing debt of
existing child care facilities.
Sec. 245. Study of availability of secondary markets for mortgages on child
care facilities.
Sec. 246. Technical and financial assistance grants.
Subtitle D--Business Child Care Incentive Grant Program
Sec. 251. Business child care incentive grant program.
TITLE III--PRE-SCHOOL, IN-SCHOOL, AND AFTERSCHOOL ASSISTANCE
Subtitle A--Universal Prekindergarten Act
Sec. 302. Findings and purpose.
Sec. 303. Prekindergarten grant program authorization.
Sec. 304. State requirements.
Sec. 305. Local requirements.
Sec. 306. Professional development set-aside.
Sec. 308. Federal funds supplementary.
Sec. 310. Authorization of appropriations.
Subtitle B--Universal Free School Breakfast Program
Sec. 311. Universal free school breakfast program.
Subtitle C--Nutritional Improvement for Children Served Under Child Nutrition
Programs
Sec. 321. Nutritional improvement for children served under child nutrition
programs.
Subtitle D--Child and Adult Care Food Program
Sec. 331. Reimbursements for afterschool dinners.
Sec. 332. Eligibility of private child care centers.
Subtitle E--Afterschool Education Enhancement Act
Sec. 342. Amendments regarding 21st century community learning centers.
TITLE IV--IMPROVING THE WORKPLACE FOR FAMILIES
Subtitle A--Part-Time and Temporary Workers Benefits
Sec. 401. Treatment of employees working at less than full-time under participation,
vesting, and accrual rules governing pension plans.
Sec. 402. Treatment of employees working at less than full-time under group
health plans.
Sec. 403. Expansion of definition of employee to include certain individuals
whose services are leased or contracted for.
Sec. 404. Effective dates.
Subtitle B--United States Business Telework Act
Sec. 412. Telework pilot program.
Sec. 413. Report to Congress.
Sec. 416. Authorization of appropriations.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Currently in two-thirds of married families with children in the United
States, both parents work full-time. Seventy-one percent of mothers with
children under age 18 work full-time, and another 29 percent work part-time.
(2) The National Study of the Changing Workforce found that 70 percent of
employed parents indicated that they don't have enough time with their children.
(3)(A) A survey conducted by the Boys and Girls Clubs of America found that
more than half of the respondents indicated that they had little or no time
to spend in physical activities with their children.
(B) Parents in 3,500,000 households, representing 7,000,000 children, spend
an hour or less a week doing physical activities with their children.
(C) The primary obstacle cited by the parents to engaging in physical activities
with their children was their work schedules.
(4) Nearly two-thirds of employees who need to take family or medical leave
do not take such leave because they cannot afford to forgo the pay.
(5) Nearly every industrialized nation other than the United States, and
most developing nations, provides parents with paid leave for infant care.
(6) In the United States, more than half of all mothers of children under
the age of one now work. Yet parents of infants and toddlers face acute
problems finding child care, and child care that is available is often of
mediocre quality.
(7) The cost of child care averages $4,000 to $6,000 per year in the United
States, and families with younger children or with more than one child face
even greater costs. For example, the average annual cost of child care for
a 4-year-old in an urban area center is more than the average annual cost
of public college tuition in all but one State.
(8) The average annual child care teacher salary is $15,430, a wage so low
that many programs find it extremely challenging to recruit fully qualified
teachers and to retain them. High turnover rates make it more difficult
to provide quality and continuity of care.
(9) Only 12 percent of eligible children receive child care assistance through
the Child Care Development Block Grant, and only about 3 out of 5 eligible
preschoolers are able to participate in the Head Start program.
(10) Among needy students, school nutrition programs often provide the primary
opportunity for consumption of nutritionally valuable foods.
(11) Breakfast is a critical meal for children and provides the nutrition
necessary to optimize their learning capacities.
(12) According to the Bureau of the Census, nearly 7,000,000 children in
the United States are left alone after school each week without adult supervision
or structured activities of any kind.
(13) Violent juvenile crime peaks between the hours of 3:00 p.m. and 7:00
p.m. and teens are more likely to be victims of serious violent crime in
the hour after school lets out than any other time of the day.
(14) The Nation's communities can benefit from teleworking, which give workers
more time to spend at home with their families.
(15) Companies with telework programs have found that telework can boost
employee productivity 5 percent to 20 percent, thereby saving businesses
valuable resources and time.
(16) More United States families are working more hours than ever. In 2000,
the average American worker worked 36 hours more, almost a full week, than
in 1990. A recent AFL-CIO poll found that nearly three-quarters of working
adults indicated that they have little or no control over their work schedules.
(17) The AFL-CIO's `Ask a Working Woman' survey for 2002 reported that 63
percent of working women work more than 40 hours a week, 30 percent of working
women work 20 to 39 hours a week, and 7 percent of working women work less
than 20 hours a week.
TITLE I--PAID LEAVE FOR NEW PARENTS AND FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE ENHANCEMENT
ACT OF 2003
This is an extremely large bill. For the section text Click
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