I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 453 

To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through 

the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration, 

to award grants on a competitive basis to public and private entities 

to provide qualified sexual risk avoidance education to youth and their 

parents. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 21, 2015 

Mr. HULTGREN (for himself, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. PITTS, Mr. NEUGEBAUER, 

Mr. MILLER of Florida, Mr. MULVANEY, Mr. FINCHER, Mr. MULLIN, Mr. 

HUELSKAMP, Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio, Mr. SALMON, Mr. NUNNELEE, Mr. 

JONES, Mr. LAMBORN, Mr. MEADOWS, Mr. POMPEO, and Mr. GOWDY) 

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services, 

acting through the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration, to award grants 

on a competitive basis to public and private entities 

to provide qualified sexual risk avoidance education to 

youth and their parents. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 453 IH

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Healthy Relationships 

3 Act of 2015’’. 

4 SEC. 2. SEXUAL RISK AVOIDANCE EDUCATION. 

5 (a) GRANTS.—The Secretary of Health and Human 

6 Services, acting through the Administrator of the Health 

7 Resources and Services Administration, may award grants 

8 on a competitive basis to public and private entities to pro9 vide qualified sexual risk avoidance education to youth and 

10 their parents. 

11 (b) QUALIFIED SEXUAL RISK AVOIDANCE EDU12 CATION.—To qualify for funding under subsection (a), 

13 sexual risk avoidance education shall meet each of the fol14 lowing: 

15 (1) The primary emphasis and context for each 

16 topic covered through the funding shall be the un17 ambiguous message that postponing sexual activity 

18 is the optimal sexual health behavior for youth. 

19 (2) The education shall be medically accurate. 

20 (3) The education shall be an evidence-based 

21 approach. 

22 (4) The education shall be age-appropriate. 

23 (5) The education shall thoroughly address each 

24 of the following: 

25 (A) The holistic individual and societal 

26 benefits associated with personal responsibility, 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 453 IH

1 success sequencing, self-regulation, goal setting, 

2 healthy decisionmaking, and a focus on the fu3 ture. 

4 (B) The research-based advantage of re5 serving sexual activity for marriage, as associ6 ated with poverty prevention and optimal phys7 ical and emotional health for all youth, regard8 less of previous sexual experience. 

9 (C) The skills needed to resist the perva10 sive, sex-saturated culture that portrays teenage 

11 sexual activity as an expected norm, with few 

12 risks or negative consequences. 

13 (D) The foundational components of 

14 healthy relationships and their impact on the 

15 formation of healthy marriages and safe and 

16 stable families. 

17 (E) How to avoid sexual coercion, dating 

18 violence, and risk behaviors, such as drugs, al19 cohol, and the misuse of social media. 

20 (6) The education shall ensure that any infor21 mation provided on contraception— 

22 (A) emphasizes the superior health benefits 

23 of sexual delay; and 

24 (B) does not exaggerate the effectiveness 

25 of contraception in preventing the physical and 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 453 IH

1 non-physical consequences of teenage sexual ac2 tivity. 

3 (c) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under subsection 

4 (a), the Secretary shall give priority to applicants pro5 posing programs to provide qualified sexual risk avoidance 

6 education that— 

7 (1) serves youth throughout the middle and 

8 high school grades; and 

9 (2) will promote parent-child communication re10 garding healthy sexual decisionmaking. 

11 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 

12 (1) The term ‘‘age-appropriate’’ means appro13 priate for the general developmental and social ma14 turity of the age group (as opposed to the cognitive 

15 ability to understand a topic, or the atypical develop16 ment, of a small segment of the targeted popu17 lation). 

18 (2) The term ‘‘evidence-based approach’’ means 

19 an approach that— 

20 (A) has a clear theoretical framework inte21 grating research findings with practical imple22 mentation relevant to the field; 

23 (B) matches the needs and desired out24 comes for the intended audience; and 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 453 IH

1 (C) if effectively implemented, will dem2 onstrate improved outcomes for the targeted 

3 population. 

4 (3) The term ‘‘medically accurate’’ means ref5 erenced to peer-reviewed research by medical, edu6 cational, scientific, governmental, or public health 

7 publications, organizations, or agencies. 

8 (4) The term ‘‘sexual risk avoidance’’ means 

9 voluntarily refraining from sexual activity. 

10 (5) The term ‘‘sexual activity’’ means genital 

11 contact or sexual stimulation for the purpose of 

12 arousal, including sexual intercourse. 

13 (6) The term ‘‘success sequencing’’ means in14 creasing the chance of avoiding poverty by means of 

15 progression through the following behavorial bench16 marks in the following sequence: completing school, 

17 securing a job, and marrying before bearing chil18 dren. 

19 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—To carry out this Act, there 

21 is authorized to be appropriated $110,000,000 for 

22 each of fiscal years 2016 through 2020. Amounts 

23 authorized to be appropriated by the preceding sen24 tence shall be derived exclusively from amounts in 

25 the Prevention and Public Health Fund established 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 453 IH

1 by section 4002 of the Patient Protection and Af2 fordable Care Act (42 U.S.C. 300u–11). 

3 (2) FEDERAL ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—Of the 

4 amount authorized to be appropriated by paragraph 

5 (1) for a fiscal year— 

6 (A) not more than $1,000,000 are author7 ized to be used for Federal administrative costs; 

8 and 

9 (B) of the amount used by the Secretary 

10 for administrative costs, at least 40 percent 

11 shall be used for training and technical assist12 ance by qualified organizations whose— 

13 (i) sole focus is the development and 

14 advancement of sexual risk avoidance; 

15 (ii) have expertise in theory-based sex16 ual risk avoidance curriculum development 

17 and implementation; 

18 (iii) have direct experience in devel19 oping sexual risk avoidance evaluation in20 struments; and 

21 (iv) can offer technical assistance and 

22 training on a wide range of topics relevant 

23 to the sexual risk avoidance field. 

Æ 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS