Human Services Amendments of 1994

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Title I: Head Start Programs

Title II: Community Services Block Grant Amendments

Title III: Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Amendments

Title IV: Community-Based Family Resource Programs

Human Services Amendments of 1994 - Title I: Head Start Programs - Head Start Act Amendments of 1994 - Amends the Head Start Act to reauthorize and revise its provisions.

(Sec. 103) Includes parental involvement among Head Start program services.

(Sec. 104) Extends the authorization of appropriations to carry out such Act and its Head Start program. Reserves specified amounts for a longitudinal study of Head Start participants, the Head Start Transition Project Act, and transition coordination with schools and parent involvement activities.

(Sec. 105) Allocates at least 25 percent of certain excess funds to specified quality improvement activities, plus any additional amount the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) finds necessary.

Includes, under discretionary payments, payments for the costs of reviewing Head Start agencies and programs and of developing and implementing quality improvement plans.

Authorizes the Secretary to make collaboration grants, from certain reserved funds, to States to facilitate collaboration between Head Start activities and other activities targeted to low-income children and families.

Directs the Secretary to take certain factors into consideration in allocating funds for program expansion.

Provides for flexibility in satisfying the requirement that a certain number of hours be provided to children in Head Start programs.

Requires migrant Head Start programs to give priority to eligible children of migrant families whose work requires them to relocate most frequently.

(Sec. 106) Repeals outdated provisions for a comprehensive report to the Congress.

(Sec. 107) Revises provisions for designation of Head Start agencies to provide that those on Indian reservations include members of Indian tribes living near the reservation.

Revises conditions for giving priority in designations.

Revises parental involvement considerations with respect to designation of new Head Start agencies. Requires agencies to offer family literacy services and parenting skills training to parents of participating children. Allows agencies also to opt to offer such parents child development training, communication skills development assistance, opportunities to share experiences with other parents, substance abuse counseling, or other partnership in education activities. Requires a family needs assessment, including consultation with the parents, for each participating family. Requires plans to include non-English background children and their families.

(Sec. 108) Requires the Secretary to establish quality standards for Head Start agencies and programs, including standards for performance in providing required health, education, parental involvement, nutritional, social, transition activities, and other services, for administrative and financial management, and for facilities' condition and location. Provides for monitoring and for corrective actions or terminations if minimum standards are not met.

(Sec. 109) Requires each Head Start agency to coordinate with schools and promote parental involvement to facilitate children's transition from program to school. Directs the Secretaries of HHS and of Education to assess results of demonstration projects under the Head Start Transition Project Act, disseminate information on effective transition, and provide technical assistance to communities to implement effective policies and activities from those demonstrations.

(Sec. 110) Authorizes the Secretary to use certain reserved funds to purchase facilities owned by Indian tribes and make necessary capital expenditures to provide suitable Head Start facilities for such tribes.

Provides for personnel preferences for and recruitment of Indian tribe members for the American Indian Programs Branch of the Head Start Bureau of the Administration for Children and Families.

(Sec. 111) Revises participation provisions. Allows Indian tribes to enroll additional children who do not meet low-income criteria if the Head Start program predominantly serves children who do meet such criteria.

(Sec. 112) Establishes programs for families with infants and toddlers. Directs the Secretary to make grants for: (1) programs providing family-centered services for low-income families with very young children, designed to promote child development, parental role fulfillment, and movement toward self-sufficiency; and (2) evaluation of, and training and technical assistance for, projects under the Comprehensive Child Development Act. Gives time-limited priority to certain entities, including Parent-Child Centers receiving assistance under the Head Start Act and programs receiving assistance under the Comprehensive Child Development Act, and provides for selection of other grant recipients. Repeals the Comprehensive Child Development Centers Act of 1988 and the Comprehensive Child Development Act because their functions are being consolidated under the Head Start Act.

(Sec. 113) Provides for mediation of disputes with delegate agencies to avoid the need for administrative hearings. Eliminates a provision freezing regulations. Provides that terminations, reductions, or suspensions of financial assistance upheld in administrative hearings shall not be stayed pending any judicial appeal.

(Sec. 114) Sets forth goals and priorities for training and technical assistance.

(Sec. 115) Revises classroom teacher qualifications and waiver requirements.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) provide technical assistance and training to enable Head Start agencies to establish positions for mentor teachers; and (2) review and revise standards for family service workers and promote model curricula and credentials for such workers.

Authorizes the Secretary to establish a program of Head Start Fellowships for staff in local Head Start programs and other individuals working in the field of child development and family services. Provides for placement in appropriate settings.

Directs the Secretary to develop model staffing pattern plans to guide local Head Start agencies and programs.

(Sec. 116) Directs the Secretary to carry out a continuing program of research, demonstrations, and evaluations of Head Start programs, including longitudinal studies.

(Sec. 117) Repeals provisions for certain announcements, a longitudinal study, and poverty line criteria (a definition of which is added elsewhere). Revises provisions on reports, adding a study of availability and delivery of Head Start programs to Indian children living on or near reservations, children of Alaskan natives, and children of migrant and seasonal farmworkers.

(Sec. 120) Directs the Secretary to study, and report to the appropriate congressional committees on, benefits available to Head Start employees.

(Sec. 121) Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to revise provisions and extend the authorization of appropriations for the Ready to Learn Television program.

(Sec. 122) Amends the State Dependent Care Development Grants Act to extend the authorization of appropriations.

(Sec. 123) Directs the Secretary to consult with the Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation for National and Community Service regarding the dissemination of information on the Corporation's programs to Head Start programs.

(Sec. 124) Amends the Child Development Associate Scholarship Assistance Act of 1985 to extend the authorization of appropriations.

(Sec. 126) Directs the Secretary to study, and report to specified congressional committees on, the extent to which Head Start programs are addressing the need for child care services during a full working day or full calendar year among eligible low-income families with preschool children.

Title II: Community Services Block Grant Amendments - Community Services Block Grant Amendments of 1994 - Amends the Community Services Block Grant Act to extend the authorization of appropriations to carry out such Act and its community services block grant program.

(Sec. 202) Reserves certain funds for training, technical assistance, planning, and evaluation.

Revises provisions for applications and requirements, community action plans, public inspections of plans, audits, and evaluations involving waivers.

(Sec. 203) Authorizes the Secretary of HHS to provide grants for: (1) a Community Initiatives Program for community and economic development of economically distressed areas and rural areas; (2) interactive information technology among a nationwide network to enhance effective delivery of social services; and (3) nonprofit private organizations that provide assistance for migrants and seasonal farmworkers.

(Sec. 204) Extends the authorization of appropriations for community food and nutrition programs.

(Sec. 205) Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to service providers to administer national or regional programs to provide instructional activities for low-income youth. Authorizes appropriations.

(Sec. 206) Amends the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act to extend the authorization of appropriations for the emergency community services homeless grant program.

(Sec. 207) Amends the Human Services Reauthorization Act of 1986 to revise provisions and extend the authorization of appropriations for demonstration partnership agreements addressing the needs of the poor. Authorizes the Secretary to also make competitive grants to community action agencies to demonstrate new approaches to dealing with the problems caused by entrenched, chronic unemployment and lack of opportunities for urban youth.

Title III: Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Amendments - Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Amendments of 1994 - Amends the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Act of 1981 to extend the authorization of appropriations for: (1) such Act and its low-income home energy assistance program (LIHEAP); and (2) the incentive program for leveraging non-Federal resources.

(Sec. 304) Authorizes appropriations for additional payments to meet the additional home energy assistance needs of one or more States arising from a natural disaster or other emergency. Designates such funds as emergency requirements, but makes them available only after submission of a formal budget request by the President. Set forth considerations for allotment of such emergency funds by the Secretary of HHS.

(Sec. 305) Provides that LIHEAP funds may be used for: (1) outreach activities and assistance to low-income households in meeting their home energy costs, particularly if such costs are a high proportion of household income; (2) intervention in energy crisis situations; (3) low-cost residential weatherization and other cost-effective energy-related home repair; and (4) State program planning, development, and administration, including leveraging programs. Exempts from certain limitations on use of program funds services that encourage and enable households to reduce their home energy needs.

(Sec. 306) Authorizes States to give priority to households with the highest home energy costs or needs in relation to household income.

Requires State plans to describe additional steps to target assistance to households with high home energy burdens.

(Sec. 307) Revises audit requirements and matters to be described in annual applications. Provides for use of Department of Energy weatherization rules to achieve program consistency. Requires reports on any amount of a State's allotment that will not be obligated for the fiscal year. Lowers the maximum amount that the Secretary may reserve for technical assistance and training.

(Sec. 312) Authorizes the Secretary to allocate not more than 25 percent of funds for the incentive program for leveraging non-Federal resources, in FY 1996 through 1999, to a Residential Energy Assistance Challenge Fund to make challenge grants to States with approved plans for Residential Energy Assistance Challenge initiatives.

(Sec. 313) Expresses the sense of the Congress that LIHEAP maintenance should be a high priority, all FY 1995 appropriations for LIHEAP should be expended, and LIHEAP expenditures for FY 1996 should ensure provision of services at or above the FY 1995 level.

Title IV: Community-Based Family Resource Programs - Amends the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to replace the community-based child abuse and neglect prevention grants program with Community-Based Family Resource Programs. Directs the Secretary of HHS to make formula grants to States for: (1) statewide networks of community-based family resource programs; (2) promoting child abuse and neglect prevention activities; (3) promoting State trust funds or other mechanisms for integrating child and family services funding streams; (4) community-based collaboration to develop a continuum of preventive services for children and families; (5) encouraging State interagency coordination and public and private partnerships in family resource programs. Sets forth provisions for grant eligibility, amounts, State applications, and local program requirements. Provides that a State which has an existing grant under the Family Resource and Support Program or the Temporary Child Care and Crisis Nurseries Program shall continue to receive such funds through the end of the grant cycle.

Authorizes appropriations for Community-Based Family Resource Programs.

Amends the Claude Pepper Young Americans Act of 1990 to repeal the Family Resource and Support Program.

Repeals the authority for emergency child abuse prevention services grants under the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act.

(Sec. 402) Extends the authorization of appropriations and the termination date for the Federal Council on Children, Youth, and Families. Adds to Council duties.

(Sec. 403) Extends the authorization of appropriations for the National Center on Family Resource and Support Programs and for evaluation of family resource and support programs.