I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1034

To amend the National Telecommunications and Information Administration

Organization Act to establish a digital network technology program,

and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 14, 2001

Mr. TOWNS (for himself and Mr. YOUNG of Alaska) introduced the following

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and

in addition to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

A BILL

To amend the National Telecommunications and Information

Administration Organization Act to establish a digital

network technology program, 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 ‘‘NTIA Digital Network

5 Technology Program Act’’.
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1 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.

2 The National Telecommunications and Information

3 Administration Organization Act (47 U.S.C. 901 et seq.)

4 is amended by adding at the end the following:

5 ‘‘PART D—DIGITAL NETWORK TECHNOLOGY

6 PROGRAM

7 ‘‘SEC. 171. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.

8 ‘‘The Secretary shall establish, within the NTIA’s

9 Technology Opportunities Program a digital network tech10 nologies program to strengthen the capacity of eligible in11 stitutions to provide instruction in digital network tech12 nologies by providing grants to, or executing contracts or

13 cooperative agreements with, those institutions to provide

14 such instruction.

15 ‘‘SEC. 172. ACTIVITIES SUPPORTED.

16 ‘‘An eligible institution shall use a grant, contract,

17 or cooperative agreement awarded under this part—

18 ‘‘(1) to acquire the equipment, instrumentation,

19 networking capability, hardware and software, dig20 ital network technology, and infrastructure necessary

21 to teach students and teachers about technology in

22 the classroom;

23 ‘‘(2) to develop and provide educational serv24 ices, including faculty development, to prepare stu25 dents or faculty seeking a degree or certificate that
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1 is approved by the State, or a regional accrediting

2 body recognized by the Secretary of Education;

3 ‘‘(3) to provide teacher education, library and

4 media specialist training, and preschool and teacher

5 aid certification to individuals who seek to acquire or

6 enhance technology skills in order to use technology

7 in the classroom or instructional process;

8 ‘‘(4) implement a joint project to provide edu9 cation regarding technology in the classroom with a

10 State or State education agency, local education

11 agency, community-based organization, national non12 profit organization, or business, including minority

13 business or a business located in HUB zones, as de14 fined by the Small Business Administration; or

15 ‘‘(5) provide leadership development to adminis16 trators, board members, and faculty of eligible insti17 tutions with institutional responsibility for tech18 nology education.

19 ‘‘SEC. 173. APPLICATION AND REVIEW PROCEDURE.

20 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive a grant,

21 contract, or cooperative agreement under this part, an eli22 gible institution shall submit an application to the Sec23 retary at such time, in such manner, and accompanied by

24 such information as the Secretary may reasonably require.

25 The Secretary, in consultation with the panel described
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1 in subsection (b), shall establish a procedure by which to

2 accept such applications and publish an announcement of

3 such procedure, including a statement regarding the avail4 ability of funds, in the Federal Register.

5 ‘‘(b) PEER REVIEW PANEL.—The Secretary shall es6 tablish a peer review panel to aid the Secretary in estab7 lishing the application procedure described in subsection

8 (a) and selecting applicants to receive grants, contracts,

9 and cooperative agreements under section 171. In select10 ing the members for such panel, the Secretary may consult

11 with appropriate cabinet-level officials, representatives of

12 non-Federal organizations, and representatives of eligible

13 institutions to ensure that the membership of such panel

14 reflects membership of the minority higher education com15 munity, including Federal agency personnel and other in16 dividuals who are knowledgeable about issues regarding

17 minority education institutions.

18 ‘‘SEC. 174. MATCHING REQUIREMENT.

19 ‘‘The Secretary may not award a grant, contract, or

20 cooperative agreement to an eligible institution under this

21 part unless such institution agrees that, with respect to

22 the costs to be incurred by the institution in carrying out

23 the program for which the grant, contract, or cooperative

24 agreement was awarded, such institution will make avail25 able (directly or through donations from public or private
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1 entities) non-Federal contributions in an amount equal to

1 2 ⁄4 of the amount of the grant, contract, or cooperative

3 agreement awarded by the Secretary, or $500,000, which4 ever is the lesser amount. The Secretary shall waive the

5 matching requirement for any institution or consortium

6 with no endowment, or an endowment that has a current

7 dollar value lower than $50,000,000.

8 ‘‘SEC. 175. LIMITATION.

9 ‘‘An eligible institution that receives a grant, con10 tract, or cooperative agreement under this part that ex11 ceeds $2,500,000, shall not be eligible to receive another

12 grant, contract, or cooperative agreement under this part

13 until every other eligible institution has received a grant,

14 contract, or cooperative agreement under this part.

15 ‘‘SEC. 176. ANNUAL REPORT AND EVALUATION.

16 ‘‘(a) ANNUAL REPORT REQUIRED FROM RECIPI17 ENTS.—Each institution that receives a grant, contract,

18 or cooperative agreement under this part shall provide an

19 annual report to the Secretary on its use of the grant,

20 contract, or cooperative agreement.

21 ‘‘(b) EVALUATION BY SECRETARY.—The Secretary,

22 in consultation with the Secretary of Education, shall—

23 ‘‘(1) review the reports provided under sub24 section (a) each year;
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1 ‘‘(2) evaluate the program authorized by section

2 171 on the basis of those reports; and

3 ‘‘(3) conduct a final evaluation at the end of

4 the third year

5 ‘‘(c) CONTENTS OF EVALUATION.—The Secretary, in

6 the evaluation, shall describe the activities undertaken by

7 those institutions and shall assess the short-range and

8 long-range impact of activities carried out under the

9 grant, contract, or cooperative agreement on the students,

10 faculty, and staff of the institutions

11 ‘‘(d) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—The Secretary shall

12 submit a report to the Congress based on the final evalua13 tion within 1 year after conducting the final evaluation.

14 In the report, the Secretary shall include such rec15 ommendations, including recommendations concerning the

16 continuing need for Federal support of the program, as

17 may be appropriate.’’.

18 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

19 Section 102(a) of the National Telecommunications

20 and Information Administration Organization Act (47

21 U.S.C. 901(a)) is amended by adding at the end the fol22 lowing:

23 ‘‘(6) ELIGIBLE INSTITUTION DEFINED.—The

24 term ‘eligible institution’ means an institution that

25 is—
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1 ‘‘(A) a historically Black college or univer2 sity that is a part B institution, as defined in

3 section 322(2) of the Higher Education Act of

4 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1061(2)), an institution de5 scribed in section 326(e)(1)(A), (B), or (C) of

6 that Act (20 U.S.C. 1063b(e)(1)(A), (B), or

7 (C)), or a consortium of institutions described

8 in this subparagraph;

9 ‘‘(B) a Hispanic-serving institution, as de10 fined in section 502(a)(5) of the Higher Edu11 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1101a(a)(5));

12 ‘‘(C) a tribally controlled college or univer13 sity, as defined in section 316(b)(3) of the

14 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.

15 1059c(b)(3));

16 ‘‘(D) an Alaska Native-serving institution

17 under section 317(b) of the Higher Education

18 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1059d(b));

19 ‘‘(E) a Native Hawaiian-serving institution

20 under section 317(b) of the Higher Education

21 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1059d(b)); or

22 ‘‘(F) an institution determined by the Sec23 retary, in consultation with the Secretary of

24 Education, to have enrolled a substantial num25 ber of minority, low-income students during the
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1 previous academic year who received assistance

2 under subpart I of part A of title IV of the

3 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.

4 1070a et seq.) for that year.’’.

5 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

6 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Sec7 retary of Commerce not more than $250,000,000 for fiscal

8 year 2002, and such sums as may be necessary for fiscal

9 years 2003 through 2007, to carry out part D of the Na10 tional Telecommunications and Information Administra11 tion Organization Act.

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