Title: Shift Back to Society Act of 2017
Policy area: Education

Summary:
Shift Back to Society Act of 2017
This bill directs the Department of Justice to establish a pilot program that awards matching grants to historically black colleges and universities to provide educational programs for eligible offenders to facilitate re-entry into the community.
An eligible offender is a convicted criminal offender who has been released from incarceration for less than one year or who is scheduled to be released from incarceration within one year.
The Government Accountability Office must report to Congress on the results of the pilot program.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 799 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 799

 To authorize the Attorney General, in consultation with the Secretary 
     of Education, to establish a pilot program to make grants to 
  historically Black colleges and universities to provide educational 
programs to offenders who have recently been, or will soon be, released 
              from incarceration, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 1, 2017

  Mr. Hill (for himself, Mr. Richmond, Mr. Walker, Mr. Westerman, and 
  Mrs. Love) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
   Committee on Education and the Workforce, and in addition to the 
Committee on the Judiciary, 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 authorize the Attorney General, in consultation with the Secretary 
     of Education, to establish a pilot program to make grants to 
  historically Black colleges and universities to provide educational 
programs to offenders who have recently been, or will soon be, released 
              from incarceration, 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 ``Shift Back to Society Act of 2017''.

SEC. 2. OFFENDER EDUCATION RE-ENTRY PILOT PROGRAM.

    (a) Authorization.--The Attorney General, in consultation with the 
Secretary of Education, shall establish a pilot program for 5 years 
which makes grants to not more than 10 historically Black colleges and 
universities to provide educational programming to eligible offenders 
in order to facilitate re-entry into the community.
    (b) Application.--The chief executive officer of a historically 
Black college or university seeking a grant under this section shall 
submit to the Attorney General an application at such time, in such 
manner, and containing such information as the Attorney General may 
reasonably require.
    (c) Matching Funds.--The portion of the costs of a program provided 
by a grant under subsection (a) may not exceed 50 percent. The 
recipient of a grant under this section may meet the matching 
requirement under this subsection by making in-kind contributions of 
goods or services that are directly related to the purpose for which 
such grant was awarded.
    (d) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) The term ``educational programming'' means--
                    (A) general education development (GED) 
                programming; or
                    (B) educational courses which are transferable for 
                course credit at that historically Black college or 
                university.
            (2) The term ``eligible offender'' means an individual who 
        was convicted of a criminal offense and--
                    (A) has been released from incarceration for not 
                longer than one year; or
                    (B) is scheduled to be released from incarceration 
                in not longer than one year.
            (3) The term ``historically Black college or university'' 
        has the meaning given the term ``part B institution'' under 
        section 322(2) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
        1061(2)).
            (4) The term ``institution of higher education'' has the 
        meaning given that term in section 101 of the Higher Education 
        Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001).
    (e) Prohibition on New Authorization of Funds.--This section shall 
be carried out using amounts otherwise appropriated or made available 
to the Department of Justice. No additional funds are authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section.

SEC. 3. GAO STUDY.

    Not later than 270 days after the conclusion of the pilot program 
under section 2, the Comptroller General of the United States shall 
submit to Congress a report which describes the results of the pilot 
program.
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