IIB 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1824 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 23, 2009 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, 

Labor, and Pensions 

AN ACT 

To provide assistance to Best Buddies to support the expansion and development of mentoring programs, 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, 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
2 

HR 1824 RFS

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Best Buddies Em3 powerment for People with Intellectual Disabilities Act of 

4 2009’’. 

5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 

6 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

7 (1) Best Buddies operates the first national so8 cial and recreational program in the United States 

9 for people with intellectual disabilities. 

10 (2) Best Buddies is dedicated to helping people 

11 with intellectual disabilities become part of main12 stream society. 

13 (3) Best Buddies is determined to end social 

14 isolation for people with intellectual disabilities by 

15 promoting meaningful friendships between them and 

16 their non-disabled peers in order to help increase the 

17 self-esteem, confidence, and abilities of people with 

18 and without intellectual disabilities. 

19 (4) Since 1989, Best Buddies has enhanced the 

20 lives of people with intellectual disabilities by pro21 viding opportunities for 1-to-1 friendships and inte22 grated employment. 

23 (5) Best Buddies is an international organiza24 tion spanning 1,300 middle school, high school, and 

25 college campuses. 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
3 

HR 1824 RFS

1 (6) Best Buddies implements programs that 

2 will positively impact more than 400,000 individuals 

3 in 2009 and expects to impact 500,000 people by 

4 2010. 

5 (7) The Best Buddies Middle Schools program 

6 matches middle school students with intellectual dis7 abilities with other middle school students and sup8 ports 1-to-1 friendships between them. 

9 (8) The Best Buddies High Schools program 

10 matches high school students with intellectual dis11 abilities with other high school students and sup12 ports 1-to-1 friendships between them. 

13 (9) The Best Buddies Colleges program 

14 matches adults with intellectual disabilities with col15 lege students and creates 1-to-1 friendships between 

16 them. 

17 (10) The Best Buddies e-Buddies program sup18 ports e-mail friendships between people with and 

19 without intellectual disabilities. 

20 (11) The Best Buddies Citizens program pairs 

21 adults with intellectual disabilities in 1-to-1 friend22 ships with other individuals in the corporate and 

23 civic communities. 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
4 

HR 1824 RFS

1 (12) The Best Buddies Jobs program promotes 

2 the integration of people with intellectual disabilities 

3 into the community through supported employment. 

4 (b) PURPOSE.—The purposes of this Act are to— 

5 (1) provide support to Best Buddies to increase 

6 participation in and public awareness about Best 

7 Buddies programs that serve people with intellectual 

8 disabilities; 

9 (2) dispel negative stereotypes about people 

10 with intellectual disabilities; and 

11 (3) promote the extraordinary contributions of 

12 people with intellectual disabilities. 

13 SEC. 3. ASSISTANCE FOR BEST BUDDIES. 

14 (a) EDUCATION ACTIVITIES.—The Secretary of Edu15 cation may award grants to, or enter into contracts or co16 operative agreements with, Best Buddies to carry out ac17 tivities to promote the expansion of Best Buddies, includ18 ing activities to increase the participation of people with 

19 intellectual disabilities in social relationships and other as20 pects of community life, including education and employ21 ment, within the United States. 

22 (b) LIMITATIONS.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Amounts appropriated to 

24 carry out this Act may not be used for direct treatVerDate Nov 24 2008 04:20 Apr 24, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1824.RFS H1824

wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
5 

HR 1824 RFS

1 ment of diseases, medical conditions, or mental 

2 health conditions. 

3 (2) ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIVITIES.—Not more 

4 than 5 percent of amounts appropriated to carry out 

5 this Act for a fiscal year may be used for adminis6 trative activities. 

7 (c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act 

8 shall be construed to limit the use of non-Federal funds 

9 by Best Buddies. 

10 SEC. 4. APPLICATION AND ANNUAL REPORT. 

11 (a) APPLICATION.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible for a grant, 

13 contract, or cooperative agreement under section 

14 3(a), Best Buddies shall submit an application at 

15 such time, in such manner, and containing such in16 formation as the Secretary of Education may re17 quire. 

18 (2) CONTENT.—At a minimum, an application 

19 under this subsection shall contain the following: 

20 (A) A description of activities to be carried 

21 out under the grant, contract, or cooperative 

22 agreement. 

23 (B) Information on specific measurable 

24 goals and objectives to be achieved through acVerDate Nov 24 2008 04:20 Apr 24, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1824.RFS H1824

wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
6 

HR 1824 RFS

1 tivities carried out under the grant, contract, or 

2 cooperative agreement. 

3 (b) ANNUAL REPORT.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—As a condition of receipt of 

5 any funds under section 3(a), Best Buddies shall 

6 agree to submit an annual report at such time, in 

7 such manner, and containing such information as 

8 the Secretary of Education may require. 

9 (2) CONTENT.—At a minimum, each annual re10 port under this subsection shall describe the degree 

11 to which progress has been made toward meeting the 

12 specific measurable goals and objectives described in 

13 the applications submitted under subsection (a). 

14 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

15 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Sec16 retary of Education for grants, contracts, or cooperative 

17 agreements under section 3(a), $10,000,000 for fiscal year 

18 2010, and such sums as may be necessary for each of the 

19 4 succeeding fiscal years. 

Passed the House of Representatives April 22, 2009. 

Attest: LORRAINE C. MILLER, 

Clerk. 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS