Child Care Payment Integrity and Fraud Accountability Act of 2026
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Child Care Payment Integrity and Fraud Accountability Act of 2026 amends CCDBG payment recovery and reporting rules. It clarifies that state overpayment recovery includes fraudulent payments and adds an annual state reporting requirement.
Each state must submit an annual report to the Secretary identifying both dollar amounts and percentage amounts of improper payments made by the state. The report must use standardized payment categories specified by the Secretary. The categories named in the bill include suspected fraudulent payments, verified fraudulent payments, non-fraudulent overpayments, underpayments, and technically improper payments such as system-error payments. The bill does not set a new payment threshold; it makes payment categories more transparent and comparable.
Who Benefits and How
HHS child care program staff benefit from standardized annual data on child care improper payments and fraud categories. State child care payment-integrity offices benefit from clearer categories for separating suspected fraud, verified fraud, overpayments, underpayments, and technical errors. Congressional oversight staff benefit from more comparable state-by-state data. Federal taxpayers benefit if better reporting improves recovery and reduces improper payments. Families eligible for child care assistance benefit if payment-integrity work preserves funds for valid care.
Who Bears the Burden and How
State child care agencies must produce annual reports showing dollar and percentage amounts by standardized categories. State payment-system staff must distinguish suspected fraud, verified fraud, non-fraud overpayments, underpayments, and technical system errors. HHS child care program staff must specify categories, receive reports, and use the information. Child care providers with questionable payments may face more precise fraud or overpayment classification. State auditors must support data collection and validation.
Key Provisions
- Adds fraudulent payments to CCDBG overpayment recovery language.
- Requires annual state reports on improper payment dollar amounts and percentages.
- Requires disaggregation by standardized payment categories specified by the Secretary.
- Identifies suspected fraud, verified fraud, non-fraud overpayments, underpayments, and technical system-error payments.
- Supports more comparable child care payment-integrity reporting.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Requires states to include fraudulent payments in CCDBG overpayment recovery reporting and submit annual reports to the Secretary identifying dollar and percentage amounts of improper payments by standardized categories, including suspected fraud, verified fraud, non-fraud overpayments, underpayments, and technical system-error payments.
Key Policy Areas
Child Care, Payment Integrity, Reporting
Primary Purpose
Requires states to include fraudulent payments in CCDBG overpayment recovery reporting and submit annual reports to the Secretary identifying dollar and percentage amounts of improper payments by standardized categories, including suspected fraud, verified fraud, non-fraud overpayments, underpayments, and technical system-error payments.
Policy Domains
Bill provisions
Identified Gains
- HHS child care program staff
- State child care payment-integrity offices
- Congressional oversight staff
- Federal taxpayers
- Families eligible for child care assistance
Identified Costs
- State child care agencies
- State payment-system staff
- HHS child care program staff
- Child care providers with questionable payments
- State auditors
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
ReportedPlaced on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 506.
Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Education and Workforce. H. …
Additional sponsor: Mr. Wilson of South Carolina
Additional sponsor: Mr. Wilson of South Carolina
Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: …
Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held
Mr. Messmer introduced the following bill; which was referred to …
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce.
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Congressional oversight staff, HHS child care program staff, State payment-system staff
Positive-direction: Congressional oversight staff
Negative-direction: HHS child care program staff, State payment-system staff
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "secretary"
- → Secretary administering CCDBG
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology