On August 28th, ECFC Executive Director, Shannon Rudisill, and Raising Child Care Fund (RCCF) Director, Rachel Schumacher, submitted comments on the Federal government’s proposed regulatory changes to the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), also known in Federal regulations as the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF). CCDF is the biggest source of federal funding to states, territories, and Tribes to help families pay for child care and to improve the quality of care. The Office of Child Care (OCC), Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) oversees the CCDF and released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) which consists of key proposed changes to the regulations.
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The CCDBG law needs a major overhaul to realize the vision of an equitable child care system that provides affordable, high quality care for children and their families, as well as good compensation and working conditions for early educators. While Congress has not acted to transform the legislation, these proposed regulatory changes represent a strong effort by the administration to push for changes that are possible within the current federal law.
ECFC’s comments focused on NPRM goals of:
- Lowering Families’ Costs for Child Care
- Improving Parent Choice to Access Care that Meets Their Needs
- Strengthening Payment Practices to Child Care Providers
- Reducing Bureaucracy for Better Implementation
- Implementation and Compliance
ECFC’s comments also acknowledged that full achievement of the NPRM goals will be prevented if the pending expiration of American Rescue Plan Act resources – this September for stabilization grants funding and September 2024 for CCDBG supplemental funding – comes to pass without action in the pending budget
and appropriations debates.
Read ECFC’s full comments on the NPRM.
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Public comment was invited on the NPRM/proposed changes through August 18, 2023. Public comment is an opportunity to shore up the resolve of the federal agency to make positive changes and to demonstrate how those changes will help children, families, and providers. Every comment must be considered and made part of the public record. It is important for HHS to receive comments on things that can be strengthened AND affirmative comments about things that people appreciate about the proposals.
During the public comment period, ECFC hosted multiple calls for funders and compiled ideas for how funders could support stakeholders and grantee partners to submit comments.
Foundations may be concerned about whether they are allowed to comment as a public charity and whether their grantee partners who are non-profit agencies are allowed to comment. Foundations are allowed to support and conduct administrative advocacy, because it is not considered lobbying according to the IRS. According to the Alliance for Justice, lobbying is narrowly defined as attempting to influence legislation. Note that 501(c)(3) public charities may lobby so long as they adhere to federal IRS reporting rules. Administrative advocacy does not count as lobbying, because it is not focused on members of the legislature (Alliance for Justice, 2020, Administrative Advocacy: Influencing Rules, Regulations, Agency Policies, and Executive Orders). State rules may differ, and foundations may want to consult state experts or the Alliance for Justice state resources library.