Shift Back to Society Act of 2017

Bill: 115-hr-799
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Hill, J. French [R-AR-2]
Introduced: 2017-02-01
Policy area: Education
Subjects: Correctional facilities and imprisonment

Education programs funding

Higher education

Law enforcement administration and funding

Minority education
Latest action: action_date: 2017-03-02
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations.

Summaries:
action_date: 2017-02-01
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p><b>Shift Back to Society Act of </b><b>2017</b></p> <p>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. </p> <p>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.</p> <p>The Government Accountability Office must report to Congress on the results of the pilot program.</p>

tv_txt: I 115th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 799 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.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Shift Back to Society Act of 2017 . 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. 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.