I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 341 

To amend the Community Services Block Grant Act to provide for quality 

improvements. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 25, 2005 

Mr. OSBORNE (for himself, Mr. BOEHNER, Mr. CASTLE, and Mr. WILSON of 

South Carolina) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To amend the Community Services Block Grant Act to 

provide for quality improvements. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Improving the Commu5 nity Services Block Grant Act of 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. COMMUNITY SERVICES BLOCK GRANT ACT AMEND7 MENTS. 

8 (a) PURPOSES AND GOALS.—Section 672 of the Com9 munity Services Block Grant Act (42 U.S.C. 9901 note) 

10 is amended to read as follows: 
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1 ‘‘SEC. 672. PURPOSES AND GOALS. 

2 ‘‘The purpose of this subtitle is to reduce poverty— 

3 ‘‘(1) by strengthening and coordinating local ef4 forts to expand opportunities for individuals and 

5 families to become economically self-sufficient and to 

6 improve and revitalize low-income communities in 

7 urban and rural areas, by providing resources to 

8 States for support of local eligible entities, including 

9 community action agencies and other community10 based organizations— 

11 ‘‘(A) to plan, coordinate, and mobilize a 

12 broad range of Federal, State, local, and pri13 vate assistance or investment in such a manner 

14 as to use these resources effectively to reduce 

15 poverty and in initiatives that are responsive to 

16 specific local needs and conditions; 

17 ‘‘(B) to coordinate a range of services that 

18 meet the needs of low-income families and indi19 viduals, that support strong and healthy fami20 lies, and that assist them in developing the 

21 skills needed to become self sustaining while en22 suring that these services are provided effec23 tively and efficiently; and 

24 ‘‘(C) to design and implement comprehen25 sive approaches to assist eligible individuals in 
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1 gaining employment and achieving economic 

2 self-sufficiency; 

3 ‘‘(2) by improving and revitalizing the low-in4 come communities in urban and rural areas by pro5 viding resources to States for support of local eligi6 ble entities and their partners— 

7 ‘‘(A) to broaden the resource base of initia8 tives and projects directed to the elimination of 

9 poverty and the redevelopment of the low-in10 come community, including partnerships with 

11 nongovernmental and governmental institutions 

12 to develop the community assets and services 

13 that reduce poverty, such as— 

14 ‘‘(i) other private, religious, chari15 table, and community-based organizations; 

16 ‘‘(ii) individual citizens, and business, 

17 labor, and professional groups, that are 

18 able to influence the quantity and quality 

19 of opportunities and services for the poor; 

20 and 

21 ‘‘(iii) local government leadership; and 

22 ‘‘(B) to coordinate community-wide re23 sources and services that will have a significant, 

24 measurable impact on the causes of poverty in 

25 the community and that will help families and 
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1 individuals to achieve economic self-sufficiency 

2 and to test innovative, community-based ap3 proaches to attacking the causes and effects of 

4 poverty and of community breakdown, includ5 ing— 

6 ‘‘(i) innovative initiatives to prevent 

7 and reverse loss of investment, jobs, public 

8 services, and infrastructure in low- and 

9 moderate-income communities; and 

10 ‘‘(ii) innovative partnerships to lever11 age the assets and services that reduce 

12 poverty, as provided in subparagraph (A); 

13 and 

14 ‘‘(3) by ensuring maximum participation of 

15 residents of low-income communities and of mem16 bers of the groups served by grants made under this 

17 subtitle in guiding the eligible entities and in their 

18 programs funded under this subtitle, to ameliorate 

19 the particular problems and needs of low-income 

20 residents and to develop the permanent social and 

21 economic assets of the low-income community in 

22 order to reduce the incidence of poverty.’’. 

23 (b) DEFINITIONS.—Section 673(1)(A) of the Com24 munity Services Block Grant Act (42 U.S.C. 9902(1)(A)) 

25 is amended— 
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1 (1) in clause (i) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

2 (2) in clause (ii) by striking the period at the 

3 end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

4 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘(iii) that successfully develops and 

6 meets the locally determined goals de7 scribed in section 678E(b)(1), as deter8 mined by the State, and meets State goals, 

9 standards, and performance requirements 

10 as provided for in section 678B(a).’’. 

11 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Section 

12 674 of the Community Services Block Grant Act (42 

13 U.S.C. 9903) is amended— 

14 (1) in subsection (a)— 

15 (A) by striking ‘‘1999 through 2003’’ and 

16 inserting ‘‘2006 through 2012’’; and 

17 (B) by striking ‘‘681’’ and inserting 

18 ‘‘675C(b)(3), 681,’’; 

19 (2) in subsection (b)(2)— 

20 (A) by striking ‘‘678F’’ and inserting 

21 ‘‘678E to assist States, eligible entities, and 

22 their partners in projects supported by this sub23 title’’; and 

24 (B) in subparagraph (B) by striking ‘‘mon25 itoring (to correct programmatic deficiencies of 
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1 eligible entities)’’ and inserting ‘‘monitoring (in2 cluding technical assistance and training to cor3 rect programmatic deficiencies of eligible enti4 ties)’’. 

5 (d) USES OF FUNDS.—Section 675C of the Commu6 nity Services Block Grant Act (42 U.S.C. 9907) is amend7 ed— 

8 (1) in subsection (a)(3)(A) by striking ‘‘Begin9 ning on October 1, 2000, a’’ and inserting ‘‘A’’; and 

10 (2) in subsection (b)(1)(F) by striking ‘‘neigh11 borhood-based’’ and inserting ‘‘community-based’’. 

12 (e) APPLICATION AND PLAN.—Section 676 of the 

13 Community Services Block Grant Act (42 U.S.C. 9908) 

14 is amended— 

15 (1) in subsection (b)— 

16 (A) by striking ‘‘Beginning with fiscal year 

17 2000, to’’ and inserting ‘‘To’’; 

18 (B) in paragraph (1)— 

19 (i) in subparagraph (B)— 

20 (I) by striking ‘‘youth develop21 ment programs that support’’ and in22 serting ‘‘youth development programs, 

23 which may include mentoring pro24 grams, that support’’; and 

25 (II) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 
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1 (ii) in subparagraph (C) by adding 

2 ‘‘and’’ at the end; and 

3 (iii) by adding at the end the fol4 lowing: 

5 ‘‘(D) initiatives to improve economic condi6 tions and mobilize new resources in rural areas 

7 to eliminate obstacles to the self-sufficiency of 

8 families and individuals in rural communities;’’; 

9 (C) in paragraph (2) by striking ‘‘commu10 nity and neighborhood-based’’ and inserting 

11 ‘‘community-based’’; 

12 (D) in paragraph (3)— 

13 (i) in the matter preceding subpara14 graph (A) by striking ‘‘information pro15 vided by eligible entities in the State, con16 taining’’ and inserting ‘‘an assurance that 

17 the State will provide information, includ18 ing’’; and 

19 (ii) in subparagraph (D) by striking 

20 ‘‘community and neighborhood-based’’ and 

21 inserting ‘‘community-based’’; 

22 (E) in paragraph (9) by striking ‘‘and 

23 community organizations’’ and inserting ‘‘and 

24 community-based organizations’’; 
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1 (F) in paragraph (10) by striking ‘‘com2 munity organization’’ and inserting ‘‘commu3 nity-based organization’’; 

4 (G) in paragraph (12) by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

5 the end; 

6 (H) by redesignating paragraph (13) as 

7 paragraph (15); and 

8 (I) by inserting after paragraph (12) the 

9 following: 

10 ‘‘(13) an assurance that the State will take 

11 swift action to improve performance or, when appro12 priate, to terminate the funding under this subtitle 

13 of low-performing eligible entities that do not meet 

14 the applicable locally determined goals described in 

15 section 678E(b)(1) or do not meet the State goals, 

16 standards, and requirements as provided for in sec17 tion 678B(a); 

18 ‘‘(14) an assurance that the State will provide 

19 a justification to the Secretary if it continues to fund 

20 persistently low-performing eligible entities; and’’; 

21 (2) in subsection (c)(2) by striking ‘‘plan, or’’ 

22 and all that follows through the period at the end, 

23 and inserting ‘‘plan, to meet a State requirement, as 

24 described in section 678C(a), or to meet the locally 
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1 determined goals as described in section 

2 678E(b)(1).’’; and 

3 (3) by striking subsection (f). 

4 (f) TRAINING, TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE, AND OTHER

5 ACTIVITIES.—Section 678A(a)(1)(A) of the Community 

6 Services Block Grant Act (42 U.S.C. 9913(a)(1)(A)) is 

7 amended— 

8 (1) by inserting ‘‘dissemination regarding best 

9 practices,’’ after ‘‘technical assistance,’’; and 

10 (2) by inserting ‘‘(including to assist in the de11 velopment of reporting systems and electronic data 

12 systems)’’ after ‘‘collection activities’’. 

13 (g) MONITORING OF ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—Section 

14 678B of the Community Services Block Grant Act (42 

15 U.S.C. 9914) is amended— 

16 (1) in subsection (a)— 

17 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1) 

18 by inserting ‘‘and the locally determined per19 formance goals described in section 

20 678E(b)(1)’’ after ‘‘a State’’; and 

21 (B) in paragraph (3)— 

22 (i) by inserting ‘‘appropriate’’ before 

23 ‘‘goals’’; and 

24 (ii) by striking ‘‘established by the 

25 State’’; and 
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1 (2) in the last sentence of subsection (c) by 

2 striking ‘‘Chairperson of the Committee on Edu3 cation’’ and all that follows through ‘‘Human Re4 sources of the Senate’’ and inserting ‘‘appropriate 

5 congressional committees’’. 

6 (h) CORRECTIVE ACTION; TERMINATION AND RE7 DUCTION OF FUNDING.—Section 678C(a) of the Commu8 nity Services Block Grant Act (42 U.S.C. 9915(a)) is 

9 amended in the matter preceding paragraph (1) by strik10 ing ‘‘established by the State’’. 

11 (i) ACCOUNTABILITY AND REPORTING REQUIRE12 MENTS.—Section 678E of the Community Services Block 

13 Grant Act (42 U.S.C. 9917) is amended— 

14 (1) in subsection (a)— 

15 (A) in paragraph (1)(A) by striking ‘‘By 

16 October 1, 2001, each’’ and inserting ‘‘Each’’; 

17 and 

18 (B) in paragraph (2)— 

19 (i) in the 1st sentence by inserting 

20 ‘‘including any activities under section 

21 678C’’ before the period at the end; 

22 (ii) by striking the 2d sentence; 

23 (iii) in the 3d sentence by striking 

24 ‘‘also’’; and 
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1 (iv) in the 3d sentence by inserting 

2 ‘‘information on the timeliness of the dis3 tribution of block grant funds to eligible 

4 entities as provided in section 675C(a),’’ 

5 after ‘‘including’’; 

6 (2) in subsection (b)— 

7 (A) in paragraph (2) in the matter pre8 ceding subparagraph (A) by striking ‘‘beginning 

9 after September 30, 1999’’; 

10 (B) in paragraph (3) by striking ‘‘Com11 mittee on Education’’ and all that follows 

12 through ‘‘Human Resources of the Senate’’ and 

13 inserting ‘‘appropriate congressional commit14 tees’’; 

15 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

16 ‘‘(5) COORDINATION OF REPORTING REQUIRE17 MENTS.—To the maximum extent possible, the Sec18 retary shall coordinate reporting requirements for all 

19 programs of the Department of Health and Human 

20 Services managed by eligible entities so as to consoli21 date and reduce the number of reports required 

22 about individuals, families, and uses of grant 

23 funds.’’; and 

24 (D) by redesignating such subsection as 

25 subsection (c); and 
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1 (3) by inserting after subsection (a) the fol2 lowing: 

3 ‘‘(b) LOCAL ACCOUNTABILITY AND REPORTING RE4 QUIREMENTS.— 

5 ‘‘(1) LOCALLY DETERMINED GOALS.—In order 

6 to be designated as an eligible entity and to receive 

7 a grant under this subtitle, an eligible entity shall 

8 establish locally determined goals for reducing pov9 erty in the community, including goals for— 

10 ‘‘(A) leveraging and mobilizing community 

11 resources; 

12 ‘‘(B) fostering coordination of Federal, 

13 State, local, private, and other assistance; and 

14 ‘‘(C) promoting community involvement. 

15 ‘‘(2) DEMONSTRATION THAT GOALS WERE

16 MET.—In order for an eligible entity to receive a 

17 second or subsequent grant made under this subtitle 

18 after the effective date of this paragraph, such entity 

19 shall demonstrate to the State that it has met the 

20 goals described in paragraph (1).’’. 

21 (j) TREATMENT OF BENEFICIARIES.—Section 679 of 

22 the Community Services Block Grant Act (42 U.S.C. 

23 9920) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

24 ‘‘(f) TREATMENT OF BENEFICIARIES.—In providing 

25 assistance under a program described in subsection (a), 
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1 a religious organization shall not discriminate against a 

2 beneficiary, or a potential beneficiary, of such assistance 

3 on the basis of religion or of a religious belief.’’. 

4 (k) DISCRETIONARY AUTHORITY OF SECRETARY.— 

5 Section 680 of the Community Services Block Grant Act 

6 (42 U.S.C. 9921) is amended— 

7 (1) in subsection (a)— 

8 (A) in paragraph (2)— 

9 (i) in subparagraph (A) by inserting 

10 ‘‘(including financial assistance for con11 struction or substantial rehabilitation of 

12 buildings and facilities, and for loans or in13 vestments in private business enterprises 

14 owned by community development corpora15 tions)’’ after ‘‘assistance’’; 

16 (ii) by redesignating subparagraphs 

17 (B), (C), (D), and (E) as subparagraphs 

18 (D), (E), (F), and (G), respectively; and 

19 (iii) by inserting after subparagraph 

20 (A) the following: 

21 ‘‘(B) FEDERAL INTEREST.—The Secretary 

22 shall establish procedures that permit funds 

23 provided under a grant made under this para24 graph, or intangible assets acquired with such 

25 funds, to become the sole property of the grant-
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1 ee before the expiration of the 12-year period 

2 beginning after the fiscal year for which such 

3 grant is made if such grantee agrees to use 

4 such funds or such property for purposes and 

5 uses consistent with the purposes and uses for 

6 which such grant is made. 

7 ‘‘(C) REPLACEMENT ACTIVITIES.—The 

8 Secretary shall establish procedures to allow a 

9 grant made under this paragraph to be used by 

10 a grantee to carry out activities substantially 

11 similar to the activities for which such grant is 

12 made if, due to no fault of such grantee, such 

13 grantee cannot carry out the activities for which 

14 such grant is made. Such procedures shall re15 quire that the substantially similar activities 

16 serve the same impact area and have the same 

17 goals, objectives, and outcomes as the activities 

18 for which such grant is made.’’; 

19 (B) in paragraph (3)(B) by inserting 

20 ‘‘water and wastewater’’ after ‘‘community’’; 

21 and 

22 (C) in paragraph (4) by striking ‘‘neigh23 borhood-based’’ and inserting ‘‘community24 based’’; and 
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1 (2) in subsection (c) by striking ‘‘Chairperson 

2 of the Committee on Education’’ and all that follows 

3 through ‘‘Human Resources of the Senate’’ and in4 serting ‘‘appropriate congressional committees’’. 

5 (l) COMMUNITY FOOD AND NUTRITION PRO6 GRAMS.—Section 681 of the Community Services Block 

7 Grant Act (42 U.S.C. 9922) is amended— 

8 (1) in subsection (c) in the matter preceding 

9 paragraph (1) by striking ‘‘Committee on Edu10 cation’’ and all that follows through ‘‘Human Re11 sources of the Senate’’ and inserting ‘‘appropriate 

12 congressional committees’’; and 

13 (2) in subsection (d) by striking ‘‘1999 through 

14 2003’’ and inserting ‘‘2006 through 2012’’. 

15 (m) NATIONAL OR REGIONAL PROGRAMS DESIGNED

16 TO PROVIDE INSTRUCTIONAL ACTIVITIES FOR LOW-IN17 COME YOUTH.—Section 682 of the Community Services 

18 Block Grant Act (42 U.S.C. 9923) is amended— 

19 (1) in subsection (b)(5)— 

20 (A) by inserting ‘‘(which may be accom21 plished through mentoring)’’ after ‘‘youth’’; and 

22 (B) by inserting ‘‘to improve academic 

23 achievement’’ after ‘‘study practices’’; and 

24 (2) in subsection (g) by striking ‘‘1999 through 

25 2003’’ and inserting ‘‘2006 through 2012’’. 
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1 SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

2 This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall 

3 take effect on the 1st day of the 1st fiscal year beginning 

4 after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

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