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[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3966 Referred in Senate (RFS)]

  2d Session
                                H. R. 3966

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 31, 2004

  Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT

 
 To amend title 10, United States Code, to improve the ability of the 
Department of Defense to establish and maintain Senior Reserve Officer 
 Training Corps units at institutions of higher education, to improve 
the ability of students to participate in Senior ROTC programs, and to 
     ensure that institutions of higher education provide military 
 recruiters entry to campuses and access to students that is at least 
   equal in quality and scope to that provided to any other employer.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``ROTC and Military Recruiter Equal 
Access to Campus Act of 2004''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) program is 
        the most common path for undergraduates to become United States 
        military officers.
            (2) The inclusion of both public and private undergraduate 
        institutions in the ROTC program insures a more racially, 
        ethnically, and socially diverse pool for leadership in the 
        higher ranks of the Armed Forces.
            (3) The majority of both minority officers and female 
        officers in the Armed Forces are acquired through undergraduate 
        ROTC programs.
            (4) The presence of ROTC programs on college campuses 
        benefits even those students who are not enrolled by making 
        them aware of the presence and role of the United States 
        military.
            (5) Land-grant colleges received land from the United 
        States on the condition that they offer some military 
        instruction in addition to their regular curriculum, forming 
        the basis for the Nation's tradition of college and university 
        acceptance of responsibility to contribute to the Nation's 
        readiness.
            (6) The Armed Forces face a constant challenge in 
        recruiting top-quality personnel that ROTC programs are ideally 
        suited to meet.
            (7) Military recruiters should have access to college 
        campuses and to college students equal in quality and scope to 
        that provided all other employers.
            (8) If any college or university discriminates against ROTC 
        programs or military recruiters, then under current law that 
        college or university becomes ineligible for certain Federal 
        taxpayer support, especially funding for many military and 
        defense programs.
            (9) The personnel and programs of the Department of 
        Homeland Security and the Department of Energy are mutually 
        dependent upon a high caliber of well-educated, professional 
        leadership in the Armed Forces in order to protect the people 
        and territory of the United States.
            (10) In order to more fully promote the ability of the 
        Nation's Armed Forces to recruit on college campuses and to 
        facilitate the ability of students to participate in ROTC 
        programs on campus, the laws to prevent discrimination against 
        ROTC and military recruiters should be updated.

SEC. 3. CERTIFICATION OF COMPLIANCE WITH ROTC ACCESS PROVISIONS.

    Subsection (a) of section 983 of title 10, United States Code, is 
amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(1)'' before ``No funds'';
            (2) by striking ``prevents--'' and inserting ``prevents, 
        either (or both) of the following:'';
            (3) by striking ``(1) the'' and inserting ``(A) The'';
            (4) by striking ``; or'' and inserting a period;
            (5) by striking ``(2) a'' and inserting ``(B) A''; and
            (6) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(2)(A) Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of 
the ROTC and Military Recruiter Equal Access to Campus Act of 2004 and 
annually thereafter, the Secretary of Defense shall request from each 
institution of higher education that has students participating in a 
Senior Reserve Officer Training Corps program during the then-current 
academic year of that institution a certification that such 
institution, during the next academic year of the institution, will--
            ``(i) permit the Secretary of each military department to 
        maintain a unit of the Senior Officer Training Corps (in 
        accordance with subsection (a)) at that institution (or any 
        subelement of that institution), should such Secretary elect to 
        maintain such a unit; and
            ``(ii) if the Secretary of the military department 
        concerned elects not to establish or maintain a unit of the 
        Senior Reserve Officer Training Corps at that institution, 
        permit a student of that institution (or any subelement of that 
        institution) to enroll in a unit of the Senior Reserve Officer 
        Training Corps at another institution of higher education.
    ``(B) Any certification under subparagraph (A) shall be made by the 
president of the institution (or equivalent highest ranking 
administrative official) and shall be submitted to the Secretary of 
Defense no later than 90 days after receipt of the request from the 
Secretary.
    ``(C) In the case of any institution from which a certification is 
requested under subparagraph (A), if the Secretary of Defense does not 
receive a certification in accordance with subparagraph (B), or if the 
certification does not state that the university will comply with both 
clauses (i) and (ii) of subparagraph (A) during its next academic year, 
the Secretary shall make a determination under paragraph (1) as to 
whether the institution has a policy or practice described in that 
paragraph.''.

SEC. 4. EQUAL TREATMENT OF MILITARY RECRUITERS WITH OTHER RECRUITERS.

    Subsection (b)(1) of section 983 of title 10, United States Code, 
is amended--
            (1) by striking ``entry to campuses'' and inserting 
        ``access to campuses''; and
            (2) by inserting before the semicolon at the end the 
        following: ``in a manner that is at least equal in quality and 
        scope to the degree of access to campuses and to students that 
        is provided to any other employer''.

SEC. 5. PROHIBITION OF FUNDING FOR POST-SECONDARY SCHOOLS THAT PREVENT 
              ROTC ACCESS OR MILITARY RECRUITING.

    (a) Covered Funds.--Subsection (d) of section 983 of title 10, 
United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1)--
                    (A) by striking ``limitation established in 
                subsection (a) applies'' and inserting ``limitations 
                established in subsections (a) and (b) apply'';
                    (B) in subparagraph (B), by inserting ``for any 
                department or agency for which regular appropriations 
                are made'' after ``made available''; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following new 
                subparagraphs:
            ``(C) Any funds made available for the Department of 
        Homeland Security.
            ``(D) Any funds made available for the National Nuclear 
        Security Administration of the Department of Energy.
            ``(E) Any funds made available for the Department of 
        Transportation.
            ``(F) Any funds made available for the Central Intelligence 
        Agency.''; and
            (2) by striking paragraph (2).
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--(1) Subsection (b) of such section is 
amended by striking ``subsection (d)(2)'' and inserting ``subsection 
(d)(1)''.
    (2) Subsection (e) of such section is amended by inserting ``, to 
the head of each other department and agency the funds of which are 
subject to the determination,'' after ``Secretary of Education''.

SEC. 6. EXCLUSION OF AMOUNTS TO COVER INDIVIDUAL PAYMENTS.

    (a) Codification and Extension of Exclusion.--Subsection (d) of 
section 983 of title 10, United States Code, as amended by section 
5(a), is further amended--
            (1) by striking ``The'' after ``(1)'' and inserting 
        ``Except as provided in paragraph (2), the''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
    ``(2) Any Federal funding specified in paragraph (1) that is 
provided to an institution of higher education, or to an individual, to 
be available solely for student financial assistance, related 
administrative costs, or costs associated with attendance, may be used 
for the purpose for which the funding is provided.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--Subsections (a) and (b) of such section 
are amended by striking ``(including a grant of funds to be available 
for student aid)''.
    (c) Conforming Repeal of Codified Provision.--Section 8120 of the 
Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2000 (Public Law 106-79; 10 
U.S.C. 983 note), is repealed.

SEC. 7. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    The amendments made by this Act shall apply with respect to funds 
appropriated for fiscal year 2005 and thereafter.

            Passed the House of Representatives March 30, 2004.

            Attest:

                                                 JEFF TRANDAHL,

                                                                 Clerk.
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