II

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 792

To recognize the National Education Technology Funding Corporation as

a nonprofit corporation operating under the laws of the District of

Columbia, to provide authority for Federal departments and agencies

to provide assistance to such corporation, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MAY 11 (legislative day, MAY 1), 1995

Ms. MOSELEY-BRAUN (for herself, Mr. BURNS, and Mr. ROBB) introduced the

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on

Labor and Human Resources

A BILL

To recognize the National Education Technology Funding

Corporation as a nonprofit corporation operating under

the laws of the District of Columbia, to provide authority

for Federal departments and agencies to provide assistance to such corporation, 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,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Education

5 Technology Funding Corporation Act of 1995’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSE.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds as follows:
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1 (1) CORPORATION.—There has been established

2 in the District of Columbia a private, nonprofit cor3 poration known as the National Education Tech4 nology Funding Corporation which is not an agency

5 or independent establishment of the Federal Govern6 ment.

7 (2) BOARD OF DIRECTORS.—The Corporation is

8 governed by a Board of Directors, as prescribed in

9 the Corporation’s articles of incorporation, consist10 ing of 15 members, of which—

11 (A) five members are representative of

12 public agencies representative of schools and

13 public libraries;

14 (B) five members are representative of

15 State government, including persons knowledge16 able about State finance, technology and edu17 cation; and

18 (C) five members are representative of the

19 private sector, with expertise in network tech20 nology, finance and management.

21 (3) CORPORATE PURPOSES.—The purposes of

22 the Corporation, as set forth in its articles of incor23 poration, are—
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1 (A) to leverage resources and stimulate

2 private investment in education technology in3 frastructure;

4 (B) to designate State education tech5 nology agencies to receive loans, grants or other

6 forms of assistance from the Corporation;

7 (C) to establish criteria for encouraging

8 States to—

9 (i) create, maintain, utilize and up10 grade interactive high capacity networks

11 capable of providing audio, visual and data

12 communications for elementary schools,

13 secondary schools and public libraries;

14 (ii) distribute resources to assure eq15 uitable aid to all elementary schools and

16 secondary schools in the State and achieve

17 universal access to network technology;

18 and .

19 (iii) upgrade the delivery and develop20 ment of learning through innovative tech21 nology-based instructional tools and appli22 cations.

23 (D) to provide loans, grants and other

24 forms of assistance to State education tech25 nology agencies, with due regard for providing
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1 a fair balance among types of school districts

2 and public libraries assisted and the disparate

3 needs of such districts and libraries;

4 (E) to leverage resources to provide maxi5 mum aid to elementary schools, secondary

6 schools and public libraries; and

7 (F) to encourage the development of edu8 cation telecommunications and information

9 technologies through public-private ventures, by

10 serving as a clearinghouse for information on

11 new education technologies, and by providing

12 technical assistance, including assistance to

13 States, if needed, to establish State education

14 technology agencies.

15 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to recog16 nize the Corporation as a nonprofit corporation operating

17 under the laws of the District of Columbia, and to provide

18 authority for Federal departments and agencies to provide

19 assistance to the Corporation.

20 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

21 For the purpose of this Act—

22 (1) The term ‘‘Corporation’’ means the Na23 tional Education Technology Funding Corporation

24 described in section 2(a)(1);
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1 (2) the terms ‘‘elementary school’’ and ‘‘second2 ary school’’ have the same meanings given such

3 terms in section 14101 of the Elementary and Sec4 ondary Education Act of 1965; and

5 (3) the term ‘‘public library’’ has the same

6 meaning given such term in section 3 of the Library

7 Services and Construction Act.

8 SEC. 4. ASSISTANCE FOR EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY PUR9 POSES.

10 (a) AUTHORIZATION OF ASSISTANCE.—Each Federal

11 department or agency is authorized to award grants or

12 contracts, or provide gifts, contributions, or technical as13 sistance, to the Corporation to enable the Corporation to

14 carry out the corporate purposes described in section

15 2(a)(3).

16 (b) AGREEMENT.—In order to receive any assistance

17 described in subsection (a) the Corporation shall enter into

18 an agreement with the Federal department or agency pro19 viding such assistance, under which the Corporation

20 agrees—

21 (1) to use such assistance to provide funding

22 and technical assistance only for activities which the

23 Board of Directors of the Corporation determines

24 are consistent with the corporate purposes described

25 in section 2(a)(3);
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1 (2) to review the activities of State education

2 technology agencies and other entities receiving as3 sistance from the Corporation to assure that the cor4 porate purposes described in section 2(a)(3) are car5 ried out;

6 (3) that no part of the assets of the Corpora7 tion shall accrue to the benefit of any member of the

8 Board of Directors of the Corporation, any officer or

9 employee of the Corporation, or any other individual,

10 except as salary or reasonable compensation for

11 services;

12 (4) that the Board of Directors of the Corpora13 tion will adopt policies and procedures to prevent

14 conflicts of interest;

15 (5) to maintain a Board of Directors of the

16 Corporation consistent with section 2(a)(2);

17 (6) that the Corporation, and any entity receiv18 ing the assistance from the Corporation, are subject

19 to the appropriate oversight procedures of the Con20 gress; and

21 (7) to comply with—

22 (A) the audit requirements described in

23 section 5; and

24 (B) the reporting and testimony require25 ments described in section 6.
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1 (c) CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act shall be

2 construed to establish the Corporation as an agency or

3 independent establishment of the Federal Government, or

4 to establish the members of the Board of Directors of the

5 Corporation, or the officers and employees of the Corpora6 tion, as officers or employees of the Federal Government.

7 SEC. 5. AUDITS.

8 (a) AUDITS BY INDEPENDENT CERTIFIED PUBLIC

9 ACCOUNTANTS.—

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Corporation’s financial

11 statements shall be audited annually in accordance

12 with generally accepted auditing standards by inde13 pendent certified public accountants who are mem14 bers of a nationally recognized accounting firm and

15 who are certified by a regulatory authority of a

16 State or other political subdivision of the United

17 States. The audits shall be conducted at the place or

18 places where the accounts of the Corporation are

19 normally kept. All books, accounts, financial records,

20 reports, files, and all other papers, things, or prop21 erty belonging to or in use by the Corporation and

22 necessary to facilitate the audit shall be made avail23 able to the person or persons conducting the audits,

24 and full facilities for verifying transactions with the

25 balances or securities held by depositories, fiscal
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1 agents, and custodians shall be afforded to such per2 son or persons.

3 (2) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.—The report

4 of each annual audit described in paragraph (1)

5 shall be included in the annual report required by

6 section 6(a).

7 (b) AUDITS BY THE COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF

8 THE UNITED STATES.—

9 (1) AUDITS.—The programs, activities and fi10 nancial transactions of the Corporation shall be sub11 ject to audit by the Comptroller General of the Unit12 ed States under such rules and regulations as may

13 be prescribed by the Comptroller General. The rep14 resentatives of the Comptroller General shall have

15 access to such books, accounts, financial records, re16 ports, files and such other papers, things, or prop17 erty belonging to or in use by the Corporation and

18 necessary to facilitate the audit, and the representa19 tives shall be afforded full facilities for verifying

20 transactions with the balances or securities held by

21 depositories, fiscal agents, and custodians. The rep22 resentatives of the Comptroller General shall have

23 access, upon request to the Corporation or any audi24 tor for an audit of the Corporation under this sec25 tion, to any books, financial records, reports, files or
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1 other papers, things, or property belonging to or in

2 use by the Corporation and used in any such audit

3 and to papers, records, files, and reports of the audi4 tor used in such an audit.

5 (2) REPORT.—A report on each audit described

6 in paragraph (1) shall be made by the Comptroller

7 General to the Congress. The report to the Congress

8 shall contain such comments and information as the

9 Comptroller General may deem necessary to inform

10 the Congress of the financial operations and condi11 tion of the Corporation, together with such rec12 ommendations as the Comptroller General may deem

13 advisable. The report shall also show specifically any

14 program, expenditure, or other financial transaction

15 or undertaking observed or reviewed in the course of

16 the audit, which, in the opinion of the Comptroller

17 General, has been carried on or made contrary to

18 the requirements of this Act. A copy of each such re19 port shall be furnished to the President and to the

20 Corporation at the time such report is submitted to

21 the Congress.

22 (c) AUDIT BY INSPECTOR GENERAL OF THE DE23 PARTMENT OF COMMERCE.—The financial transactions of

24 the Corporation may also be audited by the Inspector Gen25 eral of the Department of Commerce under the same con-
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1 ditions set forth in subsection (b) for audits by the Comp2 troller General of the United States.

3 (d) RECORDKEEPING REQUIREMENTS; AUDIT AND

4 EXAMINATION OF BOOKS.—

5 (1) RECORDKEEPING REQUIREMENTS.—The

6 Corporation shall ensure that each recipient of as7 sistance from the Corporation keeps—

8 (A) separate accounts with respect to such

9 assistance;

10 (B) such records as may be reasonably

11 necessary to fully disclose—

12 (i) the amount and the disposition by

13 such recipient of the proceeds of such as14 sistance;

15 (ii) the total cost of the project or un16 dertaking in connection with which such

17 assistance is given or used; and

18 (iii) the amount and nature of that

19 portion of the cost of the project or under20 taking supplied by other sources; and

21 (C) such other records as will facilitate an

22 effective audit.

23 (2) AUDIT AND EXAMINATION OF BOOKS.—The

24 Corporation shall ensure that the Corporation, or

25 any of the Corporation’s duly authorized representa-
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1 tives, shall have access for the purpose of audit and

2 examination to any books, documents, papers, and

3 records of any recipient of assistance from the Cor4 poration that are pertinent to such assistance. Rep5 resentatives of the Comptroller General shall also

6 have such access for such purpose.

7 SEC. 6. ANNUAL REPORT; TESTIMONY TO THE CONGRESS.

8 (a) ANNUAL REPORT.—Not later than April 30 of

9 each year, the Corporation shall publish an annual report

10 for the preceding fiscal year and submit that report to

11 the President and the Congress. The report shall include

12 a comprehensive and detailed evaluation of the Corpora13 tion’s operations, activities, financial condition, and ac14 complishments under this Act and may include such rec15 ommendations as the Corporation deems appropriate.

16 (b) TESTIMONY BEFORE CONGRESS.—The members

17 of the Board of Directors, and officers, of the Corporation

18 shall be available to testify before appropriate committees

19 of the Congress with respect to the report described in

20 subsection (a), the report of any audit made by the Comp21 troller General pursuant to this Act, or any other matter

22 which any such committee may determine appropriate.

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