Shift Back to Society Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4252 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 offend- ers who have recently been, or will soon be, released from incarceration, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SEPTEMBER 9, 2019 Mr. HILL of Arkansas (for himself, Mr. WESTERMAN, Mr. TURNER, Ms. NOR- TON, Mr. COHEN, and Ms. SEWELL of Alabama) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subse- quently 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 univer- sities to provide educational programs to offenders who have recently been, or will soon be, released from incar- ceration, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:57 Sep 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4252.IH H4252 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 4252 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Shift Back to Society 2 Act of 2019’’. 3 SEC. 2. OFFENDER EDUCATION RE-ENTRY PILOT PRO- 4 GRAM. 5 (a) AUTHORIZATION.—The Attorney General, in con- 6 sultation with the Secretary of Education, shall establish 7 a pilot program for 5 years which makes grants to not 8 more than 10 historically Black colleges and universities 9 to provide educational programming to eligible offenders 10 in order to facilitate re-entry into the community. 11 (b) APPLICATION.—The chief executive officer of a 12 historically Black college or university seeking a grant 13 under this section shall submit to the Attorney General 14 an application at such time, in such manner, and con- 15 taining such information as the Attorney General may rea- 16 sonably require. 17 (c) MATCHING FUNDS.—The portion of the costs of 18 a program provided by a grant under subsection (a) may 19 not exceed 50 percent. The recipient of a grant under this 20 section may meet the matching requirement under this 21 subsection by making in-kind contributions of goods or 22 services that are directly related to the purpose for which 23 such grant was awarded. 24 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:57 Sep 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4252.IH H4252 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 4252 IH (1) The term ‘‘educational programming’’ 1 means— 2 (A) general education development (GED) 3 programming; or 4 (B) educational courses which are transfer- 5 able for course credit at that historically Black 6 college or university. 7 (2) The term ‘‘eligible offender’’ means an indi- 8 vidual who was convicted of a criminal offense and— 9 (A) has been released from incarceration 10 for not longer than one year; or 11 (B) is scheduled to be released from incar- 12 ceration in not longer than one year. 13 (3) The term ‘‘historically Black college or uni- 14 versity’’ has the meaning given the term ‘‘part B in- 15 stitution’’ under section 322(2) of the Higher Edu- 16 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1061(2)). 17 (4) The term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ 18 has the meaning given that term in section 101 of 19 the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 20 1001). 21 (e) PROHIBITION ON NEW AUTHORIZATION OF 22 FUNDS.—This section shall be carried out using amounts 23 otherwise appropriated or made available to the Depart- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:57 Sep 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4252.IH H4252 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 4252 IH ment of Justice. No additional funds are authorized to be 1 appropriated to carry out this section. 2 SEC. 3. GAO STUDY. 3 Not later than 270 days after the conclusion of the 4 pilot program under section 2, the Comptroller General 5 of the United States shall submit to Congress a report 6 which describes the results of the pilot program. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:57 Sep 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H4252.IH H4252 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS