Bill > S4788

This bill, titled the "Stop Child Care Scams Act of 2026," aims to strengthen oversight and prevent fraud within the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) program, which provides federal funding to states for child care assistance. Key provisions include making it mandatory for the Secretary of Health and Human Services to withhold funds from states that are not compliant with the program's requirements, rather than having the discretion to do so. States will be required to submit detailed plans outlining their internal controls, investigation processes for fraudulent payments, and procedures for verifying eligibility, including how they use data from other agencies. Furthermore, the bill mandates the permanent barring of child care providers found to have committed fraud from receiving CCDBG funds, and also from the Child and Adult Care Food Program if they are debarred from that program. If a state's improper payment rate exceeds 5% for two consecutive years, it will face conditional ineligibility for funds unless it demonstrates a plan to reduce this rate. The bill also introduces cyclical monitoring of state performance every three years, with additional monitoring for states deemed "high risk" due to repeated audit findings or failures to implement corrective action plans. Finally, it requires an annual report from states detailing the amount and percentage of improper payments, including fraudulent ones, and mandates a study by the Comptroller General on fraud prevention measures across federal early childhood education, child care, and child nutrition programs.