Supporting Minority STEM Student to Career Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 5784 To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to improve programs for minority students in STEM fields, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 6, 2020 Ms. FUDGE (for herself and Mr. TURNER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to improve programs for minority students in STEM fields, 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 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Supporting Minority 4 STEM Student to Career Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. MINORITY SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING IMPROVE- 6 MENT PROGRAM. 7 (a) REQUIRED CRITERIA.—Section 352(c) of the 8 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1067b(c)) is 9 amended— 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:12 Feb 08, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5784.IH H5784 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 5784 IH (1) in paragraph (9), by striking ‘‘and’’; 1 (2) in paragraph (10), by striking the period 2 and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 3 (3) by adding the following at the end: 4 ‘‘(11) the amount of non-Federal funds a grant 5 recipient will use to support the activities to be fund- 6 ed by the grant.’’. 7 (b) AUTHORIZED USE OF FUNDS.—Section 353(b) of 8 the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1067c(b)) 9 is amended— 10 (1) in paragraph (1)— 11 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘or’’; 12 (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking the 13 period and inserting a semicolon; and 14 (C) by adding the following at the end: 15 ‘‘(C) providing direct financial assistance to 16 students who are underrepresented in STEM; or 17 ‘‘(D) improving institutional capacity to pro- 18 vide— 19 ‘‘(i) guidance counseling and academic ad- 20 vising; 21 ‘‘(ii) work-study opportunities that are 22 aligned to a student’s chosen field of study; 23 ‘‘(iii) faculty, peer, and near-peer mentor- 24 ship; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:18 Feb 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5784.IH H5784 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 5784 IH ‘‘(iv) summer bridge programs; 1 ‘‘(v) undergraduate research opportunities; 2 ‘‘(vi) work-based learning opportunities 3 aligned with a student’s chosen field of study; 4 or 5 ‘‘(vii) individualized academic support and 6 tutoring.’’; and 7 (2) in paragraph (2)— 8 (A) in subparagraph (C), by striking ‘‘or’’; 9 (B) in subparagraph (D), by striking the 10 period and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 11 (C) by adding the following at the end: 12 ‘‘(E) any of the activities described in subpara- 13 graphs (A) through (D) of paragraph (1).’’. 14 (c) CROSS PROGRAM AND CROSS AGENCY COOPERA- 15 TION.—Section 363 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 16 (20 U.S.C. 1067i) is amended to read as follows: 17 ‘‘SEC. 363. CROSS PROGRAM AND CROSS AGENCY COOPERA- 18 TION. 19 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Minority Science and Engi- 20 neering Improvement Programs shall cooperate and con- 21 sult with other programs within the Department and with- 22 in Federal, State, and private agencies which carry out 23 programs to improve the quality of science, mathematics, 24 and engineering education. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:18 Feb 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5784.IH H5784 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 5784 IH ‘‘(b) REPORT.—Not later than 120 days after the 1 date of enactment of the Supporting Minority STEM Stu- 2 dent to Career Act, the Secretary shall, in consultation 3 with all Federal agencies that have STEM education ac- 4 tivities, prepare and submit to the authorizing committees 5 a coordination strategy report on expanding access and 6 opportunity for postsecondary students who are underrep- 7 resented in science and engineering that— 8 ‘‘(1) outlines efforts to coordinate Federal grant 9 programs for these populations to more effectively 10 achieve the Federal Government’s objective to diver- 11 sify the STEM fields; and 12 ‘‘(2) outlines strategies to align Federal Gov- 13 ernment research opportunities, internships, and de- 14 ferred hiring programs from minority institutions re- 15 ceiving a grant under this part for students who are 16 underrepresented in science and engineering.’’. 17 (d) DEFINITIONS.—Section 365 of the Higher Edu- 18 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1067k) is amended— 19 (1) by striking paragraphs (3) and (4); and 20 (2) by adding at the end the following: 21 ‘‘(10) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.— 22 The term ‘institution of higher education’ has the 23 meaning given such term in section 101. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:12 Feb 08, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5784.IH H5784 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 5784 IH ‘‘(11) MINORITY INSTITUTION.—The term ‘mi- 1 nority institution’ means an institution described in 2 section 371(a). 3 ‘‘(12) STEM.—The term ‘STEM’ means the 4 fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathe- 5 matics as described in section 356(a).’’. 6 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:12 Feb 08, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5784.IH H5784 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS