Payment practices and verification

(a) State plan 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)— (A) subparagraph (K)(i)— (i) in subclause (III), by striking and at the end; (ii) in subclause (IV), by striking the period and inserting, and; and (iii) by at the end the following: (V) require licensing inspectors conducting an onsite inspection under subclause (II) to conduct a brief review of compliance with enrollment requirements by the child care provider involved;; (B) in subparagraph (N)(i), by adding at the end the following: (III) Changes in income The plan shall demonstrate that the State requires a parent referred to in subclause (I), who experiences a change in the ongoing status of the parent as working or attending a job training or educational program or whose family experiences a change in family income, shall report the change involved to the State not later than 90 days after the change.; (C) in subparagraph (S), by striking clause (ii) and inserting the following: (ii) an assurance that the State will, notwithstanding clause (i), provide payment under this subchapter to a child care provider based on an eligible child's verified attendance, but support the fixed costs of providing child care services by delinking provider payments from the child’s occasional absences by providing full payment if the child is absent for 6 or fewer days in a month.; and (D) by adding at the end the following: (W) Timing of billing and payment The plan shall describe how the lead agency for the State will establish payment practices that ensure timeliness of billing by and payment of child care providers under this subchapter by— (i) requiring that such a provider submit a complete invoice within 9 months after the date on which the provider delivers the services involved; and (ii) paying within not more than 21 calendar days after the receipt of a complete invoice for services. (X) Verification of eligibility (i) Verification The plan shall describe how, if a parent seeks child care assistance for a child under this subchapter, the State will verify (without self-certification) the eligibility of the child, including verifying the income and assets of the child's family, the size of the family involved, the county or other political subdivision in which the child resides (subject to paragraph (3)(B)(i)), that the individual for whom the parent seeks child care assistance is the child of the parent, and whether the parent and the child either are citizens or are not ineligible for Federal public benefits under title IV of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.). (ii) No presumptive eligibility The plan shall include an assurance that, subject to paragraph (6), the State will not consider a child to be presumptively eligible, or allow the child to receive a child care subsidy prior to a full documentation and eligibility determination, within the meaning of section 98.21(e) of title 45, Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect on the day before the date of enactment of the STOP Child Care Fraud Act), subject to subparagraph (I)(i)(I) and paragraph (3)(B)(i). (Y) Verification of attendance with electronic authentication tools (i) Definition The term electronic authentication tool means an electronic tool that authenticates the identity of a parent or other person dropping off or picking up a child from a child care provider, such as a finger imaging device or an interactive voice response device. (ii) Use The plan shall describe how the State will require a center-based eligible child care provider receiving assistance, or a center-based eligible child care provider that receives a child care certificate, under this subchapter to use electronic authentication tools, including to verify attendance. (Z) Integration and analysis of data from data systems The plan shall describe how the State will— (i) integrate data from different data systems, including records on child care providers (including on licensing of child care providers, subsidies for child care providers, and eligibility for those subsidies), and employment records; (ii) use data analytics to clean, analyze, and interpret the data described in clause (i), particularly to identify anomalous patterns indicative of potential fraud by child care providers; and (iii) analyze the robustness of the data integration described in clause (i).; (2) by adding at the end of subsection (c) the following: (6) Exceptions to prohibition on presumptive eligibility The Secretary may determine or specify that States may determine exceptions, for emergency situations, to the requirements in paragraph (2)(X)(ii) relating to presumptive eligibility and full documentation and eligibility determinations.; and (3) by adding at the end the following: (e) Posting State plans and related documents Each State that receives a payment for the program carried out under this subchapter shall post, on a publicly available website, each State plan or State plan amendment proposed by the State or approved under this section for the State, and each corrective action plan issued for the State due to State noncompliance with this subchapter (including any failure described in section 658I(b)(2)(A)). (f) Regulations on attendance verification Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of the STOP Child Care Fraud Act, the Secretary shall issue regulations that specify the manner in which a State shall verify attendance for purposes of subsection (c)(2)(S)(ii), including the manner in which the State will require the use of electronic authentication tools to verify that attendance under subsection (c)(2)(Y). Such regulations shall take effect 1 year after the date of issuance..