II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1290 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide additional discretion 

to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs in contracting with State approving 

agencies, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 3, 2007 

Mr. CRAIG introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide additional 

discretion to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs in contracting with State approving agencies, 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. MODIFICATION OF AUTHORITIES FOR STATE 

4 APPROVING AGENCIES. 

5 (a) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT TO SCOPE OF AP6 PROVAL.—Section 3670 of title 38, United States Code, 

7 is amended— 

8 (1) by striking subsection (b); and 


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1 (2) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘(a)’’. 

2 (b) MODIFICATION OF PROVISIONS RELATING TO AP3 PROVAL OF COURSES.— 

4 (1) MODIFICATION OF REQUIREMENT THAT

5 STANDARDS FOR PROGRAMS OF APPRENTICESHIP BE

6 APPROVED UNDER THE NATIONAL APPRENTICESHIP

7 ACT.—Subsection (c)(1)(A) of section 3672 of such 

8 title is amended by striking ‘‘pursuant to section 2 

9 of the Act of August 16, 1937 (popularly known as 

10 the ‘National Apprenticeship Act’) (29 U.S.C. 

11 50a),’’. 

12 (2) MODIFICATION OF REQUIREMENT TO PRO13 MOTE DEVELOPMENT OF APPRENTICESHIP PRO14 GRAMS.—Subsection (d) of such section is amend15 ed— 

16 (A) in paragraph (1)— 

17 (i) by striking ‘‘and State approving 

18 agencies’’; and 

19 (ii) by striking ‘‘shall utilize the serv20 ices of’’ and inserting ‘‘may utilize the 

21 services of State approving agencies and’’; 

22 and 

23 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘shall’’ 

24 and inserting ‘‘may’’. 


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1 (3) MODIFICATION OF REQUIREMENTS RELAT2 ING TO APPROVAL OF PROGRAM OF EDUCATION EX3 CLUSIVELY BY CORRESPONDENCE.—Subsection (e) 

4 of such section is amended by striking ‘‘only if’’ and 

5 all that follows through the period and inserting 

6 ‘‘under such criteria as the Secretary prescribes pur7 suant to section 3675.’’. 

8 (c) RESTATEMENT OF REQUIREMENT FOR COORDI9 NATION OF APPROVAL ACTIVITIES.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (a) of section 

11 3673 of such title is amended to read as follows: 

12 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall take appro13 priate measures to ensure the coordination of approval ac14 tivities performed by State approving agencies under this 

15 chapter and chapters 34 and 35 of this title and approval 

16 activities performed by the Department of Labor, the De17 partment of Education, and other entities to reduce over18 lap and improve efficiency with respect to the activities.’’. 

19 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Such section 

20 is further amended— 

21 (A) in subsection (b), by inserting ‘‘FUR22 NISHING MATERIALS.—’’ before ‘‘The Sec23 retary’’; and 


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1 (B) in the heading by striking ‘‘Co2 operation’’ and inserting ‘‘Coordination 

3 of approval activities’’. 

4 (3) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec5 tions at the beginning of chapter 36 of such title is 

6 amended by striking the item relating to section 

7 3673 and inserting the following: 

‘‘3673. Coordination of approval activities.’’. 

8 (d) ADDITIONAL DISCRETION FOR THE SECRETARY

9 OF VETERANS AFFAIRS FOR REIMBURSING STATE AP10 PROVING AGENCIES FOR EXPENSES.—Section 3674 of 

11 such title is amended to read as follows: 

12 ‘‘§ 3674. Reimbursement of expenses 

13 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—(1) Subject to subsections (b) 

14 and (c), the Secretary is authorized to enter into contracts 

15 or agreements with State and local agencies to pay such 

16 State and local agencies for reasonable and necessary ex17 penses of salary and travel incurred by employees of such 

18 agencies and an allowance for administrative expenses in 

19 accordance with such criteria as the Secretary determines 

20 appropriate for activities performed pursuant to this chap21 ter for purposes of chapters 30 through 35 of this title 

22 and chapters 1606 and 1607 of title 10. 

23 ‘‘(2) Each such contract or agreement shall be condi24 tioned upon such terms and conditions as the Secretary 

25 determines appropriate for services performed pursuant to 


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1 this chapter, including the condition that the State ap2 proving agency shall collect and report annually to the 

3 Secretary, the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Sen4 ate, and the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the House 

5 of Representatives information on— 

6 ‘‘(A) the amount of resources expended on such 

7 services performed pursuant to that contract; and 

8 ‘‘(B) the qualification and performance stand9 ards for State approving agency personnel respon10 sible for such services. 

11 ‘‘(b) SOURCE OF PAYMENTS.—Subject to subsection 

12 (c), the Secretary shall make payments authorized under 

13 subsection (a) to State and local agencies first out of 

14 amounts available for the payment of readjustment bene15 fits and then from other amounts made available to make 

16 the payments. 

17 ‘‘(c) LIMITATION ON AUTHORIZATION OF APPRO18 PRIATIONS.—(1) The total amount authorized and avail19 able under this section for any fiscal year may not exceed 

20 $19,000,000, except that the total amount made available 

21 for purposes of this section from amounts available for 

22 the payment of readjustment benefits may not exceed the 

23 following: 

24 ‘‘(A) $19,000,000 for fiscal year 2007. 


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1 ‘‘(B) $13,000,000 for fiscal year 2008, and 

2 each subsequent fiscal year. 

3 ‘‘(2) For any fiscal year in which the total amount 

4 that would be made available under this section would ex5 ceed the amount applicable to that fiscal year under para6 graph (1) except for the provisions of this subsection, the 

7 Secretary shall provide that each agency shall receive the 

8 same percentage of the amount applicable to that fiscal 

9 year under paragraph (1) as the agency would have re10 ceived of the total amount that would have been made 

11 available without the limitation of this subsection.’’. 

12 (e) EVALUATIONS OF AGENCY PERFORMANCE; 

13 QUALIFICATIONS AND PERFORMANCE OF AGENCY PER14 SONNEL.—Section 3674A of such title is amended— 

15 (1) by striking subsection (b); 

16 (2) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘(a)’’; 

17 (3) by redesignating paragraphs (1), (2), (3), 

18 and (4) as paragraphs (2), (3), (4), and (5), respec19 tively; 

20 (4) by inserting before paragraph (2), as redes21 ignated by paragraph (3) of this subsection, the fol22 lowing new paragraph (1): 

23 ‘‘(1) establish performance measures— 

24 ‘‘(A) to assess the effectiveness of all serv25 ices for which a State approving agency is reimVerDate Aug 31 2005 23:55 May 04, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1290.IS S1290

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1 bursed pursuant to section 3674 of this title 

2 that are based on the outcomes of the services; 

3 and 

4 ‘‘(B) to assess the effectiveness of the 

5 State approving agency in coordinating with 

6 other entities, including the Department of 

7 Labor and the Department of Education, to re8 duce overlap and improve efficiency in approval 

9 activities;’’; 

10 (5) by amending paragraph (2), as redesignated 

11 by paragraph (3) of this subsection, to read as fol12 lows: 

13 ‘‘(2) conduct an annual evaluation of each State 

14 approving agency on the basis of the performance 

15 measures established under paragraph (1);’’; and 

16 (6) in paragraph (3), as redesignated by para17 graph (3) of this subsection, by striking ‘‘under 

18 paragraph (1)’’ and inserting ‘‘under paragraph 

19 (2)’’. 

20 (f) APPROVAL OF COURSES.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 3675 of such title is 

22 amended to read as follows: 

23 ‘‘§ 3675. Approval of courses 

24 ‘‘(a) STANDARDS.—The Secretary shall establish 

25 standards of approval for accredited and nonaccredited 


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1 courses offered by an educational institution that the Sec2 retary determines are necessary to carry out the provisions 

3 of this chapter. Such standards shall be based on the fol4 lowing, as appropriate: 

5 ‘‘(1) Student achievement. 

6 ‘‘(2) Curricula, program objectives, and faculty. 

7 ‘‘(3) Facilities, equipment, and supplies. 

8 ‘‘(4) Institutional objectives, capacity, and ad9 ministration. 

10 ‘‘(5) Student support services. 

11 ‘‘(6) Recruiting and admissions practices. 

12 ‘‘(7) Record of student complaints. 

13 ‘‘(8) Process related requirements, such as ap14 plication requirements. 

15 ‘‘(9) Such other criteria as the Secretary con16 siders appropriate. 

17 ‘‘(b) APPROVAL.—A State approving agency may ap18 prove courses offered by an educational institution when 

19 the standards established under subsection (a) have been 

20 satisfied by such educational institution. In performing 

21 such approval function, the State approving agency may, 

22 to the extent permitted by the Secretary, rely upon deter23 minations made by other entities, including the Depart24 ment of Labor and the Department of Education. 


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1 ‘‘(c) DISAPPROVAL.—Approval granted under this 

2 section may be revoked by the Secretary or a State ap3 proving agency under conditions established by the Sec4 retary.’’. 

5 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 

6 3452(h) of such title is amended by striking ‘‘an en7 trepreneurship course (as defined in section 

8 3675(c)(2) of this title)’’ and inserting ‘‘a non-de9 gree, non-credit course of business education that 

10 enables or assists a person to start or enhance a 

11 small business concern (as defined pursuant to sec12 tion 3(a) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 

13 362(a)))’’. 

14 (3) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec15 tions at the beginning of chapter 36 of such title is 

16 amended by striking the item related to section 3675 

17 and inserting the following new item: 

‘‘3675. Approval of courses.’’. 

18 (g) MODIFICATION OF PROVISIONS RELATING TO AP19 PROVAL OF NONACCREDITED COURSES.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 3676 of such title is 

21 repealed. 

22 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—(A) Section 

23 3677 of such title is redesignated as section 3676. 


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1 (B) Section 3672(d)(1) of such title is amended 

2 by striking ‘‘sections 3677’’ and inserting ‘‘sections 

3 3676’’. 

4 (C) Section 3687(a)(2) of such title is amended 

5 by striking ‘‘section 3677’’ and inserting ‘‘section 

6 3676’’. 

7 (3) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec8 tions at the beginning of chapter 36 of such title is 

9 amended by striking the item relating to section 

10 3676 and inserting the following: 

‘‘3676. Approval of training on the job.’’. 

11 (h) NOTICE OF APPROVAL.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 3678 of such title is 

13 amended to read as follows: 

14 ‘‘SEC. 3677. NOTICE OF DETERMINATIONS BY STATE AP15 PROVING AGENCIES. 

16 ‘‘A State approving agency shall provide to the Sec17 retary, an educational institution, or such other entities 

18 as the Secretary considers appropriate such notification 

19 as the Secretary may consider necessary regarding deter20 minations made by the State approving agency pursuant 

21 to section 3675 of this title.’’. 

22 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 

23 3689(d) of such title is amended by striking ‘‘3678’’ 

24 and inserting ‘‘3677’’. 


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1 (3) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec2 tions at the beginning of chapter 36 of such title is 

3 amended by striking the items relating to section 

4 3677 and 3678 and inserting the following: 

‘‘3677. Notice of determinations by State approving agencies.’’. 

5 (i) MODIFICATION OF PROVISIONS RELATING TO

6 DISAPPROVAL OF COURSES.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 3679 of such title is 

8 repealed. 

9 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 

10 3689(d) of such title is amended by striking 

11 ‘‘3679,’’. 

12 (3) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec13 tions at the beginning of chapter 36 of such title is 

14 amended by striking the item relating to section 

15 3679. 

16 (j) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

17 this section shall take effect on the date that is one year 

18 after the date of the enactment of this section. 

Æ 


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