II 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3037 

To amend the National and Community Service Act of 1990 to improve 

the educational awards provided for national service, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 20, 2008 

Mr. DODD (for himself, Mr. COCHRAN, Mrs. CLINTON, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. 

INOUYE, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. SMITH, Ms. MIKULSKI, Mrs. LINCOLN, Mr. 

CASEY, Mr. BAYH, Mr. ROCKEFELLER, and Mr. WHITEHOUSE) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend the National and Community Service Act of 1990 

to improve the educational awards provided for national 

service, 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 ‘‘AmeriCorps: Together 

5 Improving Our Nation Act’’or as the ‘‘ACTION Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. AMOUNT OF NATIONAL SERVICE EDUCATIONAL 

2 AWARD. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 147(a) of the National 

4 and Community Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12603(a)) 

5 is amended— 

6 (1) by striking ‘‘equal to 90 percent of’’ and all 

7 that follows and inserting the following: ‘‘equal to— 

8 ‘‘(1) for fiscal year 2009, $6185; and 

9 ‘‘(2) except as provided in paragraph (1), for 

10 each fiscal year, an amount equal to the greater of— 

11 ‘‘(A) the average cost of tuition and fees 

12 (determined under section 472 of the Higher 

13 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087ll) for 

14 the preceding fiscal year for a full-time student 

15 at a 4-year public institution of higher edu16 cation that receives funds under title IV of that 

17 Act (20 U.S.C. 1070 et seq.); and 

18 ‘‘(B) the amount determined for the pre19 ceding fiscal year under this subsection.’’. 

20 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Subsection (a) takes effect 

21 on October 1, 2008. 

22 SEC. 3. TREATMENT OF NATIONAL SERVICE EDUCATIONAL 

23 AWARD. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 147 of the National and 

25 Community Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12603) is 

26 amended by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(d) TREATMENT.—The amount of a national service 

2 educational award provided to an individual under this 

3 subtitle shall not be included in the gross income of the 

4 individual for purposes of the Internal Revenue Code of 

5 1986.’’. 

6 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

7 subsection (a) shall apply to national service educational 

8 awards disbursed after December 31, 2008. 

9 SEC. 4. NATIONAL SERVICE PROGRAMS TO IMPLEMENT 

10 PRIORITIES OF FEDERAL AGENCIES. 

11 Section 121(b) of the National and Community Serv12 ice Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12571(b)) is amended by add13 ing at the end the following: 

14 ‘‘(5) PRIORITIES OF FEDERAL AGENCIES.—In 

15 carrying out this subsection, the Corporation may 

16 enter into a contract or cooperative agreement with 

17 another Federal agency to support a national service 

18 program, carried out by the Federal agency, to im19 plement the priorities of the Federal agency (not20 withstanding section 122).’’. 

21 SEC. 5. CABINET LEVEL STATUS FOR CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF22 FICER. 

23 (a) EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS.—Section 101 of title 

24 5, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end 

25 the following: 


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1 ‘‘The Corporation for National and Community 

2 Service.’’. 

3 (b) COMPENSATION.—Section 193 of the National 

4 and Community Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12651c) 

5 is amended— 

6 (1) by striking ‘‘level III’’ and inserting ‘‘level 

7 I’’; and 

8 (2) by striking ‘‘section 5314’’ and inserting 

9 ‘‘section 5312’’. 

Æ 


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