II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1422 

To establish a grant program in the Department of Transportation to improve 

the traffic safety of teen drivers. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 27, 2011 

Ms. KLOBUCHAR introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To establish a grant program in the Department of 

Transportation to improve the traffic safety of teen drivers. 

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 ‘‘Students Taking Ac5 tion for Road Safety Act of 2011’’ or the ‘‘STARS Act 

6 of 2011’’. 

7 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

8 In this Act: 

9 (1) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

10 the Secretary of Transportation. 


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1 (2) TEEN DRIVER.—The term ‘‘teen driver’’ 

2 means a driver who is younger than 21 years of age. 

3 (3) TEEN TRAFFIC SAFETY PROGRAM.—The 

4 term ‘‘teen traffic safety program’’ includes peer-to5 peer education and prevention strategies in schools 

6 and communities to increase safety belt use and to 

7 reduce speeding, impaired and distracted driving, 

8 underage drinking, and other destructive decisions 

9 by teen drivers that lead to injuries and fatalities. 

10 SEC. 3. TEEN DRIVER SAFETY PROGRAM. 

11 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Transpor12 tation shall establish a teen traffic safety grant program 

13 under which the Secretary shall award grants to States 

14 to implement a statewide program to improve the traffic 

15 safety of teen drivers. 

16 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the program is to 

17 support peer-to-peer education and prevention strategies 

18 in schools and communities— 

19 (1) to increase safety belt use; 

20 (2) to reduce speeding; 

21 (3) to reduce impaired and distracted driving; 

22 (4) to reduce underage drinking; and 

23 (5) to reduce other destructive decisions by teen 

24 drivers that lead to injuries and fatalities. 


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1 (c) APPLICATION.—Any State desiring a grant under 

2 this section shall submit an application to the Secretary 

3 at such time, in such manner, and containing such infor4 mation as the Secretary may require. 

5 (d) ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES.—A State may use grant 

6 funds received under this section to implement a statewide 

7 program to improve traffic safety of teen drivers, includ8 ing— 

9 (1) working with student-led groups and advi10 sors from schools to plan and implement teen traffic 

11 safety programs; 

12 (2) providing subgrants to schools throughout 

13 the State to support the establishment and expan14 sion of student groups focused on teen traffic safety; 

15 (3) providing support, training, and technical 

16 assistance to establish and expand school and com17 munity safety programs for teen drivers; 

18 (4) creating statewide or regional websites to 

19 publicize and circulate information on teen safety 

20 programs; 

21 (5) conducting outreach and providing edu22 cational resources for parents; 

23 (6) establishing State or regional advisory coun24 cils comprised of teen drivers to provide input and 

25 recommendations to the governor and governor’s 


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1 safety representative on issues related to the safety 

2 of teen drivers; 

3 (7) collaborating with law enforcement; 

4 (8) organizing and hosting State and regional 

5 conferences for teen drivers; 

6 (9) establishing partnerships and promoting co7 ordination among community stakeholders, including 

8 public, not-for-profit, and for-profit entities; and 

9 (10) funding a position of coordinator for the 

10 teen safety program in the State or region. 

11 (e) GRANT AMOUNT.—The amount of a grant avail12 able to a State under this section shall be based on a for13 mula administered by the Secretary, which shall— 

14 (1) consider the number of teen drivers in each 

15 State; and 

16 (2) guarantee that each State that applies for 

17 a grant under this section receives at least $200,000 

18 per year. 

19 (f) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—Grant funds pro20 vided under this section shall be used to supplement, not 

21 supplant, Federal and non-Federal funds available for car22 rying out the activities described in this section. 

23 (g) REALLOCATION OF FUNDS.—An agency of a 

24 State that receives a grant under this section may realloVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:16 Jul 28, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1422.IS S1422

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1 cate grant funds to 1 or more nonprofit organizations to 

2 carry out the grant program under this section. 

3 (h) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE CENTER AND CLEAR4 INGHOUSE.— 

5 (1) ESTABLISHMENT OF CENTER.—From funds 

6 appropriated pursuant to subsection (i), the Sec7 retary of Transportation may use up to $500,000 to 

8 contract with a national, nonprofit organization to 

9 establish a technical assistance center (referred to in 

10 this subsection as the ‘‘Center’’) to provide training 

11 and technical assistance to State and local officials, 

12 student leaders, school advisors, and other entities 

13 associated with the grant program under this sec14 tion. 

15 (2) USE OF FUNDS.—The Center may use 

16 funds received under such paragraph for training, 

17 communications, publications, conferences, meetings 

18 and other assistance considered appropriate to de19 velop and sustain a statewide program to improve 

20 traffic safety of teen drivers. 

21 (3) CLEARINGHOUSE.—The Center may operate 

22 a national teen traffic safety clearinghouse— 

23 (A) to develop information and resources 

24 for improving the health and safety of teen 

25 drivers; 


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1 (B) to disseminate techniques and strate2 gies used for successful teen safety programs; 

3 and 

4 (C) to develop and carry out a public 

5 awareness campaign related to the safety of 

6 teen drivers. 

7 (i) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

8 authorized to be appropriated from the Highway Trust 

9 Fund (other than the Mass Transit Account) $25,000,000 

10 for each of fiscal years 2012 through 2016 to carry out 

11 this section. 

12 SEC. 4. TEEN DRIVER ADVISORY COUNCIL. 

13 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall establish 

14 the National Teen Driver Advisory Council (referred to 

15 in this section as the ‘‘Council’’), which shall be comprised 

16 of teen drivers and leaders in teen traffic safety. 

17 (b) STRATEGY AND REPORT.— 

18 (1) STRATEGY.—The Council, in consultation 

19 with teen drivers and leaders in teen traffic safety, 

20 including representatives of appropriate Federal 

21 agencies, shall study and develop an education and 

22 prevention strategy for reducing injuries and fatali23 ties for teen drivers. 

24 (2) REPORT.—Not later than 18 months after 

25 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 


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1 shall submit a report to the appropriate committees 

2 of Congress that contains— 

3 (A) the results of the study conducted by 

4 the Council; and 

5 (B) a description of the strategy developed 

6 by the Council. 

7 SEC. 5. FUNDING. 

8 Of the amounts made available to carry out section 

9 406 of title 23, United States Code, for each of fiscal years 

10 2012 through 2016, $25,000,000 shall be made available 

11 to carry out this Act. 

Æ 


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