Title: DEPSCoR Reauthorization Act of 2017
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security

Summary:
DEPSCoR Reauthorization Act of 2017
This bill amends the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1995 to rename the Defense Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research as the Defense Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research. It modifies program objectives and activities to increase the number of researchers capable of performing science and engineering research responsive to Department of Defense (DOD) needs and to provide assistance to science and engineering researchers at institutions of higher education through collaboration between DOD and such researchers.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1629 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1629

   To reauthorize the Department of Defense Experimental Program to 
        Stimulate Competitive Research, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 25, 2017

Mr. Reed (for himself, Mr. Rounds, Mr. Brown, Ms. Collins, Mr. Carper, 
  Mr. Coons, Mr. Whitehouse, Mrs. Shaheen, Ms. Cortez Masto, and Ms. 
    Hirono) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
              referred to the Committee on Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To reauthorize the Department of Defense Experimental Program to 
        Stimulate Competitive Research, 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 ``DEPSCoR Reauthorization Act of 
2017''.

SEC. 2. REAUTHORIZATION OF DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE ESTABLISHED PROGRAM TO 
              STIMULATE COMPETITIVE RESEARCH.

    (a) Modification of Program Objectives.--Subsection (b) of section 
257 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1995 
(Public Law 103-337; 10 U.S.C. 2358 note) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating paragraphs (1) and (2) as paragraphs 
        (2) and (3), respectively;
            (2) by inserting before paragraph (2), as redesignated by 
        paragraph (1), the following new paragraph (1):
            ``(1) To increase the number of university researchers in 
        eligible States capable of performing science and engineering 
        research responsive to the needs of the Department of 
        Defense.''; and
            (3) in paragraph (2), as redesignated by paragraph (1), by 
        inserting ``relevant to the mission of the Department of 
        Defense and'' after ``that is''.
    (b) Modification of Program Activities.--Subsection (c) of such 
section is amended--
            (1) by redesignating paragraph (3) as paragraph (4); and
            (2) by inserting after paragraph (2) the following new 
        paragraph (3):
            ``(3) To provide assistance to science and engineering 
        researchers at institutions of higher education in eligible 
        States through collaboration between Department of Defense 
        laboratories and such researchers.''.
    (c) Modification of Eligibility Criteria for State Participation.--
Subsection (d) of such section is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (2)(B), by inserting ``in areas relevant 
        to the mission of the Department of Defense'' after 
        ``programs''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
    ``(3) The Under Secretary shall not remove a designation of a State 
under paragraph (2) because the State exceeds the funding levels 
specified under subparagraph (A) of such paragraph unless the State has 
exceeded such funding levels for at least two consecutive years.''.
    (d) Modification of Name.--
            (1) In general.--Such section is amended--
                    (A) in subsections (a) and (e) by striking 
                ``Experimental'' each place it appears and inserting 
                ``Established''; and
                    (B) in the section heading, by striking 
                ``experimental'' and inserting ``established''.
            (2) Clerical amendment.--Such Act is amended, in the table 
        of contents in section 2(b), by striking the item relating to 
        section 257 and inserting the following new item:

``Sec. 257. Defense established program to stimulate competitive 
                            research.''.
            (3) Conforming amendment.--Section 307 of the 1997 
        Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Recovery from 
        Natural Disasters, and for Overseas Peacekeeping Efforts, 
        Including Those in Bosnia (Public Law 105-18) is amended by 
        striking ``Experimental'' and inserting ``Established''.
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