I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 996

To amend title 38, United States Code, to establish a veterans education

certification and outreach program.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 18, 1993

Mr. MONTGOMERY (for himself and Mr. SMITH of New Jersey) introduced the

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs

A BILL

To amend title 38, United States Code, to establish a

veterans education certification and outreach program.

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

3 SECTION 1. VETERANS EDUCATION OUTREACH PROGRAM.

4 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Chapter 36 of title 38, Unit5 ed States Code, is amended by adding at the end of sub6 chapter II the following new section:

7 ‘‘§ 3697B. Veterans education outreach program

8 ‘‘(a) The Secretary shall provide funding for offices

9 of veterans affairs at institutions of higher learning, as

10 defined in section 3452(f), in accordance with this section.
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1 ‘‘(b)(1)(A) The Secretary shall, subject to the avail2 ability of appropriations, make payments to any institu3 tion of higher learning, under and in accordance with this

4 section, during any fiscal year if the number of persons

5 eligible for services from offices assisted under this section

6 at the institution is at least 50, determined in the same

7 manner as the number of eligible veterans or eligible per8 sons is determined under section 3684(c).

9 ‘‘(B) The persons who are eligible for services from

10 the offices assisted under this section are persons receiving

11 educational assistance administered by the Department of

12 Veterans Affairs, including assistance provided under

13 chapter 106 of title 10.

14 ‘‘(2) To be eligible for a payment under this section,

15 an institution of higher learning or a consortium of insti16 tutions of higher learning, as described in paragraph (3),

17 shall make an application to the Secretary. The applica18 tion shall—

19 ‘‘(A) set forth such policies, assurances, and

20 procedures that will ensure that—

21 ‘‘(i) the funds received by the institution,

22 or each institution in a consortium of institu23 tions described in paragraph (3), under this

24 section will be used solely to carry out this

25 section;
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1 ‘‘(ii) for enhancing the functions of its vet2 erans education outreach program, the appli3 cant will expend, during the academic year for

4 which a payment is sought, an amount equal to

5 at least the amount of the award under this

6 section from sources other than this or any

7 other Federal program; and

8 ‘‘(iii) the applicant will submit to the Sec9 retary such reports as the Secretary may re10 quire or as are required by this section;

11 ‘‘(B) contain such other statement of policies,

12 assurances, and procedures as the Secretary may re13 quire in order to protect the financial interests of

14 the United States;

15 ‘‘(C) set forth such plans, policies, assurances,

16 and procedures as will ensure that the applicant will

17 maintain an office of veterans’ affairs which has re18 sponsibility for—

19 ‘‘(i) veterans’ certification, outreach, re20 cruitment, and special education programs, in21 cluding the provision of or referral to edu22 cational, vocational, and personal counseling for

23 veterans; and

24 ‘‘(ii) providing information regarding other

25 services provided veterans by the Department,
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1 including the readjustment counseling program

2 authorized under section 1712A, the programs

3 of veterans employment and training authorized

4 under the Job Training Partnership Act and

5 the Service Members Occupational Conversion

6 and Training Act of 1992, and the programs

7 carried out under chapters 41 and 42; and

8 ‘‘(D) be submitted at such time or times, in

9 such manner, in such form, and contain such infor10 mation as the Secretary determines necessary to

11 carry out the functions of the Secretary under this

12 section.

13 ‘‘(3) An institution of higher learning which is eligible

14 for funding under this section and which the Secretary

15 determines cannot feasibly carry out, by itself, any or all

16 of the activities set forth in paragraph (2)(C), may carry

17 out such program or programs through a consortium

18 agreement with one or more other institutions of higher

19 learning in the same community.

20 ‘‘(4) The Secretary shall not approve an application

21 under this subsection unless the Secretary determines that

22 the applicant will implement the requirements of para23 graph (2)(C) within the first academic year during which

24 it receives a payment under this section.
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1 ‘‘(5) Any institution which received funding under

2 section 420A of the Higher Education Act of 1965 during

3 fiscal year 1993 shall be eligible under this section for fis4 cal year 1994.

5 ‘‘(c)(1)(A) Subject to subparagraph (B), the amount

6 of the payment which any institution shall receive under

7 this section for any fiscal year shall be $100 for each per8 son who is described in subsection (b)(1)(B).

9 ‘‘(B) The maximum amount of payments to any insti10 tution of higher learning, or any branch thereof which is

11 located in a community which is different from that in

12 which the parent institution thereof is located, in any fis13 cal year is $75,000.

14 ‘‘(2)(A) The Secretary shall pay to each institution

15 of higher learning which has had an application approved

16 under subsection (b) the amount which it is to receive

17 under this section. If the amount appropriated for any fis18 cal year is not sufficient to pay the amounts which all such

19 institutions are to receive, the Secretary shall ratably re20 duce such payments. If any amount becomes available to

21 carry out this section for a fiscal year after such reduc22 tions have been imposed, such reduced payments shall be

23 increased on the same basis as they were reduced.

24 ‘‘(B) In making payments under this section for any

25 fiscal year, the Secretary shall apportion the appropriation
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1 for making such payments, from funds which become

2 available as a result of the limitation on payments set

3 forth in paragraph (1)(B), in an equitable manner.

4 ‘‘(d) The Secretary, in carrying out the provisions of

5 this section, shall seek to assure the coordination of pro6 grams assisted under this section with other programs car7 ried out by the Department pursuant to this title, and the

8 Secretary shall provide all assistance, technical consulta9 tion, and information otherwise authorized by law as nec10 essary to promote the maximum effectiveness of the activi11 ties and programs assisted under this section.

12 ‘‘(e)(1) From the amounts made available for any fis13 cal year under subsection (f), the Secretary shall retain

14 one percent or $10,000, whichever is less, for the purpose

15 of collecting information about exemplary veterans edu16 cational outreach programs and disseminating that infor17 mation to other institutions of higher learning having such

18 programs on their campuses. Such collection and dissemi19 nation shall be done on an annual basis.

20 ‘‘(2) From the amounts made available under sub21 section (f), the Secretary may retain not more than two

22 percent for the purpose of administering this section.

23 ‘‘(f) Out of amounts made available for the payment

24 of readjustment benefits for each fiscal year beginning
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1 after September 30, 1993, $3,000,000 shall be made avail2 able to carry out this section.’’.

3 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections

4 at the beginning of chapter 36 of title 38, United States

5 Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to

6 section 3697A the following new item:

‘‘3697B. Veterans education outreach program.’’.

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