I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1258 

To strengthen communities through English literacy and civics education 

for new Americans, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 19, 2013 

Mr. HONDA (for himself, Ms. BORDALLO, Mr. ELLISON, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. SIRES, Mr. VARGAS, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. 

LOWENTHAL, and Mr. SABLAN) introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To strengthen communities through English literacy and 

civics education for new Americans, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Strengthen and Unite Communities with Civics Edu6 cation and English Development Act of 2013’’. 

7 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

8 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Purposes. 


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TITLE I—EXPANDING ENGLISH LITERACY, U.S. HISTORY, AND 

CIVICS EDUCATION 

Sec. 101. Increased investment in English literacy, U.S. history, and civics education under the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act. 

Sec. 102. Definitions of English language learner. 

Sec. 103. Research in adult education. 

TITLE II—SUPPORTING ENGLISH LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND 

ADULT EDUCATION IN THE WORKFORCE 

Sec. 201. Presidential award for business leadership in promoting United 

States citizenship. 

TITLE III—BUILDING STRONGER COMMUNITIES 

Sec. 301. Office of Citizenship and Immigrant Integration. 

Sec. 302. Grants to States. 

Sec. 303. Authorized activities. 

Sec. 304. Reporting and evaluation. 

Sec. 305. New citizens award program. 

Sec. 306. Rule of construction. 

Sec. 307. Authorization of appropriations. 

1 SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 

2 The purposes of this Act are— 

3 (1) to meet the growing need for English lit4 eracy, U.S. history, and civics education programs 

5 for new Americans in the United States; and 

6 (2) to encourage proactive policies to introduce 

7 new Americans into the Nation in order to maximize 

8 the benefits provided to these individuals and to the 

9 community. 


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1 TITLE I—EXPANDING ENGLISH 

2 LITERACY, U.S. HISTORY, AND 

3 CIVICS EDUCATION 

4 SEC. 101. INCREASED INVESTMENT IN ENGLISH LITERACY, 

5 U.S. HISTORY, AND CIVICS EDUCATION 

6 UNDER THE ADULT EDUCATION AND FAMILY 

7 LITERACY ACT. 

8 (a) INTEGRATED ENGLISH LITERACY AND CIVICS

9 EDUCATION PROGRAM.—Section 203 of the Adult Edu10 cation and Family Literacy Act (20 U.S.C. 9202) is 

11 amended— 

12 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (12) through 

13 (18) as paragraphs (13) through (19), respectively; 

14 and 

15 (2) by inserting after paragraph (11), the fol16 lowing: 

17 ‘‘(12) INTEGRATED ENGLISH LITERACY, U.S. 

18 HISTORY, AND CIVICS EDUCATION PROGRAM.—The 

19 term ‘integrated English literacy, U.S. history, and 

20 civics education program’ means a program of in21 struction designed to help an English language 

22 learner achieve competence in English through 

23 contextualized instruction on the rights and respon24 sibilities of citizenship, naturalization procedures, 

25 civic participation, and United States history and 


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1 government to help such learner acquire the skills 

2 and knowledge to become an active and informed 

3 parent, worker, and community member.’’. 

4 (b) STATE LEADERSHIP ACTIVITIES.—Section 

5 223(a) of the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act 

6 (20 U.S.C. 9223(a)) is amended by inserting after para7 graph (11) the following: 

8 ‘‘(12) Technical assistance for grant applica9 tions of faith- and community-based organizations.’’. 

10 (c) NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LITERACY.—Section 

11 242(c)(1) of the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act 

12 (20 U.S.C. 9252(c)(1)) is amended— 

13 (1) by redesignating subparagraphs (G), (H), 

14 and (I), as subparagraphs (I), (J), and (K), respec15 tively; and 

16 (2) by inserting after subparagraph (F) the fol17 lowing: 

18 ‘‘(G) to coordinate and share information 

19 with national organizations and associations 

20 that are interested in integrated English lit21 eracy, U.S. history, and civics education pro22 grams; 

23 ‘‘(H) to study the effectiveness of distance 

24 learning or self-study programs in assisting the 


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1 English language learner population achieve 

2 competence in English;’’. 

3 (d) REPORT.—Section 242(k) of the Adult Education 

4 and Family Literacy Act (20 U.S.C. 9252(k)) is amend5 ed— 

6 (1) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘and’’ after 

7 the semicolon; 

8 (2) by redesignating paragraph (3) as para9 graph (4); and 

10 (3) by inserting after paragraph (2) the fol11 lowing: 

12 ‘‘(3) a separate analysis of— 

13 ‘‘(A) national and State adult English in14 struction needs; 

15 ‘‘(B) data on the composition of recent im16 migration flows and immigration settlement 

17 patterns across the United States; and 

18 ‘‘(C) estimated instructional needs based 

19 on the English ability and educational attain20 ment of English language learners under recent 

21 migration patterns; and’’. 

22 (e) NATIONAL LEADERSHIP ACTIVITIES.—Section 

23 243 of the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (20 

24 U.S.C. 9253) is amended— 

25 (1) in paragraph (1)— 


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1 (A) in subparagraph (A), by inserting 

2 ‘‘and integrated English literacy, U.S. history, 

3 and civics education programs’’ before the semi4 colon at the end; and 

5 (B) in subparagraph (B), by inserting 

6 ‘‘and integrated English literacy, U.S. history, 

7 and civics education programs’’ before ‘‘, based 

8 on scientific evidence’’; and 

9 (2) in paragraph (2)— 

10 (A) in subparagraph (B), by inserting 

11 ‘‘and integrated English literacy, U.S. history, 

12 and civics education programs’’ before the semi13 colon at the end; 

14 (B) in subparagraph (D)(ii), by inserting 

15 ‘‘integrated English literacy, U.S. history, and 

16 civics education programs,’’ before ‘‘and work17 place literacy programs’’; and 

18 (C) in subparagraph (E)— 

19 (i) in clause (i), by inserting ‘‘and in20 tegrated English literacy, U.S. history, and 

21 civics education programs’’ before the 

22 semicolon at the end; 

23 (ii) in clause (iii), by striking ‘‘and’’ 

24 after the semicolon; 

25 (iii) in clause (iv)— 


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1 (I) by striking ‘‘section 231’’ and 

2 inserting ‘‘sections 231 and 244’’; and 

3 (II) by inserting ‘‘and’’ after the 

4 semicolon; and 

5 (iv) by adding at the end the fol6 lowing: 

7 ‘‘(v) the extent to which integrated 

8 English literacy, U.S. history, and civics 

9 education programs carried out under sec10 tion 244 lead participants in such pro11 grams to increase their civic participation 

12 and, if applicable, lead such participants to 

13 become United States citizens;’’. 

14 (f) INTEGRATED ENGLISH LITERACY, U.S. HISTORY, 

15 AND CIVICS EDUCATION.—Chapter 4 of subtitle A of the 

16 Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (20 U.S.C. 

17 9251 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol18 lowing: 

19 ‘‘SEC. 244. INTEGRATED ENGLISH LITERACY, U.S. HISTORY, 

20 AND CIVICS EDUCATION PROGRAMS. 

21 ‘‘(a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—From funds appro22 priated to carry out this section, the Secretary shall award 

23 grants to States, from allocations under subsection (b), 

24 for integrated English literacy, U.S. history, and civics 

25 education programs. 


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1 ‘‘(b) ALLOCATIONS.— 

2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 

3 from the amount appropriated under subsection (c) 

4 for a fiscal year, the Secretary shall allocate— 

5 ‘‘(A) 65 percent of such amount to States 

6 on the basis of a State’s need for integrated 

7 English, U.S. history, and civics education pro8 grams, as determined by calculating each 

9 State’s share of a 10-year average of the data 

10 compiled by the Office of Immigration Statistics 

11 of the Department of Homeland Security, for 

12 immigrants admitted for lawful permanent resi13 dence for the 10 most recent years; and 

14 ‘‘(B) 35 percent of such amount to the 

15 States on the basis of whether the State experi16 enced growth, as measured by the average of 

17 the 3 most recent years for which data compiled 

18 by the Office of Immigration Statistics of the 

19 Department of Homeland Security are avail20 able, for immigrants admitted for lawful perma21 nent residence. 

22 ‘‘(2) MINIMUM.—No State shall receive an allo23 cation under paragraph (1) in an amount that is less 

24 than $60,000. 


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1 ‘‘(c) DEFINITION.—The term ‘State’ means each of 

2 the 50 States, the District of Columbia, the Common3 wealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Commonwealth of the 

4 Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, and the 

5 United States Virgin Islands. 

6 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATION.—For the 

7 purpose of carrying out this section, there are authorized 

8 to be appropriated $200,000,000 for fiscal year 2014, 

9 $250,000,000 for fiscal year 2015, and $300,000,000 for 

10 fiscal year 2017.’’. 

11 SEC. 102. DEFINITIONS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNER. 

12 (a) ADULT EDUCATION AND FAMILY LITERACY

13 ACT.—The Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (20 

14 U.S.C. 9201 et seq.) is amended— 

15 (1) in section 203(6) (20 U.S.C. 9202(6)), by 

16 striking ‘‘individuals of limited English proficiency’’ 

17 and inserting ‘‘English language learners’’; 

18 (2) in section 203 (20 U.S.C. 9202)— 

19 (A) in paragraph (10)— 

20 (i) in the paragraph heading, by strik21 ing ‘‘INDIVIDUAL OF LIMITED ENGLISH

22 PROFICIENCY’’ and inserting ‘‘ENGLISH

23 LANGUAGE LEARNER’’; and 

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1 ited English proficiency’’ and inserting 

2 ‘‘English language learner’’; and 

3 (B) by redesignating paragraphs (6), (7), 

4 (8), (9), and (10), as paragraphs (7), (8), (9), 

5 (10), and (6), respectively; 

6 (3) in section 224(b)(10)(D) (20 U.S.C. 

7 9224(b)(10)(D)), by striking ‘‘individuals with lim8 ited English proficiency’’ and inserting ‘‘English lan9 guage learners’’; and 

10 (4) in section 243(2)(D)(ii) (20 U.S.C. 

11 9253(2)(D)(ii)), by striking ‘‘individuals with limited 

12 English proficiency who are adults’’ and inserting 

13 ‘‘adult English language learners’’. 

14 (b) ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION ACT

15 OF 1965.— 

16 (1) AMENDMENT.—Section 9101(25) of the El17 ementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

18 U.S.C. 7801(25)) is amended by striking the matter 

19 preceding subparagraph (A) and inserting the fol20 lowing: 

21 ‘‘(25) ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNER.—The 

22 term ‘English language learner’ means an indi23 vidual—’’. 

24 (2) REFERENCES.—Any reference in the Ele25 mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 


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1 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.) to an individual who is limited 

2 English proficient shall be construed to refer to an 

3 English language learner. 

4 SEC. 103. RESEARCH IN ADULT EDUCATION. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 133(c)(2)(A) of the Edu6 cation Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (20 U.S.C. 

7 9533(c)(2)(A)) is amended by inserting ‘‘education and’’ 

8 before ‘‘literacy’’. 

9 (b) NATIONAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CEN10 TER.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Education 

12 shall direct the Commissioner for Education Re13 search of the National Center for Education Re14 search established pursuant to section 131 of the 

15 Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (20 U.S.C. 

16 9531) to establish a national research and develop17 ment center for adult education and literacy as de18 scribed in section 133(c)(2)(A) of such Act (20 

19 U.S.C. 9533(c)(2)(A)) (as amended by subsection 

20 (a)). 

21 (2) PROVISION FOR EXPANSION OF RE22 SEARCH.—If, as of the date of enactment of this 

23 Act, the Commissioner has established a center for 

24 adult literacy in accordance with section 

25 133(c)(2)(A) of the Education Sciences Reform Act 


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1 of 2002, the Commissioner shall expand the topic of 

2 research of such center to include adult education, 

3 in accordance with the amendment made by sub4 section (a). 

5 TITLE II—SUPPORTING ENGLISH 

6 LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND 

7 ADULT EDUCATION IN THE 

8 WORKFORCE 

9 SEC. 201. PRESIDENTIAL AWARD FOR BUSINESS LEADER10 SHIP IN PROMOTING UNITED STATES CITI11 ZENSHIP. 

12 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established the Pres13 idential Award for Business Leadership in Promoting 

14 United States Citizenship (referred to in this section as 

15 the ‘‘Presidential Citizenship Award’’), which shall be 

16 awarded to companies and other organizations that make 

17 extraordinary efforts in assisting their employees and 

18 members to learn English and increase their under19 standing of United States history and civics. 

20 (b) SELECTION AND PRESENTATION OF AWARD.— 

21 (1) SELECTION.—The President shall periodi22 cally award the Presidential Citizenship Award to 

23 large and small companies and other organizations 

24 described in subsection (a) after reviewing rec25 ommendations to the President with respect to such 


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1 award by the Secretary of Homeland Security and 

2 the Secretary of Commerce. 

3 (2) PRESENTATION.—The presentation of the 

4 Presidential Citizenship Award shall be made by the 

5 President, or a designee of the President, in con6 junction with an appropriate ceremony. 

7 TITLE III—BUILDING STRONGER 

8 COMMUNITIES 

9 SEC. 301. OFFICE OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRANT INTE10 GRATION. 

11 (a) RENAMING OF THE OFFICE OF CITIZENSHIP AND

12 IMMIGRANT INTEGRATION.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Office of Citizenship 

14 within United States Citizenship and Immigration 

15 Services of the Department of Homeland Security 

16 shall be renamed the ‘‘Office of Citizenship and Im17 migrant Integration’’. 

18 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 451(f) 

19 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 

20 271(f)) is amended— 

21 (A) in the subsection heading, by striking 

22 ‘‘CITIZENSHIP.’’ and inserting ‘‘CITIZENSHIP

23 AND IMMIGRANT INTEGRATION.’’; 


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1 (B) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘and 

2 Immigrant Integration’’ after ‘‘Office of Citi3 zenship’’; and 

4 (C) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘and 

5 Immigrant Integration’’ after ‘‘Office of Citi6 zenship’’. 

7 (3) REFERENCES.—Any reference in a law, reg8 ulation, document, paper, or other record of the 

9 United States to the Office of Citizenship within 

10 United States Citizenship and Immigration Services 

11 of the Department of Homeland Security shall be 

12 deemed to be a reference to the ‘‘Office of Citizen13 ship and Immigrant Integration’’. 

14 (b) FUNCTIONS.—Section 451(f)(2) of the Homeland 

15 Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 271(f)(2)), as amended 

16 by subsection (a)(2)(C), is further amended by striking 

17 ‘‘for promoting’’ and all that follows through the period 

18 and inserting ‘‘for— 

19 ‘‘(A) establishing national goals for intro20 ducing new Americans into the United States 

21 and measuring the degree to which such goals 

22 are met; 

23 ‘‘(B) assessing and coordinating Federal 

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1 sions related to introducing immigrants into the 

2 United States; 

3 ‘‘(C) continuing with the efforts of the 

4 Task Force on New Americans established 

5 under Executive Order No. 13404 to facilitate 

6 a dialogue among Federal agencies, make rec7 ommendations to the President of the United 

8 States, and follow through with initiatives ad9 ministered by the Task Force under the author10 ity of such Executive order; 

11 ‘‘(D) serving as a liaison and intermediary 

12 with State and local governments and other en13 tities to assist in establishing local goals, task 

14 forces, and councils to assist in introducing im15 migrants to the United States; 

16 ‘‘(E) coordinating with other Federal agen17 cies to provide information to State and local 

18 governments on the demand for English acqui19 sition programs and best practices in place on 

20 the Federal and State level for aliens who have 

21 recently arrived in the United States; 

22 ‘‘(F) assisting States in coordinating ac23 tivities with the grant program carried out 

24 under title III of the Strengthen and Unite 


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1 Communities with Civics Education and 

2 English Development Act of 2013; and 

3 ‘‘(G) promoting instruction and training on 

4 citizenship responsibilities for aliens interested 

5 in becoming naturalized citizens of the United 

6 States, including the development of edu7 cational materials for such aliens.’’. 

8 (c) DONATIONS.—Section 451(f) of the Homeland 

9 Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 271(f)), as amended by 

10 this section, is further amended by adding at the end the 

11 following: 

12 ‘‘(3) DONATIONS.— 

13 ‘‘(A) ACCEPTANCE OF DONATIONS.—The 

14 Chief of the Office of Citizenship and Immi15 grant Integration may accept monetary and in16 kind donations to support the activities de17 scribed in paragraph (2). 

18 ‘‘(B) DEDICATION OF FUNDS.—Notwith19 standing any other provision of law— 

20 ‘‘(i) any funds donated to the Office 

21 of Citizenship and Immigrant Integration 

22 to support the activities described in para23 graph (2) shall be deposited entirely into 

24 an account established for such purpose; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) the funds contained in such ac2 count shall be used solely to support such 

3 activities; and 

4 ‘‘(iii) funds that were not donated for 

5 the exclusive purpose of supporting such 

6 activities may not be deposited into such 

7 account.’’. 

8 (d) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—The Chief of the Office 

9 of Citizenship and Immigrant Integration shall submit a 

10 biennial report to the authorizing Committees in Congress 

11 that describes the activities of the office. 

12 SEC. 302. GRANTS TO STATES. 

13 (a) AUTHORITY TO PROVIDE GRANTS.—Subject to 

14 subsections (c) and (d), the Chief of the Office of Citizen15 ship and Immigrant Integration is authorized to provide 

16 competitive grants to States to form State New American 

17 Councils as described in subsection (b) to carry out activi18 ties described in section 303. 

19 (b) STATE NEW AMERICAN COUNCILS.—A State 

20 New American Council shall consist of not less than 15 

21 and not more than 19 individuals from the State and shall 

22 include, to the extent practicable, representatives from the 

23 following sectors: 

24 (1) Business. 

25 (2) Faith-based organizations. 


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1 (3) Civic organizations. 

2 (4) Philanthropic leaders. 

3 (5) Nonprofit organizations, including those 

4 with experience working with immigrant commu5 nities. 

6 (6) Representatives from key education stake7 holders, such as State educational agencies, local 

8 educational agencies, community colleges, teachers, 

9 or organizations representing teachers and other em10 ployees. 

11 (7) Representatives of State adult education of12 fices. 

13 (8) Representatives of State or local public li14 braries. 

15 (9) Representatives of statewide or local govern16 ment officials. 

17 (c) WAIVER OF REQUIREMENT.— 

18 (1) AUTHORITY TO GRANT.—The Chief of the 

19 Office of Citizenship and Immigrant Integration 

20 may award a grant under subsection (a) to a State 

21 without requiring the State to form a State New 

22 American Council if the Chief determines that the 

23 State is carrying out similar statewide initiatives to 

24 introduce immigrants into the State and into the 

25 United States. 


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1 (2) GUIDELINES.—The Chief shall establish 

2 guidelines for awarding grants to States described in 

3 paragraph (1). 

4 (d) GRANTS TO LOCAL GOVERNMENTS.—The Chief 

5 of the Office of Citizenship and Immigrant Integration 

6 may provide a grant under subsection (a) to a local gov7 ernment at the discretion of the Chief. 

8 (e) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a grant 

9 under this section, an applicant shall submit an applica10 tion to the Chief of the Office of Citizenship and Immi11 grant Integration at such time, in such manner, and con12 taining such information as the Chief may reasonably re13 quire. Such application shall include— 

14 (1) if the applicant is a State seeking to form 

15 a State New American Council, an assurance that 

16 such State New American Council will meet the re17 quirements of subsection (b); 

18 (2) the number of immigrants in the State in 

19 which the applicant is located; 

20 (3) a description of the challenges in intro21 ducing new Americans in the State and local com22 munity; and 

23 (4) any other information that the Chief may 

24 reasonably require. 


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1 (f) DURATION.—A grant awarded under subsection 

2 (a) shall be for a period of 5 years. 

3 (g) PRIORITY.—Priority shall be given to grant appli4 cations that— 

5 (1) use matching funds, from non-Federal 

6 sources, which may include in-kind contributions; 

7 and 

8 (2) demonstrate collaboration with private enti9 ties to achieve the goals of their comprehensive plan. 

10 (h) ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATION.—Additional con11 sideration shall be given to grant applications submitted 

12 by States with a large increase in the population of immi13 grants over the previous 10 years relative to past migra14 tion patterns, based on data compiled by the Office of Im15 migration Statistics of the Department of Homeland Secu16 rity. 

17 (i) GRANT AMOUNT.—The amount of a grant award18 ed under subsection (a) shall be not less than $500,000 

19 and not more than $5,000,000 for each fiscal year. 

20 (j) RESERVATIONS.— 

21 (1) NATIONAL.—The Chief of the Office of Citi22 zenship and Immigrant Integration shall reserve not 

23 more than 1 percent of the amount appropriated to 

24 carry out this section for such Office, including the 

25 evaluation of funds distributed. 


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1 (2) STATES.—A State awarded a grant under 

2 subsection (a) may reserve not more than 10 percent 

3 of such grant amount for the creation and operation 

4 of the State New American Council. 

5 SEC. 303. AUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES. 

6 (a) MANDATORY ACTIVITIES.—A grant awarded 

7 under section 302(a) shall be used— 

8 (1) to develop, implement, expand, or enhance 

9 a comprehensive plan to introduce new immigrants 

10 into the State, including the increase in English lit11 eracy, U.S. history, and civics education; 

12 (2) to provide subgrants to local communities 

13 as described in subsection (c); 

14 (3) if the grant is awarded to a State to form 

15 a State New American Council, to convene meetings 

16 of the State New American Council not less fre17 quently than once each quarter; 

18 (4) to disseminate best practices and other in19 formation compiled by the Office of Citizenship and 

20 Immigrant Integration that pertains to effective pro21 grams for English acquisition and civics education; 

22 and 

23 (5) to convene public hearings not less fre24 quently than once each year to report on the activi25 ties carried out by such grant. 


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1 (b) PERMISSIBLE ACTIVITIES.—A grant awarded 

2 under section 302(a) may be used— 

3 (1) to solicit and disseminate solutions and 

4 remedies to the challenges of introducing new Amer5 icans in the State or municipality in which the grant 

6 is awarded; 

7 (2) to provide technical assistance, training, or 

8 coordination for State or local agencies to improve 

9 programs to introduce new Americans into the 

10 United States, such as English literacy, U.S. his11 tory, and civics education; 

12 (3) to review and develop strategies to expand 

13 distance learning as a method of instruction for 

14 English literacy, U.S. history, and civics education 

15 and available technological programs that may sup16 plement or supplant quality classroom instruction; 

17 (4) to coordinate with entities of other States 

18 engaged in activities under this title or other activi19 ties to introduce new Americans into the State or 

20 community; and 

21 (5) to develop materials focused on preparation 

22 for the naturalization test, engage in outreach and 

23 educational activities on the naturalization process, 

24 and provide assistance to immigrants with the natu25 ralization application, where appropriate. 


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1 (c) SUBGRANTS TO LOCAL COMMUNITIES.— 

2 (1) REQUIREMENT TO AWARD.—A grant under 

3 section 302(a) shall be used to award subgrants to 

4 entities of local governments to assist communities 

5 with local efforts to introduce new Americans into 

6 the community. 

7 (2) AUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES.—Subgrants shall 

8 be awarded under paragraph (1) to entities of local 

9 governments for use to carry out activities in accord10 ance with— 

11 (A) a comprehensive plan described in sub12 section (a)(1); and 

13 (B) any guidance provided by the Chief of 

14 the Office of Citizenship and Immigrant Inte15 gration. 

16 (3) SUBGRANT AMOUNT.—The amount of a 

17 subgrant awarded under this subsection shall be not 

18 less than $100,000 and not more than $600,000 for 

19 a fiscal year. 

20 SEC. 304. REPORTING AND EVALUATION. 

21 (a) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each entity awarded a grant 

23 under section 302(a) shall submit a report annually 

24 to the Office of Citizenship and Immigrant Integra25 tion that— 


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1 (A) describes the activities of the State 

2 New American Council and subgrant recipients 

3 and how these activities meet the goals of— 

4 (i) the Chief of the Office of Citizen5 ship and Immigrant Integration; and 

6 (ii) the comprehensive plan described 

7 in section 303(a)(1); and 

8 (B) describes the geographic areas being 

9 served, the number of immigrants in such 

10 areas, and the primary languages spoken there. 

11 (2) OTHER REQUIREMENTS.—The Chief of the 

12 Office of Citizenship and Immigrant Integration 

13 may set out other requirements as the Chief sees fit 

14 in order to— 

15 (A) impose accountability; and 

16 (B) measure the outcomes of the activities 

17 carried out with grants awarded under section 

18 302(a). 

19 (b) ANNUAL EVALUATION.—The Chief of the Office 

20 of Citizenship and Immigrant Integration shall conduct an 

21 annual evaluation of the grant program established under 

22 this title and use such evaluation— 

23 (1) to improve the effectiveness of programs 

24 carried out by the Chief; 


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1 (2) to assess future needs of immigrants and of 

2 State and local governments related to immigrants; 

3 (3) to determine the effectiveness of such grant 

4 program; and 

5 (4) to ensure that the grantees and subgrantees 

6 are acting within the scope and purpose of this title. 

7 SEC. 305. NEW CITIZENS AWARD PROGRAM. 

8 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a new 

9 citizens award program to recognize citizens who— 

10 (1) have made an outstanding contribution to 

11 the United States; and 

12 (2) are naturalized during the 10-year period 

13 ending on the date of such recognition. 

14 (b) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—The President is authorized 

16 to present a medal, in recognition of outstanding 

17 contributions to the United States, to citizens de18 scribed in subsection (a). 

19 (2) MAXIMUM NUMBER OF AWARDS.—Not more 

20 than 10 citizens may receive a medal under this sec21 tion in any calendar year. 

22 SEC. 306. DEFINITION. 

23 For purposes of this title, the term ‘‘State’’ means 

24 each of the 50 States, the District of Columbia, the Com25 monwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Commonwealth of 


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1 the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, and the 

2 United States Virgin Islands. 

3 SEC. 307. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

4 Nothing in this title shall be construed to limit the 

5 authority of the Secretary of Homeland Security, acting 

6 through the Director of United States Citizenship and Im7 migration Services or such other officials of the Depart8 ment of Homeland Security as the Secretary of Homeland 

9 Security may direct, to manage, direct, and control the 

10 activities of the Chief of the Office of Citizenship and Im11 migrant Integration. 

12 SEC. 308. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

13 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

14 this title $100,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2014 

15 through 2019. 

Æ 


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