Union Calendar No. 50

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 996

[Report No. 103–98]

A BILL

To amend title 38, United States Code, to establish

program.a veterans education certification and outreach

MAY 19, 1993

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Commitordered to be printed tee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and
IB

Union Calendar No. 50

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 996

[Report No. 103–98]

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

MAY 19, 1993

Additional sponsors: Mrs. MINK, Mr. RICHARDSON, Mr. DIXON, Mr. HEFNER,

Mr. STENHOLM, Mr. PAYNE of Virginia, and Mr. PARKER

MAY 19, 1993

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed

[Omit the part struck through and insert the part printed in italic]

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,
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1 SECTION 1. VETERANS EDUCATION OUTREACH PROGRAM.

2 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Chapter 36 of title 38, Unit3 ed States Code, is amended by adding at the end of sub4 chapter II the following new section:

5 ‘‘§ 3697B. Veterans education outreach program

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

7 of veterans affairs at institutions of higher learning, as

8 defined in section 3452(f), in accordance with this section.

9 ‘‘(b)(1)(A) The Secretary shall, subject to the avail10 ability of appropriations, make payments to any institu11 tion of higher learning, under and in accordance with this

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

13 eligible for services from offices assisted under this section

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

15 manner as the number of eligible veterans or eligible per16 sons is determined under section 3684(c).

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

18 the offices assisted under this section are persons receiving

19 educational assistance administered by the Department of

20 Veterans Affairs, including assistance provided under

21 chapter 106 of title 10.

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

23 an institution of higher learning or a consortium of insti24 tutions of higher learning, as described in paragraph (3),

25 shall make an application to the Secretary. The applica26 tion shall—
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1 ‘‘(A) set forth such policies, assurances, and

2 procedures that will ensure that—

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

4 or each institution in a consortium of institu5 tions described in paragraph (3), under this

6 section will be used solely to carry out this

7 section;

8 ‘‘(ii) for enhancing the functions of its vet9 erans education outreach program, the appli10 cant will expend, during the academic year for

11 which a payment is sought, an amount equal to

12 at least the amount of the award under this

13 section from sources other than this or any

14 other Federal program; and

15 ‘‘(iii) the applicant will submit to the Sec16 retary such reports as the Secretary may re17 quire or as are required by this section;

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

19 assurances, and procedures as the Secretary may re20 quire in order to protect the financial interests of

21 the United States;

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

23 and procedures as will ensure that the applicant will

24 maintain an office of veterans’ affairs which has re25 sponsibility for—
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1 ‘‘(i) veterans’ certification, outreach, re2 cruitment, and special education programs, in3 cluding the provision of or referral to edu4 cational, vocational, and personal counseling for

5 veterans; and

6 ‘‘(ii) providing information regarding other

7 services provided veterans by the Department,

8 including the readjustment counseling program

9 authorized under section 1712A, the programs

10 of veterans employment and training authorized

11 under the Job Training Partnership Act and

12 the Service Members Occupational Conversion

13 and Training Act of 1992, and the programs

14 carried out under chapters 41 and 42; and

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

16 such manner, in such form, and contain such infor17 mation as the Secretary determines necessary to

18 carry out the functions of the Secretary under this

19 section.

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

21 for funding under this section and which the Secretary

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

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

24 out such program or programs through a consortium
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1 agreement with one or more other institutions of higher

2 learning in the same community.

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

4 under this subsection unless the Secretary determines that

5 the applicant will implement the requirements of para6 graph (2)(C) within the first academic year during which

7 it receives a payment under this section.

8 ‘‘(5) Any institution which received funding under

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

10 fiscal year 1993 shall be eligible under this section for fis11 cal year 1994.

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

13 of the payment which any institution shall receive under

14 this section for any fiscal year shall be $100 for each per15 son who is described in subsection (b)(1)(B).

16 ‘‘(B) The maximum amount of payments to any insti17 tution of higher learning, or any branch thereof which is

18 located in a community which is different from that in

19 which the parent institution thereof is located, in any fis20 cal year is $75,000.

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

22 of higher learning which has had an application approved

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

24 under this section. If the amount appropriated for any fis25 cal year is not sufficient to pay the amounts which all such
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1 institutions are to receive, the Secretary shall ratably re2 duce such payments. If any amount becomes available to

3 carry out this section for a fiscal year after such reduc4 tions have been imposed, such reduced payments shall be

5 increased on the same basis as they were reduced.

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

7 fiscal year, the Secretary shall apportion the appropriation

8 for making such payments, from funds which become

9 available as a result of the limitation on payments set

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

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

12 this section, shall seek to assure the coordination of pro13 grams assisted under this section with other programs car14 ried out by the Department pursuant to this title, and the

15 Secretary shall provide all assistance, technical consulta16 tion, and information otherwise authorized by law as nec17 essary to promote the maximum effectiveness of the activi18 ties and programs assisted under this section.

19 ‘‘(e)(1) From the amounts made available for any fis20 cal year under subsection (f), the Secretary shall retain

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

22 of collecting information about exemplary veterans edu23 cational outreach programs and disseminating that infor24 mation to other institutions of higher learning having such
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1 programs on their campuses. Such collection and dissemi2 nation shall be done on an annual basis.

3 ‘‘(2) From the amounts made available under sub4 section (f), the Secretary may retain not more than two

5 percent for the purpose of administering this section.

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

7 of readjustment benefits for each fiscal year beginning

8 after September 30, 1993, $3,000,000 shall be made avail9 able to carry out this section.’’.

10 ‘‘(f) There is authorized to be appropriated $3,000,000

11 for each fiscal year to carry out this section.’’.

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

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

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

15 section 3697A the following new item:

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