I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 799 

To authorize the Attorney General, in consultation with the Secretary of 

Education, to establish a pilot program to make grants to historically 

Black colleges and universities to provide educational programs to offenders who have recently been, or will soon be, released from incarceration, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 1, 2017 

Mr. HILL (for himself, Mr. RICHMOND, Mr. WALKER, Mr. WESTERMAN, and 

Mrs. LOVE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by 

the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To authorize the Attorney General, in consultation with the 

Secretary of Education, to establish a pilot program to 

make grants to historically Black colleges and universities to provide educational programs to offenders who 

have recently been, or will soon be, released from incarceration, and for other purposes. 

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


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Shift Back to Society 

3 Act of 2017’’. 

4 SEC. 2. OFFENDER EDUCATION RE-ENTRY PILOT PRO5 GRAM. 

6 (a) AUTHORIZATION.—The Attorney General, in con7 sultation with the Secretary of Education, shall establish 

8 a pilot program for 5 years which makes grants to not 

9 more than 10 historically Black colleges and universities 

10 to provide educational programming to eligible offenders 

11 in order to facilitate re-entry into the community. 

12 (b) APPLICATION.—The chief executive officer of a 

13 historically Black college or university seeking a grant 

14 under this section shall submit to the Attorney General 

15 an application at such time, in such manner, and con16 taining such information as the Attorney General may rea17 sonably require. 

18 (c) MATCHING FUNDS.—The portion of the costs of 

19 a program provided by a grant under subsection (a) may 

20 not exceed 50 percent. The recipient of a grant under this 

21 section may meet the matching requirement under this 

22 subsection by making in-kind contributions of goods or 

23 services that are directly related to the purpose for which 

24 such grant was awarded. 

25 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


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1 (1) The term ‘‘educational programming’’ 

2 means— 

3 (A) general education development (GED) 

4 programming; or 

5 (B) educational courses which are transfer6 able for course credit at that historically Black 

7 college or university. 

8 (2) The term ‘‘eligible offender’’ means an indi9 vidual who was convicted of a criminal offense and— 

10 (A) has been released from incarceration 

11 for not longer than one year; or 

12 (B) is scheduled to be released from incar13 ceration in not longer than one year. 

14 (3) The term ‘‘historically Black college or uni15 versity’’ has the meaning given the term ‘‘part B in16 stitution’’ under section 322(2) of the Higher Edu17 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1061(2)). 

18 (4) The term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ 

19 has the meaning given that term in section 101 of 

20 the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

21 1001). 

22 (e) PROHIBITION ON NEW AUTHORIZATION OF

23 FUNDS.—This section shall be carried out using amounts 

24 otherwise appropriated or made available to the DepartVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:17 Feb 08, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H799.IH H799

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1 ment of Justice. No additional funds are authorized to be 

2 appropriated to carry out this section. 

3 SEC. 3. GAO STUDY. 

4 Not later than 270 days after the conclusion of the 

5 pilot program under section 2, the Comptroller General 

6 of the United States shall submit to Congress a report 

7 which describes the results of the pilot program. 

Æ 


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