§ 9858m — Amounts Reserved; Allotments

(1) The Secretary shall reserve not to exceed one half of 1 percent of the amount appropriated under this subchapter in each fiscal year for payments to Guam, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands of the United States, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands to be allotted in accordance with their respective needs. (A) The Secretary shall reserve not less than 2 percent of the amount appropriated under section 9858 of this title in each fiscal year for payments to Indian tribes and tribal organizations with applications approved under subsection (c). (B) Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall only reserve an amount that is greater than 2 percent of the amount appropriated under section 9858 of this title, for payments described in subparagraph (A), for a fiscal year (referred to in this subparagraph as the “reservation year”) if— (i) the amount appropriated under section 9858 of this title for the reservation year is greater than the amount appropriated under section 9858 of this title for fiscal year 2014; and (ii) the Secretary ensures that the amount allotted to States under subsection (b) for the reservation year is not less than the amount allotted to States under subsection (b) for fiscal year 2014. (3) The Secretary shall reserve up to $1,500,000 of the amount appropriated under this subchapter for each fiscal year for the operation of a national toll-free hotline and Web site, under section 9858j(b) of this title. (4) The Secretary shall reserve up to ½ of 1 percent of the amount appropriated under this subchapter for each fiscal year to support technical assistance and dissemination activities under paragraphs (3) and (4) of section 9858g(a) of this title. (5) The Secretary may reserve ½ of 1 percent of the amount appropriated under this subchapter for each fiscal year to conduct research and demonstration activities, as well as periodic external, independent evaluations of the impact of the program described by this subchapter on increasing access to child care services and improving the safety and quality of child care services, using scientifically valid research methodologies, and to disseminate the key findings of those evaluations widely and on a timely basis. (1) From the amounts appropriated under section 9858 of this title for each fiscal year remaining after reservations under subsection (a), the Secretary shall allot to each State an amount equal to the sum of— (A) an amount that bears the same ratio to 50 percent of such remainder as the product of the young child factor of the State and the allotment percentage of the State bears to the sum of the corresponding products for all States; and (B) an amount that bears the same ratio to 50 percent of such remainder as the product of the school lunch factor of the State and the allotment percentage of the State bears to the sum of the corresponding products for all States. (2) The term “young child factor” means the ratio of the number of children in the State under 5 years of age to the number of such children in all States as provided by the most recent annual estimates of population in the States by the Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce. (3) The term “school lunch factor” means the ratio of the number of children in the State who are receiving free or reduced price lunches under the school lunch program established under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) to the number of such children in all the States as determined annually by the Department of Agriculture. (A) The allotment percentage for a State is determined by dividing the per capita income of all individuals in the United States, by the per capita income of all individuals in the State. (B) If an allotment percentage determined under subparagraph (A)— (i) exceeds 1.2 percent, then the allotment percentage of that State shall be considered to be 1.2 percent; and (ii) is less than 0.8 percent, then the allotment percentage of the State shall be considered to be 0.8 percent. (C) For purposes of subparagraph (A), per capita income shall be— (i) determined at 2-year intervals; (ii) applied for the 2-year period beginning on October 1 of the first fiscal year beginning on the date such determination is made; and (iii) equal to the average of the annual per capita incomes for the most recent period of 3 consecutive years for which satisfactory data are available from the Department of Commerce at the time such determination is made. (1) From amounts reserved under subsection (a)(2), the Secretary may make grants to or enter into contracts with Indian tribes or tribal organizations that submit applications under this section, for the planning and carrying out of programs or activities consistent with the purposes of this subchapter. (2) An application for a grant or contract under this section shall provide that: (A) The applicant will coordinate, to the maximum extent feasible, with the lead agency in the State or States in which the applicant will carry out programs or activities under this section. (B) In the case of an applicant located in a State other than Alaska, California, or Oklahoma, programs and activities under this section will be carried out on the Indian reservation for the benefit of Indian children. (C) The applicant will make such reports on, and conduct such audits of, programs and activities under a grant or contract under this section as the Secretary may require. (D) In lieu of any licensing and regulatory requirements applicable under State or local law, the Secretary, in consultation with Indian tribes and tribal organizations, shall develop minimum child care standards that shall be applicable to Indian tribes and tribal organizations receiving assistance under this subchapter. Such standards shall appropriately reflect Indian tribe and tribal organization needs and available resources, and shall include standards requiring a publicly available application, health and safety standards, and standards requiring a reservation of funds for activities to improve the quality of child care services provided to Indian children. (3) In determining whether to approve an application for a grant or contract under this section, the Secretary shall take into consideration— (A) the availability of child care services provided in accordance with this subchapter by the State or States in which the applicant proposes to carry out a program to provide child care services; and (B) whether the applicant has the ability (including skills, personnel, resources, community support, and other necessary components) to satisfactorily carry out the proposed program or activity. (4) Grants or contracts under this section shall be for periods not to exceed 3 years. (5) The awarding of a grant or contract under this section for programs or activities to be conducted in a State or States shall not affect the eligibility of any Indian child to receive services provided or to participate in programs and activities carried out under a grant to the State or States under this subchapter. (A) An Indian tribe or tribal organization may submit to the Secretary a request to use amounts provided under this subsection for construction or renovation purposes. (B) With respect to a request submitted under subparagraph (A), and except as provided in subparagraph (C), upon a determination by the Secretary that adequate facilities are not otherwise available to an Indian tribe or tribal organization to enable such tribe or organization to carry out child care programs in accordance with this subchapter, and that the lack of such facilities will inhibit the operation of such programs in the future, the Secretary may permit the tribe or organization to use assistance provided under this subsection to make payments for the construction or renovation of facilities that will be used to carry out such programs. (i) Except as provided in clause (ii), the Secretary may not permit an Indian tribe or tribal organization to use amounts provided under this subsection for construction or renovation if the use will result in a decrease in the level of child care services provided by the Indian tribe or tribal organization as compared to the level of child care services provided by the Indian tribe or tribal organization in the fiscal year preceding the year for which the determination under subparagraph (B) is being made. (ii) The Secretary shall waive the limitation described in clause (i) if— (I) the Secretary determines that the decrease in the level of child care services provided by the Indian tribe or tribal organization is temporary; and (II) the Indian tribe or tribal organization submits to the Secretary a plan that demonstrates that after the date on which the construction or renovation is completed— (aa) the level of child care services will increase; or (bb) the quality of child care services will improve. (D) The Secretary shall develop and implement uniform procedures for the solicitation and consideration of requests under this paragraph. (d) The Secretary shall obtain from each appropriate Federal agency, the most recent data and information necessary to determine the allotments provided for in subsection (b). (1) Any portion of the allotment under subsection (b) to a State that the Secretary determines is not required to carry out a State plan approved under section 9858c(d) of this title, in the period for which the allotment is made available, shall be reallotted by the Secretary to other States in proportion to the original allotments to the other States. (A) The amount of any reallotment to which a State is entitled to under paragraph (1) shall be reduced to the extent that it exceeds the amount that the Secretary estimates will be used in the State to carry out a State plan approved under section 9858c(d) of this title. (B) The amount of such reduction shall be similarly reallotted among States for which no reduction in an allotment or reallotment is required by this subsection. (3) For purposes of any other section of this subchapter, any amount reallotted to a State under this subsection shall be considered to be part of the allotment made under subsection (b) to the State. (4) Any portion of a grant or contract made to an Indian tribe or tribal organization under subsection (c) that the Secretary determines is not being used in a manner consistent with the provision of this subchapter in the period for which the grant or contract is made available, shall be allotted by the Secretary to other tribes or organizations that have submitted applications under subsection (c) in accordance with their respective needs. (f) For the purposes of this section, the term “State” includes only the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.