I

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3940

To provide for a reduction in the rate of teenage pregnancy through the

evaluation of public and private prevention programs, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

AUGUST 1, 1996

Mrs. LOWEY (for herself, Mr. CASTLE, Mrs. JOHNSON of Connecticut, Mrs.

CLAYTON, Mr. PORTER, Mrs. THURMAN, and Mrs. MORELLA) introduced

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Commerce

A BILL

To provide for a reduction in the rate of teenage pregnancy

through the evaluation of public and private prevention

programs, 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 ‘‘Teenage Pregnancy

5 Reduction Act of 1996’’.

6 SEC. 2. EVALUATION OF EFFECTIVE PROGRAMS FOR PRE7 VENTION OF TEENAGE PREGNANCY.

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and

9 Human Services shall (directly or through grants or con-
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1 tracts awarded to public or nonprofit private entities) ar2 range for the evaluation of a wide variety of promising

3 programs designed in whole or part to prevent pregnancy

4 in teenagers, including programs that do not receive

5 grants from the Federal Government for the operation of

6 the programs. The purpose of the evaluation shall be the

7 determination of—

8 (1) the factors contributing to the effectiveness

9 of the programs; and

10 (2) methods for replicating the programs in

11 other locations.

12 (b) PARTICIPATION OF FEDERAL AGENCIES AND

13 PRIVATE ORGANIZATIONS.—In carrying out the evalua14 tion under subsection (a), the Secretary shall as appro15 priate—

16 (1) provide for the participation of the Director

17 of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,

18 the Director of the Office of Population Affairs, the

19 Assistant Secretary for Children and Families, and

20 the Director of the National Institute of Child

21 Health and Human Development; and

22 (2) provide for the participation of private orga23 nizations, including the National Campaign to Pre24 vent Teen Pregnancy, a nonpartisan organization.
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1 (c) DESIGN OF EVALUATION.—Subject to subsection

2 (d), the Secretary shall select a design for the evaluation

3 under subsection (a) from among proposals that—

4 (1) provide for the evaluation of programs in

5 various geographic regions;

6 (2) with respect to the populations served by

7 the programs, provide for determining factors that

8 are specific to various socioeconomic groups and var9 ious racial and ethnic minority groups;

10 (3) provide for recommendations for future pro11 grams designed to reduce the rate of teen preg12 nancy; and

13 (4) meet such criteria as the Secretary may es14 tablish.

15 (d) MEASURES OF EFFECTIVENESS.—The Secretary

16 shall define the measures of effectiveness used in evaluat17 ing the programs designed to reduce the rate of teenage

18 pregnancy, and shall include a variety of measures of ef19 fectiveness in the definition.

20 (e) SCIENTIFIC PEER REVIEW.—The Secretary may

21 provide funds for a proposal pursuant to subsection (a)

22 only if the proposal has been recommended for approval

23 pursuant to a process of scientific peer review utilizing one

24 or more panels of experts. Such panels shall include ex25 perts from public entities and from private entities.
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1 (f) SUBMISSION OF REPORT TO CONGRESS AND SEC2 RETARY.—Not later than December 1, 1999, the evalua3 tion under subsection (a) shall be completed and a report

4 describing the findings made in the evaluation shall be

5 submitted to the Congress and to the Secretary.

6 (g) DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION.—After the

7 submission of the report under subsection (f), the Sec8 retary shall disseminate the findings presented in the re9 port. The categories of individuals to whom the informa10 tion is disseminated shall include administrators of pre11 vention programs, public and private entities that provide

12 financial support to such programs, professional medical

13 associations, entities providing public health services, enti14 ties providing social work services, and school administra15 tors.

16 (h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For the

17 purpose of carrying out this section, there is authorized

18 to be appropriated $3,500,000 for each of the fiscal years

19 1997 through 1999.

20 SEC. 3. NATIONAL CLEARINGHOUSE ON PREVENTION PRO21 GRAMS.

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the

23 completion of the evaluation under section 2, the Secretary

24 shall (directly or though grants or contracts awarded to

25 public or nonprofit private entities) establish an informa-
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1 tion clearinghouse to be known as the National Clearing2 house on Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Programs (in

3 this section referred to as the ‘‘Clearinghouse’’).

4 (b) FUNCTIONS.—The Clearinghouse shall carry out

5 the following activities:

6 (1) Collect, maintain, and disseminate informa7 tion on prevention programs, including information

8 on the following:

9 (A) The state of program development.

10 (B) All types of prevention programs.

11 (C) Findings made in the report submitted

12 under section 2(f).

13 (2) Develop networks of prevention programs

14 for the purpose of sharing and disseminating infor15 mation.

16 (3) Develop and disseminate materials that pro17 vide technical assistance to public and private enti18 ties in establishing or improving prevention pro19 grams.

20 (4) Participate in activities designed to encour21 age and enhance public media campaigns regarding

22 pregnancy in teenagers.

23 (5) Such other activities as will assist in the de24 velopment and carrying out of activities to reduce

25 pregnancy in teenagers.
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1 (c) DISSEMINATION TO CERTAIN ENTITIES.—The

2 categories of entities to which the Clearinghouse dissemi3 nates information shall include administrators of preven4 tion programs, public and private entities that provide fi5 nancial support to such programs, professional medical as6 sociations, entities providing public health services, enti7 ties providing social work services, and school administra8 tors.

9 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For the

10 purpose of carrying out this section, there are authorized

11 to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary for

12 each of the fiscal years 2000 through 2003.

13 SEC. 4. ONE-TIME INCENTIVE GRANTS FOR EFFECTIVE

14 PREVENTION PROGRAMS.

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a prevention pro16 gram that pursuant to the evaluation under section 2 has

17 been found to be effective, the Secretary may under this

18 section make not more than one grant to the entity that

19 operates the program. The purpose of the grant shall be

20 to assist the entity with the expenses of operating the pro21 gram.

22 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For car23 rying out subsection (a), there is authorized to be appro24 priated $10,000,000, in the aggregate, for the fiscal years

25 2000 through 2003. Such authorization is in addition to
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1 any other authorization of appropriations that is available

2 for making grants for the operational expenses of preven3 tion programs.

4 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

5 (a) PREVENTION PROGRAMS.—

6 (1) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—The provisions

7 of this Act apply with respect to a prevention pro8 gram without regard to which of the various pro9 grammatic approaches for the prevention of preg10 nancy in teenagers (as defined in paragraph (2)) is

11 the focus of the program.

12 (2) PROGRAMMATIC APPROACHES.—For pur13 poses of this Act, the term ‘‘programmatic ap14 proaches’’, with respect to prevention programs, in15 cludes advocating abstinence from sexual relations;

16 providing family planning services (including contra17 ception); fostering academic achievement; mentoring

18 by adults; providing employment assistance or job

19 training; providing professional counseling or peer

20 counseling; providing for recreational or social

21 events; and any combination thereof.

22 (b) OTHER DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this Act:

23 (1) The term ‘‘prevention program’’ means a

24 program for the prevention of pregnancy in teen25 agers.
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1 (2) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary

2 of Health and Human Services.

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