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[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2592 Introduced in House (IH)]

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.

    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 ``Distance Learning Information Act of 
1993''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSES.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress finds that--
            (1) the use by schools, libraries, public broadcasters and 
        nonprofit organizations of telecommunications technologies to 
        enhance access to education and training should be encouraged 
        and supported;
            (2) the Federal Government supports and will expand its 
        support for the development of these services through the 
        public telecommunications facilities program of the National 
        Telecommunications and Information Administration and other 
        grant programs;
            (3) one of the problems experienced by both providers of 
        ``distance learning'' as well as by Federal grant 
        administrators is a lack of data on which technologies are most 
        useful for given situations and educational curricula; and
            (4) as a result, money spent on distance learning programs 
        may not be spent as efficiently as possible.
    (b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are--
            (1) to achieve significant cost savings and improved 
        distance learning services by establishing, at the National 
        Telecommunications and Information Administration of the 
        Department of Commerce, an ``information clearinghouse'' for 
        distance learning activities to gather and distribute 
        information on the effectiveness of distance learning programs 
        and the technologies used in such programs; and
            (2) to require that any entity obtaining funding from the 
        public telecommunicatinos facilities program for distance 
        learning activities must submit a report on the effectiveness 
        of its facility.

SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF CLEARINGHOUSE.

    Part A of the National Telecommunications and Information 
Administration Organization Act is amended--
            (1) in section 103(b), by striking ``section 105(d)'' both 
        places it appears and inserting ``section 106(d)'';
            (2) by redesignating section 105 as section 106; and
            (3) by inserting after section 104 the following new 
        section:

``SEC. 105. DISTANCE LEARNING INFORMATION CLEARINGHOUSE.

    ``(a) General Authority.--The Assistant Secretary shall, in 
accordance with the requirements of this section, establish within the 
National Telecommunications and Information Administration Organizat 
Act a clearinghouse for the collection and dissemination of information 
concerning distance learning.
    ``(b) Functions of Clearinghouse.--The functions of the 
clearinghouse established under subsection (a) shall include the 
following:
            ``(1) Maintaining a database of distance learning 
        providers.
            ``(2) Receiving and reviewing reports of different distance 
        learning activities.
            ``(3) Analyzing which activities appear to be most 
        effective under certain circumstances.
            ``(4) Publishing periodically a compilation of the reports 
        submitted and the clearinghouse analysis.
            ``(5) Coordinating with the public telecommunications 
        facilities program and other grant programs of the Department 
        of Commerce for review of distance learning grant applications.
    ``(c) Definition.--The term `distance learning' means the use by 
schools, libraries, public broadcasters and nonprofit organizations of 
two-way video and audio telecommunications technologies, such as 
satellite transmission, fiber optics, and broadcast, to allow increased 
access to educational materials and information by individuals and 
groups who are at different and remote locations from the originator of 
the information.''.

SEC. 4. COORDINATION WITH PUBLIC TELECOMMUNICATIONS FACILITIES PROGRAM.

    Section 392(a) of the Communications Act of 1934 is amended--
            (1) by striking ``and'' at the end of paragraph (5);
            (2) by striking the period at the end of paragraph (6) and 
        inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(7) the applicant will submit to the distance learning 
        clearinghouse established under section 105 of the National 
        Telecommunications and Information Administration Organization 
        Act such information concerning the project funded by the grant 
        as the Secretary may require in order to promote the purposes 
        of such clearinghouse.''.

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