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103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2592

To establish a clearinghouse of information concerning telecommunications

technologies that are useful in distance learning programs, and for other

purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JULY 1, 1993

Mr. KREIDLER (for himself, Mrs. UNSOELD, and Mr. MCDERMOTT) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy

and Commerce

A BILL

To establish a clearinghouse of information concerning telecommunications technologies that are useful in distance

learning 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 ‘‘Distance Learning In5 formation Act of 1993’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSES.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that—

8 (1) the use by schools, libraries, public broad9 casters and nonprofit organizations of telecommuni-
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1 cations technologies to enhance access to education

2 and training should be encouraged and supported;

3 (2) the Federal Government supports and will

4 expand its support for the development of these

5 services through the public telecommunications fa6 cilities program of the National Telecommunications

7 and Information Administration and other grant

8 programs;

9 (3) one of the problems experienced by both

10 providers of ‘‘distance learning’’ as well as by Fed11 eral grant administrators is a lack of data on which

12 technologies are most useful for given situations and

13 educational curricula; and

14 (4) as a result, money spent on distance learn15 ing programs may not be spent as efficiently as

16 possible.

17 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are—

18 (1) to achieve significant cost savings and im19 proved distance learning services by establishing, at

20 the National Telecommunications and Information

21 Administration of the Department of Commerce, an

22 ‘‘information clearinghouse’’ for distance learning

23 activities to gather and distribute information on the

24 effectiveness of distance learning programs and the

25 technologies used in such programs; and
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1 (2) to require that any entity obtaining funding

2 from the public telecommunicatinos facilities pro3 gram for distance learning activities must submit a

4 report on the effectiveness of its facility.

5 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF CLEARINGHOUSE.

6 Part A of the National Telecommunications and In7 formation Administration Organization Act is amended—

8 (1) in section 103(b), by striking ‘‘section

9 105(d)’’ both places it appears and inserting ‘‘sec10 tion 106(d)’’;

11 (2) by redesignating section 105 as section 106;

12 and

13 (3) by inserting after section 104 the following

14 new section:

15 ‘‘SEC. 105. DISTANCE LEARNING INFORMATION CLEARING16 HOUSE.

17 ‘‘(a) GENERAL AUTHORITY.—The Assistant Sec18 retary shall, in accordance with the requirements of this

19 section, establish within the National Telecommunications

20 and Information Administration Organizat Act a clearing21 house for the collection and dissemination of information

22 concerning distance learning.

23 ‘‘(b) FUNCTIONS OF CLEARINGHOUSE.—The func24 tions of the clearinghouse established under subsection (a)

25 shall include the following:
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1 ‘‘(1) Maintaining a database of distance learn2 ing providers.

3 ‘‘(2) Receiving and reviewing reports of dif4 ferent distance learning activities.

5 ‘‘(3) Analyzing which activities appear to be

6 most effective under certain circumstances.

7 ‘‘(4) Publishing periodically a compilation of

8 the reports submitted and the clearinghouse analy9 sis.

10 ‘‘(5) Coordinating with the public telecommuni11 cations facilities program and other grant programs

12 of the Department of Commerce for review of dis13 tance learning grant applications.

14 ‘‘(c) DEFINITION.—The term ‘distance learning’

15 means the use by schools, libraries, public broadcasters

16 and nonprofit organizations of two-way video and audio

17 telecommunications technologies, such as satellite trans18 mission, fiber optics, and broadcast, to allow increased ac19 cess to educational materials and information by individ20 uals and groups who are at different and remote locations

21 from the originator of the information.’’.

22 SEC. 4. COORDINATION WITH PUBLIC TELECOMMUNI23 CATIONS FACILITIES PROGRAM.

24 Section 392(a) of the Communications Act of 1934

25 is amended—
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1 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph

2 (5);

3 (2) by striking the period at the end of para4 graph (6) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

5 (3) by adding at the end the following new

6 paragraph:

7 ‘‘(7) the applicant will submit to the distance

8 learning clearinghouse established under section 105

9 of the National Telecommunications and Informa10 tion Administration Organization Act such informa11 tion concerning the project funded by the grant as

12 the Secretary may require in order to promote the

13 purposes of such clearinghouse.’’.

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