I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1526 

To aid and support pediatric involvement in reading and education. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 16, 2009 

Mr. PAYNE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To aid and support pediatric involvement in reading and 

education. 

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 ‘‘Prescribe A Book 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti9 ty’’ means a nonprofit organization that has, as de10 termined by the Secretary, demonstrated effective11 ness in the following areas: 


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1 (A) Providing peer-to-peer training to 

2 healthcare providers in research-based methods 

3 of literacy promotion as part of routine pedi4 atric health supervision visits. 

5 (B) Delivering a training curriculum 

6 through a variety of medical education settings, 

7 including residency training, continuing medical 

8 education, and national pediatric conferences. 

9 (C) Providing technical assistance to local 

10 healthcare facilities to effectively implement a 

11 high-quality Pediatric Early Literacy Program. 

12 (D) Offering opportunities for local health13 care facilities to obtain books at significant dis14 counts, as described in section 7. 

15 (E) Integrating the latest developmental 

16 and educational research into the training cur17 riculum for healthcare providers described in 

18 subparagraph (B). 

19 (2) PEDIATRIC EARLY LITERACY PROGRAM.— 

20 The term ‘‘Pediatric Early Literacy Program’’ 

21 means a program that— 

22 (A) creates and implements a 3-part model 

23 through which— 

24 (i) healthcare providers, doctors, and 

25 nurses, trained in research-based methods 


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1 of early language and literacy promotion, 

2 encourage parents to read aloud to their 

3 young children, and offer developmentally 

4 appropriate recommendations and strate5 gies to parents for the purpose of reading 

6 aloud to their children; 

7 (ii) healthcare providers, at health su8 pervision visits, provide each child between 

9 the ages of 6 months and 5 years a new, 

10 developmentally appropriate children’s 

11 book to take home and keep; and 

12 (iii) volunteers in waiting areas of 

13 healthcare facilities read aloud to children, 

14 modeling for parents the techniques and 

15 pleasures of sharing books together; 

16 (B) demonstrates, through research pub17 lished in peer-reviewed journals, effectiveness in 

18 positively altering parent behavior regarding 

19 reading aloud to children, and improving ex20 pressive and receptive language in young chil21 dren; and 

22 (C) receives the endorsement of nationally 

23 recognized medical associations and academies. 

24 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

25 the Secretary of Education. 


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1 SEC. 3. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED. 

2 The Secretary is authorized to award grants to eligi3 ble entities under this Act to enable the eligible entities 

4 to implement Pediatric Early Literacy Programs. 

5 SEC. 4. APPLICATION. 

6 An eligible entity that desires to receive a grant under 

7 this Act shall submit an application to the Secretary at 

8 such time, in such manner, and including such informa9 tion as the Secretary may reasonably require. 

10 SEC. 5. MATCHING REQUIREMENT. 

11 An eligible entity receiving a grant under this Act 

12 shall provide either directly or through private contribu13 tions, in cash or in-kind, non-Federal matching funds 

14 equal to not less than 50 percent of the grant received 

15 by the eligible entity under this Act. 

16 SEC. 6. USE OF GRANT FUNDS. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity receiving a 

18 grant under this Act shall— 

19 (1) enter into contracts with private nonprofit 

20 organizations, or with public agencies, selected based 

21 on the criteria described in subsection (b), under 

22 which each contractor will agree to establish and op23 erate a Pediatric Early Literacy Program; 

24 (2) provide such training and technical assist25 ance to each contractor of the eligible entity as may 

26 be necessary to carry out this Act; and 


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1 (3) include such other terms and conditions in 

2 an agreement with a contractor as the Secretary de3 termines to be appropriate to ensure the effective4 ness of such programs. 

5 (b) CONTRACTOR CRITERIA.—Contractors shall be 

6 selected under subsection (a)(1) on the basis of the extent 

7 to which the contractors give priority to serving a substan8 tial number or percentage of at-risk children, including— 

9 (1) low-income children (defined in this section 

10 as children from families with incomes below 200 

11 percent of the poverty line), particularly low-income 

12 children in high-poverty areas; 

13 (2) children without adequate medical insur14 ance; 

15 (3) children enrolled in a State Medicaid pro16 gram, established under title XIX of the Social Se17 curity Act (42 U.S.C. 1396 et seq.) or in the State 

18 Children’s Health Insurance Program established 

19 under title XXI of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1397aa et 

20 seq.); 

21 (4) children living in rural areas; 

22 (5) migrant children; and 

23 (6) children with limited access to libraries. 


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1 SEC. 7. RESTRICTION ON PAYMENTS. 

2 The Secretary shall make no payment to eligible enti3 ties under this Act unless the Secretary determines that 

4 the eligible entity or a contractor of the eligible entity, as 

5 the case may be, has made arrangements with book pub6 lishers or distributors to obtain books at discounts that 

7 are at least as favorable as discounts that are customarily 

8 given by such publisher or distributor for book purchases 

9 made under similar circumstances in the absence of Fed10 eral assistance. 

11 SEC. 8. REPORTING REQUIREMENT. 

12 An eligible entity receiving a grant under this Act 

13 shall report annually to the Secretary on the effectiveness 

14 of the program implemented by the eligible entity and the 

15 programs instituted by each contractor of the eligible enti16 ty, and shall include in the report a description of each 

17 program. 

18 SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

19 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

20 this Act— 

21 (1) $15,000,000 for fiscal year 2010; 

22 (2) $16,000,000 for fiscal year 2011; 

23 (3) $17,000,000 for fiscal year 2012; 

24 (4) $18,000,000 for fiscal year 2013; and 

25 (5) $19,000,000 for fiscal year 2014. 

Æ 


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