I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5949 

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

the traffic safety of teen drivers. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 29, 2010 

Mr. CAPUANO introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

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 2010’’ or ‘‘STARS Act of 

6 2010’’. 

7 SEC. 2. TEEN DRIVER SAFETY PROGRAM. 

8 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Transpor9 tation shall establish and implement a teen traffic safety 

10 grant program under which the Secretary shall make 


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1 grants to States to implement a statewide program to im2 prove the traffic safety of teen drivers. 

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

4 support peer-to-peer education and prevention strategies 

5 in schools and communities to increase safety belt use and 

6 reduce speeding, impaired and distracted driving, under7 age drinking, and other destructive decisions among teen 

8 drivers that lead to injuries and fatalities. 

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

10 this section shall submit an application to the Secretary 

11 at such time, in such manner, and containing such infor12 mation as the Secretary may require. 

13 (d) ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES.—A State may use funds 

14 from a grant under this section to implement a statewide 

15 program to improve traffic safety of teen drivers, including 

16 activities such as— 

17 (1) working with student-led groups and advi18 sors from schools to plan and implement teen traffic 

19 safety programs; 

20 (2) providing subgrants to schools throughout 

21 the State to support the establishment and expan22 sion of student groups focused on teen traffic safety; 

23 (3) providing support, training, and technical 

24 assistance to establish and expand school and com25 munity safety programs for teen drivers; 


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1 (4) creating statewide or regional Web sites to 

2 publicize and circulate information on teen safety 

3 programs; 

4 (5) conducting outreach and providing edu5 cational resources for parents; 

6 (6) establishing State or regional advisory coun7 cils comprised of teen drivers to provide input and 

8 recommendations to the governor and governor’s 

9 safety representative on issues related to the safety 

10 of teen drivers; 

11 (7) collaborating with law enforcement; 

12 (8) organizing and hosting State and regional 

13 conferences for teen drivers; 

14 (9) establishing partnerships and promoting co15 ordination among community stakeholders, including 

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

17 (10) funding a position of coordinator for the 

18 teen safety program in the State or region. 

19 (e) GRANT AMOUNT.—The amount of a grant avail20 able to a State under this section shall be based on a for21 mula administered by the Secretary. In administering the 

22 formula, the Secretary shall consider the number of teen 

23 drivers in each State, except that no State that applies 

24 for a grant under this section shall receive less than 

25 $200,000 annually. 


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1 (f) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—Grant funds pro2 vided under this section shall be used to supplement, not 

3 supplant, Federal and non-Federal funds available for car4 rying out the activities described in this section. 

5 (g) SUBALLOCATION OF FUNDS.—An agency of a 

6 State that receives a grant under this section may suballo7 cate grant funds to one or several nonprofit organizations 

8 to carry out the program under this section. 

9 (h) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE CENTER AND CLEAR10 INGHOUSE.— 

11 (1) ESTABLISHMENT OF CENTER.—From funds 

12 provided under subsection (c), the Secretary may use 

13 up to $500,000 to contract with a national, non14 profit organization to provide training and technical 

15 assistance to State and local officials, student lead16 ers, school advisors, and other entities associated 

17 with the grant program established in this section. 

18 (2) USE OF FUNDS.—The center may use funds 

19 for training, communications, publications, con20 ferences, meetings and other assistance considered 

21 appropriate to develop and sustain a statewide pro22 gram to improve traffic safety of teen drivers. 

23 (3) CLEARINGHOUSE.—The center may operate 

24 a national teen traffic safety clearinghouse to de25 velop information and resources for improving the 


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1 health and safety of teen drivers, disseminate tech2 niques and strategies used for successful teen safety 

3 programs, and develop and carry out a public aware4 ness campaign related to the safety of teen drivers. 

5 (i) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

6 authorized to be appropriated from the Highway Trust 

7 Fund (other than the Mass Transit Account) to carry out 

8 this section $25,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2011 

9 through 2015. 

10 SEC. 3. TEEN DRIVER ADVISORY COUNCIL. 

11 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall establish 

12 the National Teen Driver Advisory Council which shall be 

13 comprised of teen drivers and leaders in teen traffic safety. 

14 (b) STRATEGY AND REPORT.— 

15 (1) STRATEGY.—The Council, working with 

16 teen drivers and leaders in teen traffic safety, in17 cluding representatives of appropriate Federal agen18 cies, shall study and develop an education and pre19 vention strategy for reducing injuries and fatalities 

20 for teen drivers. 

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

22 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

23 shall submit to the appropriate committees of Con24 gress a report containing the results of the study 


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1 conducted by the Council and a description of the 

2 strategy developed. 

3 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

4 In this Act the following definitions apply: 

5 (1) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 

6 of Transportation. 

7 (2) The term ‘‘teen driver’’ means a driver 

8 under the age of 21. 

9 (3) The term ‘‘teen traffic safety program’’ in10 cludes peer-to-peer education and prevention strate11 gies in schools and communities to increase safety 

12 belt use and reduce speeding, impaired and dis13 tracted driving, underage drinking, and other de14 structive decisions among teen drivers that lead to 

15 injuries and fatalities. 

Æ 


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